Futura: A Type Specimen Book

FUTURA

FUTURA

FUTURA

A Type Specimen Book

FUTURA

by CASSIE NEUBAUER

FUTURA

FUTURA

PAUL

RENNER was born August 9, 1878 in Wernigerode, Germany. He attended a Gymnasium in his youth, where he studied the Latin and Greek languages. He had a strong German sense of leadership, and he was wary of modern culture such as abstract art, jazz, and film, although he admired the functionality of the modernist designs.

Renner was a member of the Deutscher Werkbund, and sought to influence culture through applied art such as book design and typography. With the political agenda playing such a large role in German culture at the time, typography and it’s impact on culture became important. Renner openly called for the termination of fraktur as a nationalist typeface. He felt that a typeface needed to have a balance between the gothic letterforms that were prevalent in Germany and the more modern ideals of the Bauhaus. By creating Futura, he wanted to bridge the gap between the classic and the modern. Futura was made to take full advantage of the technology of the time, and to get rid of any handrawn qualities of the type.1(97)

FU

TU

RA

Paul Renner began designing Futura in 1924 for the Bauer foundry, and it was first manufactured in 1927.

It was originally cast in three weights, but there are now nine different weights in the entire Futura font family. The Bauer foundry was hoping to recreate the early international success of the Venus typeface. Futura became associated with the Bauhaus style, and it became popular among people associated with the ‘New Typography’.

Futura is classified as a geometric san-serif .2(42) It’s design began based on German letterforms, but after WWI and the economic collapse Renner saw an opportunity to redefine the common German typeface. Futura would bridge the gap between modern technology and traditional German culture in an attempt to reduce German cultural isolation from the rest of the world.3(31) To do this, Futura adopts the style of Roman letterforms, because Renner wanted to move away from the thick black stroke of typefaces such as fraktur.

Futura Condensed Medium

-

10 pt Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

5 67 89 0!

12 pt Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

^

14 pt Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

+[]\ |{ = } _

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

2 Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz ;’

34

18 pt

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

< /., > ?

1 :”

&* ( )

24 pt

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

#$ %

30 pt

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

@

36 pt

1234567890 !@#$%^&*()_=+[]\|{}; ’:”?></., 10 pt Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff 12 pt Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee 14 pt 18 pt 24 pt 30 pt

36 pt

Ff

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

Futura Condensed ExtraBold

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

Futura Medium

1234567890 !@#$%^&*()_=+[]\|{};’ :”?></.,

10 pt Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff 12 pt Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

14 pt

18 pt 24 pt 30 pt

36 pt

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

Futura Medium Italic 10 pt Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff 12 pt Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee 14 pt 18 pt 24 pt 30 pt

36 pt

Ff

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

1234567890 !@#$%^&* ()_=+[]\|{} ;’:”?></.,

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff

24 pt 24 pt 24 pt 24 pt

Size Comparisons

Futura Condensed Medium

The quick brown fox...

Futura Condensed ExtraBold

The quick brown fox...

Futura Medium

The quick brown fox...

Futura Medium Italic

The quick brown fox...

As a san-serif font, Futura has an even stroke weight with very little variation. There are no unnecessary flourishes, and the counter of the letters such as o and d are almost perfect circles except in the condensed versions, where they are oblong.

The ascender extends above the cap-height

Condensed Tall x-height

Little variation in stroke weight.

More variation in condensed versions.

Medium The counter is almost perfectly circular

even stroke weight

Aa

A Humanist Sans-Serif, Gill Sans has qualities of a handrawn typeface. The stroke weight varies through the letterform, and the lines are fluid.

The terminals taper off as if drawn with a calligraphy pen.

Helvetica

Aa

As a Geometric San-Serif typeface, Futura is built around geometric forms and is lacking handrawn qualities.

Gills Sans

Aa

A transitional san-serif, Helvetica still retains some handrawn qualities, although the weight of the stroke is uniform throughout the letterform. The flowing design of the letterforms suggests handwriting.

Futura

I personally like this type because it has a very crisp look. Futura looks very nice as a headline type, and it goes very well with serif typefaces such as Garamond, which makes it very versatile.

Sou r Pe r son and ces al Op ini on 1. Burke, Christopher. 1998. Paul Renner: the art of typography. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

2. Lupton, Ellen. Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004. Print.

3. Leonard, Charles C. 2005. Paul Renner and Futura the effects of culture, technology, and social continuity on the design of type for printing. Thesis (M.A.)-Georgia State University, 2005. http:// scholarworks.gsu.edu/art_design_theses/2.

Designed by Cassie Neubauer