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What’s My Type
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Futu
ura For people who don’t know what Futura is, it is a sans serif typeface that has almost even weight and has tall letters that go above the capital. The design of Futura has a low x-height and it avoids decorative and nonessential elements, increasing it suitability for body text and display purposes. I have chosen this typeface because I like its shapes and style, it is easy to read, eye catching and looks professional and futuristic. In this essay I am going to further investigate Futura, see where it originated from and why people like to use this typeface. My essay will be broken down into four segments, which will describe the history of Futura, how it relates to me, where it is used and the impact it has had on society, with a conclusion at the end.
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Futura Futura Futura
Futura
History
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Futura was created in 1927 by Paul Renner and has appeared at key times since its creation. Futura was designed to be based on the geometric shapes of squares, triangles and circles that he was inspired by from the Bauhaus designs. Before Futura was released, it was originally to be used for the New Frankfurt project, which was a magazine covering architecture, art, house and education. The New Frankfurt project was also a program in 1925 that created public housing for people that was affordable. After Futura was released, Paul Renner went on to share his ideas about how typefaces should express modern models. From 1930 to 1950, other metal type versions of Futura were created, for example bold, medium, light, extra bold and oblique. In 1929, Futura was used for the magazine Vanity Fair however it was only used in five magazines so that the people could see how Futura was a progressive design style. In Nazi Germany, typeface was considered one of most important ways of expressing identity. This desire for identity manifested itself in the German Blackletter (Fraktur) which became the standard font during this time. They rejected modern typefaces like Futura and would use this typeface
only, in an effort to humiliate modern art. In contrast however in the 1940’s the Nazis then banned Blackletter feeling it was too similar to Hebrew and instead used standard fonts which provided a higher clarity over Blackletter fonts, Futura being one of these. In 1969, Futura was used during the moon landing on a plaque that was left by Neil Armstrong on the moon. In the later decades of the 20th century, Futura became more popular and successful with its simple styles and elements and is still popular and used today in many logos.
“the typeface of our time and a face representing the new typography of the European avantgarde. Futura was released to stand out against sans-serif with its elaborate, handwritten-style that was popular at the time, in order to promote simplicity, modernism and industrialization”
Where it is used
6 Futura style, based on its simplicity, nonessential elements and geometrics has enabled it to be used in different many sectors, album covers, magazines and even the Moscow Olympic games in 1980. It is very popular in advertising and logos, for example Volkswagen, Crayola, Best Buy, Costco, Domino’s Pizzas and Absolut Vodka all use it to good effect. It was even used by IKEA before they changed it in 2010. In addition, it has been used in many theatrical and film posters, including Gravity and Interstellar. Stanley Kubrick and Wes Anderson particularly liked to use Futura in their film titles such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. However, it was used in the past as a form of propaganda by the Nazis in magazines, even though Paul Renner did not support the regime. Futura’s use was then developed further and was first used in the publishing industry in the 1950s as a purpose font. Then in the 1970s, it was used by an artist called Barbara Kruger, where she used Futura bold on her posters with white text over photographs for people to reflect on gender and stereotypes.Due to Futura’s versatility it has also been used in transport vehicles because it is easy to read from a distance. It is especially used
in the instruments panel graphics within cars and in aviation for control legends and instruments on Boeing airlines. NASA also used Futura during the Apollo space program for documents, charts and instrumentation labels. The Pittsburgh Stealers is an American football team that play in the NFL and they switched to a Futura Condensed typeface on their jersey to match their helmets. The Western Sydney Wanderers is a football club in Australia, and they used Futura on their logo and official club documentation. In 2017, the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are a basketball team that play in the NBA, adopted Futura during their re-branding. This shows that Futura is not just used for logos and films, but it is also used in a variety of sports throughout the world. The reason why Futura is widely used for logotypes, posters and transport is because of the variety of weights and styles which all look different. Therefore, it has a wide range of characters that can be used for many purposes. For example, “Futura also works because it has a range of distinct voices across its family. These allow Futura to appeal to high-end women’s fashion (Futura Light), industrial corporations (Futura Bold), low-end retail (Futura Extra Bold) and even quirky restaurants and clubs (Futura Black)”.
How it relates to me
Impact on society
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The reason Futura relates to me and I have a connection with it is that firstly I like to watch films and my favorite film genera is sci-fi. Futura has been used in many sci-fi films and posters and is linked to the moon landings. Secondly, I like to collect music albums, particularly with interesting graphics and Futura is used in many albums covers. It is simple and effective but easy for people to read. Thirdly I love to design and create logos because you get to work with different clients looking at different briefs. You can be as creative as you like and Futura gives you flexibility and allows your work to look professional and eye catching. My favorite design style is the Bauhaus because I like its simplicity and use of shapes and color. Futura has been influenced by the Bauhaus design with its simple shapes. I prefer to use modern san serif typeface and Futura is a san serif which makes it modern.
Futura has had a big impact on society in the past but continues to influence us today because like Helvetica, Futura is used everywhere, every day. Futura has made logos and posters much more professional, modern looking and it continues to keep up with the world today and with other modern logos. Futura has also had an impact on other typefaces. Type Foundries such as Linotype, Intertype, Monotype and Baltotype were all inspired by Futura. In addition, Futura was the foundation for other typefaces that share some of its characteristics and geometric shapes, for example Kable, Metro, Spartan, Vouge, Twentieth Century, Nobel and many others.
Conclusion
? From my research, looking at the history of Futura and where and how it has been and is still used, it is clear, that it was a very popular typeface in the past and remains popular and today. From where it started in 1927 with Paul Renner creating the typeface for the New Frankfurt project and then being used in Germany during WWII for magazines and posters too it being used everywhere from logos to magazines, sport teams,
transport, films, posters and even space it has proved to be popular and versatile. I can understand why people would choose Futura, it has stood the test of time, it looks very professional and has many characters to choose from. This makes it expandable to use and looks elegant and beautiful for a san serif typeface. These are only some of the reasons why Futura is so popular but this why Futura is my favorite typeface.