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The Prolific American and The Quirky Dutch Typographers Book Morris Fuller Benton and Wim Crouwel
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Innovative creation happens everyday —
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Morris Fuller Benton America 1872 - 1948
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Wim Crouwel The Netherlands 1928 - present
Coming from different sides of the world and different time periods, American engineer Morris Fuller Benton and graphic designer Wim Crouwel are two of many who
revolutionized the typeface industry. Benton is an American born in Milwaukee on November 30, 1872 and he passed away on June 30, 1948 (Cost 29). Crouwel was born in 1928 in Groningen, The Netherlands (Bross 132). Benton revolutionized the type industry by contributing over 200 typefaces of great diversity. He was raised in a home business type foundry that was managed by his father, Linn Boyd Benton. He revived many historical typefaces such as Bodoni and Cheltenham. In addition, he also created original typefaces that include Franklin Gothic and Bank Gothic. In contrast, Crouwel was originally trained as a painter. Crouwel’s interests in designs sparked by the ideals of International Style Architecture and industrial design (Middendorp 117). His designs of typefaces are very unique, edgy and grid-like which are expressive to the digitalized world. His best-known typeface family is the abstract-like font, New Alphabet. 8
The Prolific American and Quirky Dutch
Both typographers came from a background, yet their legacies are
Both Morris Fuller Benton and Wim Crouwel’s works overlapped with each other in historical context. Benton presented mostly
traditional and modern typographic ideas influenced by the Victorian Style from Britain and Europe that was brought to America in early 19th century. He started to adopt influences of Modernism toward the end of his career. On the other hand, Crouwel’s early interests in typography also often use modernist typefaces. He customized typefaces and altered them for different purposes. He then produced more of the
completely different cultural still resonant today.
simplistic typographic ideas that show the influence of digital typesetting and modernism derived after the avant-garde movements in reaction to the Victorian era. 9
During the stage of Benton’s early life, America didn’t
Moving to the Netherlands in the 1920s, Wim Crouwel grew up in an have its own national cultural form. According to R. Roger
environment of post World War II. The movements that were taking Remington in American Modernism Graphic Design 1920
place during Crouwel’s early life really influenced the characteristic to 1960, “America relied on the prevalent Victorian style
of his work. He felt he had strong connection to the Bauhaus rational from Britain and Europe.” The World Wars that were hap-
typographic principal (Broos 16). The simplicity and straightforward pening in Europe triggered creative intellectuals of the
aspect of the International Typographic Style also heavily influenced Avant-Garde movements to migrate to a place that was
him. In the 1950s he was exposed to many Swiss typographers, safer, and one of them was America. During this period,
such as Karl Gertsner, Gerard Ifert, and Ernst Sheidegger Modernism in Design started to take place and industri-
(Middendorp117). He then studied the Swiss design characteristic alization affected printed communication in America.
and he took it very personally. The connection that he felt from the These events suggested the motivation of Benton to
simplistic movement characterized his overall work. In addition, revive European historical typefaces made such as Caslon,
his training in Academie Minerva in 1949 as an expressionist painter Bodoni and Garamond that were marketed by American
heavily influenced him for the creation of the work (Middendorp117). Type Founders (ATF) in the early 20th Century. During
In contrast, Crouwel produced the creation of reviving the historical typefaces, Benton spent lot of time in the library researching each typeface
typefaces
thoroughly. He wanted to ensure that the typefaces that he would re-establish related to the historical context of each typeface. The thoughtful process was very important and valuable to his revival of typefaces and that was the reason of his impact in the typographic world (Cost 19).
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The Prolific American and Quirky Dutch
digit
that have high sentimental values resonates with and
a l i z e d typesetting.
The influence of culture and nationality are heavily shown in the works produced by both Morris Fuller Benton and Wim Crouwel that conveys the contrast between them. Benton grew up in an
On the other hand, Crouwel was the son of a block-maker, within the printing
in-house type foundry that his father ran.
trade. As a child “Crouwel was captivated by the austere beauty of electricity
His interest in typefaces was apparent
pylons, railway yards and overhead cables. A visit to the circus would be spent
from his active interest in the printing
examining the construction of the big-top rather than the lions, at one stage,
press since he was a child. His creation of
behind his futuristic silver painted bedroom door, he built a scaled down circus
tickets for school plays, neighbourhood
tent.” (“Design Museum”). Wim Crouwel appeared to show great interest in
shows and receipts for work he did for his
interior and three-dimensional design during his youth. But in Groningen, in his
father emulated his enjoyment of experi-
native city, it had a strong painting tradition, therefore he studied painting in
mentation with typography (Cost 30).
the Minerva Academy in Groningen. Since 1918, Gronigen’s important artistic focal point was formed by expressionist artist group referred as ‘De Ploeg’. Crouwel became familiar with some of its members and continued to respect the expressionist work (Broos 7). 12
The Prolific American and Quirky Dutch
at y b Om y A A Q
h
Both Benton and Crouwel
in their respective type field.
ATF
Benton never left American Type Founders
TD Wim Crouwel worked with many talented people in Total Design
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Benton never left American Type Founders (ATF) until his retirement.
Wim Crouwel worked with many talented people in different ATF was a business created in 1892 by the
ranges of expertise. He worked for an exhibition company merger of 23 type foundries, and one of
Enderberg, learning from the designer Dick Ellfers. He then them was his father’s (Cost 31). ATF was
set up his own studio with the interior designer Kho Liang Ie the dominant American manufacturer of
(Middendorp 120). He was exposed to modernist graphic metal type. A few months after Benton
design when he attended classes at the Academy for Applied graduated from Cornell University and
Arts where he learned the principles of typography through earned his mechanical engineering
his tutor, Charles Jongejans (“Design Museum”). In 1963, degree, he worked at ATF as his father’s
togethawith Dick and Paul Schwartz founded a design studio assistant. Here he designed machines and
called the Total Design that is still active today (Broos 15). began to learn about typefaces (Cost 31).
Total design is a multidisciplinary design studio set up to work on Conversely, his investment in studying
major design commissions. The name Total acknowledges the in Cornell as a mechanical engineer
mixed skill-set of the partners. Together their diverse experience highly contributed to his revolution in
enables them to execute both complex and wide-ranging projects typesetting. In 1900 until 1937, he headed
for a variety of clients, from industry, trade, government and the design department of ATF after his
cultural sectors (“Design Museum”). father’s retirement.
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The Prolific American and Quirky Dutch
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The living condition of Benton and Crouwel was very different during their contribution to the typeface industry. Benton seemed to be oppressed when creating
Benton
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his typefaces because he was living under his father’s shadow. His daughter remarked that, “If things didn’t go right at the foundry then he (Morris) was the one that had to straighten them out.
“was reticent, not eager to be noticed or praised.” He was more of a family person, but when he was a chief designer at ATF in 1900, during his search for new typeface ideas, he studied the market to determine the typefaces that were needed. “Designers who migrated to America brought a powerful spirit of experimentation, which was lacking in America.” (Remington 52). At this period, industrialization was taking place, mass production became more and more demanding. Benton realized this transformation was occurring and his creations of diverse typefaces were in reaction to the powerful spirit of experimentation. On the other hand, Wim Crouwel’s freedom gained from his expressionist background influenced the quirky personalities evident in the typefaces he made.
The Modernist style had definite
i n f l u e n c e in
both typographers.
g tm q H u k j h z r
j f
Benton was exposed to modernism towards the end
of his lifetime, while Crouwel was exposed to it in the
beginning of his creative journey.
Both designers appreciated the grotesque rational
or now more commonly known as sans serif.
The formal attributes of grotesque are:
“
Shape: Modelling:
Terminals: Proportion: Weight: Characters:
continuous curves with generally round/slightly square to square aspect early examples show slight to low c ontrast, later examples have none; when contrast apparent there is a vertical axis of contrast and gradual transition from thick to thin no serifs early examples have condensed or narrow letterforms; latter medium to wide early examples are typically black in color, later ones are much lighter a flat-topped; G with spur; J aligns with baseline, R with curved leg (Baines and Haslam 83)
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The creations of Benton’s Gothic typefaces and Crouwel’s uses of Univers and Futura in many designs are the evidence of their affection to the grotesque pattern. And on that note, in Crouwel’s case
“ There were the letterforms he invented: type that was not a variation of the rational grotesques he admired and used almost exclusively, but display faces which, although being based on a grid, were also highly unusual, quirky and personal.” -Kees Broos
d “I am a
functionalist
troubled by aesthetics.”
In the Netherlands, in the period between the two World Wars, there were attractive opportunities for designers that emerged which were design for pavilions and stands for world exhibitions and commercial trade fairs. Artist and graphic designers had an opportunity to work with each other and with progressive architects (Broos 8). In this time, Crouwel exercised his type experiment by designing exhibition stands for a specialized firm, he also occasionally worked for Dick Elffers, one of the most successful graphic designers in post-war Holland. Because of these reasons, Swiss Design and Functionalism was the major influence of Wim Crouwel’s work. He says, “My guiding principle is that in a certain sense design must order things, in order to provide people with the greatest possible clarity. Their spiritual development, and raising society to new levels, is served by this form of normality, this nonsense simplicity of Functionalism.” Crowel added to his statement,
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In the creative process, both Benton and Crouwel always carefully analysed every assignment. However, it is safe to say that Benton was a pluralist who created more conservative designs. On the other hand, Crouwel was more expressive because of the influence of his cultural background. Benton went on to become the most prolific type designer in America, producing more than 180 types of great diversity. These includes Cloister Old Style, Franklin Gothic, Bulmer, and Century Schoolbook (“identifont”). He became known for his humorous novelty designs such as Hobo, Bulmer, and Broadway. On the other hand, Crouwel’s designs were heavily done on modular structures and grids, such as New Alphabet, Fodor, and Catalogue. These typefaces are evident of his observations of the digital world. His modernist functionalism approach was also integrated with his own perspective of the world. In 1980, Crouwel wrote,
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“ experimental typography and functional typography other. Experimental typography is not only reflecting self-reflexion. As soon as we carry out experiments solution, that means as soon as we do research, we experimental typography never results in a solution
Typefaces that Benton and Crouwel created were very different in popularity. Benton created a wide range of typefaces and revived many historical ones that became very commercially used and still in use today. In contrast, Crouwel’s typefaces were known because of the indifferent quality that they have. Benton created Gothic
are, up to a certain point, opponents of each a cultural pattern, but gives primarily a in order to improve a certain typographical cannot speak of experimental typography; for a certain problems.”
Typefaces that were heavily used in mass production. Crouwel’s first set of typeface, New Alphabet was popular because of its abstract and quirky characteristic. New Alphabet was not used in many designs, however it is distinctive to a new age of technology at that time.
Sketches of Bodoni by Morris Fuller Benton
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Sketches of new alphabet by Wim Crouwel
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Gothic is an obsolete term that means
In 1967 Crouwel’s sans serif. It became very popular for
New Alphabet s e e m s t o b e
Even though Crouwel’s father made the technical drawings the set advertising and promotional work in
of alphabet could be regarded as his first set of typeface. It was America (“Identifont”). Franklin Gothic
more or less a complete alphabet, including numerals and in three (1903) was one of the first of many type-
widths ( Middendorp 120). New Alphabet is pretty abstract with faces Benton created at the ATF.
some letterforms not easily recognisable and one would have to It is an excellent all-round display face,
learn to read them anew. New Alphabet was constructed by only good for posters, headlines, and other
horizontal and vertical lines, and with 45 degree sheared corners. commercial work. Here, Benton was
It was in principle lower case, although a line above the letter likely influenced by earlier sans serif
could indicate capitals. designs released in Germany.
Franklin Gothic has a friendly feeling, but also heaviness and boldness. The uppercase letters manage to maintain the elegance, heaviness and lightness that are seen in the lowercase. After creating Franklin Gothic, Benton created more of these sans serif typefaces that are based on it. Alternate Gothic is the bold version of Franklin Gothic. News Gothic is essentially the medium weight version of Franklin Gothic. In addition, his revival of typefaces is also still in use today.
NnOo
NnOoP
created in reaction to the new digital typography. Crouwel’s statement on his typeface, “ I simply wanted to make a consistent alphabet on the basis of that grid of squares. I did not want any cluttering of vertical stems and did not find a solution within the conventional structure of characters. So I began researching the past, looking at alternative signs with which I could replace the conventional forms. One could have made them, but I wanted them to have some kind of footing in the history of type.”
AaBbCcDdEeF
AaBbCcDdE HhLIIiJjKkLl HhLIIiJjK oPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxY PpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwX
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The Prolific American and Quirky Dutch
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p d
In Total Design, Crouwel was regarded as “the system general” because of his systematic work. His most commercially successful typeface was Gridnik (1974), which rely heavily done on modular structures and grids. This was based of Crouwel’s Olivetti and postage stamp designs. This typeface does no have any curves, it is made from all straight and diagonal lines. The basic form is a rectangle, with 45-degree corners. “In close up, the type has some subtle typographic features, such as rounded corners and terminals set at slight angles.” (Middendorp 122).
This work is also indicative to grotesque pattern but Crouwel incorporate his edgy spirituality. 33
As
type
designers,
Benton and Crouwel
created fonts that had a somewhat
ostentatious personality
Wim Crouwel also created Fodor (1969), Stedelijk and Catalogue that were custom designed typefaces for different commissioned works. Even though his grid-based characteristic still appears in these typefaces, Crouwel intermittently created Benton worked on creating Hobo (1910), Bulmer (1928)
typefaces during commissioned work, which have character-
Benton worked on creating Hobo (1910), Bulmer (1928) and Broadway (1929), which are a few that are indicative
istics that are indicative of Crouwel’s personal feelings to the
and Broadway (1929), which are a few that are indicative of Avant-Garde influence in America. However there is
assignment or to the commissionaire. Kees Bross commented on
of Avant-Garde influence in America. not much said about these fonts.
Crouwel’s work,
Their appearances differ from traditional or conservative serif or sans serif typefaces providing evidence of some
Playfulness incorporated in
the creation of these typefaces.
“ His obvious preferences for certain characterized them evolved during
Fodor was a custom design typeface that he made for a poster of Job Hansen’s exhibition in Fodor Museums (Broos 76). Job Hansens’ works were influenced by Baroque, thus this typeface was indicative of Baroque in a strict grid system. Stedelijk was originally a typeface that he created for a poster for
Vormgevers (designers) show in 1968 in Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (Bross 88). This typeface was inspired by the previous Fodor grid-like poster design that he based his typeface on. Catalogue was a humorous typeface that was derived from a one-word lettering project for a Claes Oldenberg exhibition in 1970, also at Stedelijk (Middendorp 119). This typeface recalled the character-
forms of letters and details that the process of working with them.”
istic of the artist’s soft objects works. The creation of the complete alphabet was a present for Claes Oldenbourgs a personal friend of Crouwel (Middendorp 120). Crouwel really adapted the grid as his guiding principle in everything that he made. Emil Ruder, one of the known designers in his time, wrote
“ If the typographic grid started with Bauhaus, the movable grid with Karl Gertsner, then the total grid can be attributed to Wim Crouwel.” (Middendorp116).
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Technology played a huge role in the characteristic of typefaces created by both Morris Fuller Benton and Wim Crouwel. Benton lived in a period where mass production was in high demand and printing press industries were spreading throughout America. Crouwel is still living today, and during his most creative creations, he lived in a period where the computer emerged and the
Benton’s father was a type-founder and the inventor
Macintosh change the world of typography design.
of the matrix-cutting machine, which revolutionised printing. His studies in Cornell in 1892 as mechanical engineering major helped the vast improvement of his in-house type foundry. A few months after he graduated, he became his father’s assistant in ATF. Benton helped his father to further develop the engraving machines and other typefoundries equipment. As a result, he started to learn about typefaces and dived into it with great fascination. The creation of the delineating machine by Morris Fuller Benton’s father expanded. It was a refined pantograph with a microscope attachment.
This machine was capable not only of scaling a single font design pattern to a variety of sizes, but could also condense, extend, and slant the design very accurately (Cost 35). This invention made it accessible for Benton to make hundreds of typefaces and typeface families.
“Benton is also accredited with creating some order out of chaos in the typographical world, by establishing the concept of dividing up typefaces or fonts into families. He was also responsible for some of the most successful revivals in typographic history when he interpreted ” the Bodoni and Garamond typefaces. Benton’s father’s pantograph machine distorted the letterforms on the patterns it used for making type in different point sizes, which enhanced optical scaling. Optical scaling is very important in the digital world. Digital type on a computer screen especially needs to be as legible and comfortable to read as possible. During Wim Crouwel’s life, phototypesetting emerged and was advanced, only to later replace with the digital Macintosh and Adobe PostScript fonts.
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Wim Crouwel’s work showed his very personal attachment to technology with the rise of electronic communication in 1967. The creation of his first set of letterforms was in reaction to seeing the digital structure of Garamond, which was one of the typefaces that Benton revived. It reinforced his conviction that “typefaces had failed to evolve along with technical advancements.” It gave him immediate incentive to create a new font that would not suffer the technical shortcomings that led to the evolution of his New Alphabet between 1965-1967 (Bross 17). In his promotion brochure, subtitled “an introduction for a programmed typography” (Lupton 28). He remarked that “traditional alphabet whose letters are individually designed with meticulous care belong to an era in which typesetting too was a task performed by hand, allowing subtle corrections and subjective interventions. With the advent of new technologies, it had become necessary to create new letterforms that were better suited to these new developments.” (Middendorp 120). Middendorp also commented on the publication of New Alphabet as a sign of the times,
a
“ The photographic world from the world of metal 40
The Prolific American and Quirky Dutch
has seen a f a s t tra ns it io n type to that of p h o t o t y p e s e t t i n g . �
“Living with computers gives
f u n n y i d eas. ” -Wim Crouwel
The improvement in technology led to several typographic experiments. In the 1980 and 1990s, computers started to become ubiquitous, and Crouwel’s New Alphabet seemed to symbolize the primeval age of the computer. But sometimes it was still seen in print, always badly drawn. And for this reason he started to digitalize all of his typefaces with the help of David Quay in London Foundry with all required symbols and characters duly included (Broos 20). Three versions were produced called Architype New Alphabet 1, 2 and 3. He then digitalized his other typefaces. The letter used for Crouwel’s Vormgevers poster was extended into and became Architype Stedeljik, and Crouwel’s Fodor typeface created for a museum poster became Architype Fodor. He also developed the type family of Gridnik now called Foundry Gridnik.
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The Prolific American and Quirky Dutch
Crouwel summarized his thoughts about the cultural context of the creation of typography, saying,
“Each period has the type it needs, one which reflects an overall cultural pattern. I believe that we fail in this respect. Our types are generally anachronistic. The lettertype for our time will certainly not be based on the written or drawn models of the past. The type that is to emerge will be determined by contemporary man, who knows the computer and also how to live with it.�
p ay h k g
a
y
Typeface design will continue on developing in different places around the world. Morris Fuller Benton and Wim Crouwel are two typographers with completely different cultural backgrounds who lived in different eras, yet their legacies in today’s design world are undeniably significant. The experimentations that Benton executed were very beneficial in today’s typeface design. His revivals of different historical typefaces and the wide range of diverse typefaces are deeply appreciated in today’s evolving world. Conversely, even though Wim Crouwel’s typefaces were not used as much as Benton’s, his work was very fresh and conveyed a different take in designing typefaces. His systematic and quirky typeface opens the mind of designers to push the boundaries of experimentation. Typefaces that both designers created emphasize the process that is needed and should be demonstrated in today’s design.
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Books
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Broos, Kees. wim crouwel alphabets. Herengracht: BIS Publishers, 2003. 10-110. Print.
Baines, Phil, and Andrew Haslam. Type And Typography. 2nd. New York, NY: Watson-Guptill, 2005. Print.
Dodd, Robin. From Gutenberg to Opentype: An Illustrated History
of Type From the Earliest Letterforms to the Latest Digital Fonts. Vancouver: Hartley & Marks, 2006. Print
Lupton, Ellen. Thinking With Type, A Critical Guide For Designers,
Writers, Editors, & Students. Princeton Architectural Pr, 2004. Print. Macmillan, N. An a-z of type designers. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. Print. Middendorp, Jan. Dutch Type. Illustrated. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2004. 114-135. Print. Remington, R. Roger, and Lisa Bodenstedt. American Modernism, Graphic Design 1920-1960. New Haven: Yale Univ Press, 2003. Print.
or
ks
d c ite Online Sources
Cost, Patricia A. “Printing History.” Printing History.
Volume 16.No 1 (1994): 27-44. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. <http://www.printinghistory.org/publications/printinghistory/os-articles/31-32-Cost-Benton.pdf>. “Morris Fuller Benton (1872-1948).” Identifont. N.p. Web. 14 Nov 2012. <http://www.identifont.com/show?16W>. “Wim Crouwel.” Design Museum. Design Museum, n.d. Web. 15 Nov 2012. <http://designmuseum.org/design/wim-crouwel>.
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Designer
Carissa L. Sudjono Typefaces
Chentelham, Bodoni, Franklin Gothic, Fodor, Gridnik, NewAlphabet, Stedelijk Course
Typography III Faculty
Francheska Guerrero
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