FUTURA
INSPIRATIONS FIRST USE TYPEFACE FAMILY VANITY FAIR CONTROVERSIAL ESSAY CATALOG ISOTYPE GEOGRAPHIC ATLAS MOMA VOLKSWAGEN MISSION APOLLO 11 BARBARA KRUGER STANLEY KUBRICK MUSEUM BARBICAN GALLERY ACCENT BRANDS COVERS WES ANDERSON SCREEN AND POSTERS CONTINUOUS
FUTURA
Futura was the first widespread sans serif typeface. It was designed by Paul Renner (1878-1956) between 1924 and 1926, when he was also the director of Frankfurter Kunstschule art and typography department. As a lecturer he argued that the role of the designer is not only preservation of typographic heritage and handing it on to future generations, but the goal of the project should also be a search for contemporary forms and existing problems solutions that would be true for a given generation.1 When working on Futura Paul Renner was inspired by the simple geometric forms, which reflected the ideas of progress and industry development, which took place in the early decades of the twentieth century. The first font for the cut was cast in 1927 in Bauer’s foundry, Frankfurt2.
Philip B. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis Meggs’ History of Graphic Design 2 Robert Bringhurst The Elements of Typographic Style, p. 282 1
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Paul Renner 02
Metal font in the print workshop at the University of Texas in Austin and its wooden version. 05
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Hamilton Wood Type catalog #25 (1951) 04
Illustration in a brochure from the Bauer’s foundry from 1927 showing the Futura typeface. The Bauer Foundry in Germany produced a more abstract version for Europe than the one presented in America. They began to distribute it during years 1927-1930. 06
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INSPIRATIONS AND FIRST USE Futura is significant for many reasons. It was the first sans serif typeface so widespread that its appearance inspired a large number of new fonts based on the font’s form principles. Futura is considered to be associated with the Bauhaus style, although Renner was not directly involved in the group activities. He was a member of the group prior to Bauhaus – the Deutscher Werkbund. Inspiration as well as the spirit of functionalism and minimalism was shared by both movements. The typeface is devoid of unnecessary ornaments as the form of Futura is based on three geometric figures: circle, square and triangle.
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An ad published in 1930 about the new cut – Futura designed by Paul Renner. Photomontage was at that time still a new graphic form.
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TYPEFACE FAMILY 08
Futura font family has many faces and was one of the former sans serif systems which was developed over the years. The first version from 1927 consisted of the signs of more abstract shapes. During the next three years a new variants of the typeface were created, which expanded the possibilities to adapt the new typography and allowed designers and printers to use it widely.3
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Paul Renner 09
Cover of the book Paul Renner & the art of typography. The author Christopher Burke shows Renner and his work in the historical and political context. He documents Renner’s typographic achievements and the ideas that they represented. The work was published by Hyphen Press in 1998. Paul Renner himself is the author of many publications, the most famous devoted to typography: Kunst als Typografie and Die Kunst der Typographie.
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Philip B. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis Meggs’ History of Graphic Design
FUTURA Light FUTURA Light Italic FUTURA Book FUTURA Medium FUTURA Medium Italic FUTURA Heavy FUTURA Heavy Italic FUTURA Bold FUTURA Bold Italic FUTURA Extra Black FUTURA Bold Condensed FUTURA Black 11
VANITY FAIR In 1929 under the influence of modern, european design trends, especially the Bauhaus, the Vanity Fair magazine changed its typographic setting. Creative director Mehmed Fehmy Agha used Futura typeface and changed the magazine layout convention4.
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Steven Heller Vanity Fair Type: 1930 Style, http://www.designobserver.com
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Illustration for the article Imaginary Interviews written by Miguel Covarrubias was published in the December 1931 issue of the magazine. 11
Initial concept involved the abandonment of headers set in capitals, but a compromise was reached.
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CONTROVERSIAL ESSAY Paul Renner also used Futura in publications written by himself. He was a typographer, as well as a painter and he did not remain indifferent to the events that took place in Germany. Renner criticized the ideology of the Nazis even before Hitler came to power in 1933. He wrote an essay entitled kulturbolschewismus? in which he exposes the Nazi campaign against modern art and architecture as false, racist and dangerous. The title refers to the term ironically popular among conservatives and nationalists, which was used in relation to contemporary art. The text was published by Eugen Rentsch, Renner’s Swiss friend, because the author could not find a German publisher who would agree to release the text in 1932. The readers reactions were mixed. After the Nazis seized power Renner was arrested, his office was searched and he was dismissed from his position at the university.
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This edition of the Renner’s essay kulturbolschewismus? is from 1932, the whole is set in Futura. The cover bears the name of Eugen Rentsch Verlag publishing house, the photo shows a block of flats, which is an example of what was then considered the new architecture. Block was built by architects Paul Artaria and Hans Schmidt in 1929, Basel, Switzerland. 15
CATALOG Futura was classified as a typeface representing the cultural Bolshevism, so it is quite suprising that it was used in the Heinrich Hoffmann’s catalog6. He was Adolf Hitler’s personal photographer whose black and white portraits were part of the propaganda and dictator’s image building. Directory presented the photos and postcards depicting Hitler which then could be ordered for reprint. Hoffman was apparently not interested in Nazi’s political views on design and yet, ironically Futura appeared on the cover.
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Baseline Magazine, Autumn 11/2007, p. 35
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Typeface created by Renner is used in the instruction of the German cipher machine called Enigma. 15
Catalog with Heinrich Hoffman’s photographs with the image of Hitler, ready to order. 17
ISOTYPE As soon as Futura was available it has been adapted for Isotype projects by the Viennese sociologist Otto Neurath. His idea was to create a system of elementary pictographs, a “language without words”. Diagrams were functional and devoid of decorative elements, they balanced with a clear layout of Renner’s typeface5.
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Philip B. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis Meggs’ History of Graphic Design
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Cover of the publication accompanying the 50th anniversary of the Vienna Gesellschaft und Wirtschafts Museum exhibition, which took place in 1975. 17
Excerpt from the illustration in the book Women and Work from 1945. 18
Diagram showing the differences between US and UK citizens votes published in Our two Democracies from 1944. 19 20
Part of Illustration from the book How do you do Tovarich published in 1947. 19
GEOGRAPHIC ATLAS In 1953 World Geo-Graphic Atlas was published, its designer Herbert Bayer spent five years working on this vast publication. Atlas consisted of 120 maps, 1200 diagrams, symbols and comparisons telling stories about our planet as well as presenting detailed information about individual countries and knowledge from different fields: geography, astronomy, economy, sociology. The typeface used by Bayer in his whole publication is Futura7.
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Philip B. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis Meggs’ History of Graphic Design
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MOMA The Documents of Modern Art was a compilation that begun in 1943. George Wittenborn and Heinz Schultz collaborated with Robert Motherwell, general editor, and Bernard Karpel, documentary editor and also librarian at The Museum of Modern Art8. They created groundbreaking series with a purpose to make a major European texts available in English, texts written by modern artists and about modern art. The series were published until 1972. Covers were designed by Paul Rand and set in Futura.
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8 http://www.moma.org/learn/resources/archives/EAD/ Wittenbornb
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Cover for publication from 1945 called piet mondrain: plastic art and pure plastic art. 24
Cover of guillaume apollinaire: the cubist painters published in 1944. 25
Published in 1948 book jean arp: on my way. 26
Series cover for l谩szl贸 moholy-nagy: the new vision from 1946. 23
VOLKSWAGEN Futura has been used in many fields of graphic design, thanks to Helmut Krone Futura Bold became a recognizable typeface in the 50s for its use in business advertising of Volkswagen. It remains so to date9.
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Michael Bierut, Helmut Krone, Period, http://www.designobserver.com
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Think small is a Volkswagen advertisement from 1959, made by Julian Koening, with art directors Helmut Krone and Doyle Dane Bernbach. 25
MISSION APOLLO 11 Probably the most famous example of Futura font usage is it being the official typeface of mission Apollo 11. It was used in graphics and documents illustrating the voyage of the spacecraft to the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin except for an American flag left placards on the surface of the Earth’s satellite, the text said: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969 AD We came in peace for all mankind.” It was set in Futura10. 33
10 http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/F_ Apollo_35th_Anniversary.html
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BARBARA KRUGER In the world of art the most recognizable use of Futura is represented by the works of Barbara Kruger. She uses Futura Bold Italic typeface and short phrases. Black and white photographs and red elements make her style a distinctive statement. Posters and installations that use symbolism drawn from the world of advertising, following its slogans and giving them a perverse meaning – all to realize how important is the critical approach to the surrounding reality. 35
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Untitled (I shop therefore I am) 1987 36
The installation from the exhibition at New York’s Mary Boone Gallery in 1991 entitled Barbara Kruger. The text on the red surface was: “All that seemed beneath you is speaking to you now. All that seemed deaf hears you. All that seemed dumb knows what’s on your mind. All that seemed blind sees through you. All that seemed silent is putting the right words into your mouth. “
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STANLEY KUBRICK The famous director, who admitted his weakness to this typeface was Stanley Kubrick. He used it in his productions, among others in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Eyes Wide Shut.
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Director Stanley Kubrick willingly uses Futura in his films and related materials. Posters for 2001: A Space Odyssey from 1968.
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Entrance to Kubrick exhibition at Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2012. 31
MUSEUM Director of the Dutch museum Boysmans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam Wim Crouwel entrusted the design of a series of posters for the museum to the British group of designers 8vo, stating that Futura has to be used. Posters were created between 1989 and 1994.
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BARBICAN GALLERY London’s Barbican Gallery visual identity is based on Futura. Two designers behind the project are Oliver Knight and Rory Mcgrath, together forming OK-RM. The typeface is used for posters, leaflets, inside the gallery and on the website and annual reports on the gallery activities.
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The poster and information inside the gallery designed for the exhibitions organized in 2005. 46
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Leaflets that are part of promotional materials and identification of a new series of events in the gallery Curve Art in 2006. To create a coherent design the grid used in projects was also used in exhibition area of artist’s works. 46
Visual identification guidelines for the Barbican Gallery, completed by OK-RM in 2007. 35
ACCENT Travis Stearns in 2006 created a small publication called Minnesoahtan Ligatures containing the analysis of the local accent. In order to present the specifics of Minnesota accent the author used and modified Futura typeface. His goal was to create ligatures and discover the connections that emerge from implementing a modernist ideas represented by Futura and its heritage in the context of local community’s language filled with anomalies and hybrids. 48
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BRANDS Swedish airline Swissair used Futura from the 50’s till 90’s. Also IKEA used the typeface in their materials and branding until 2008. In the fashion world such brands as Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana include Futura in their logo. Also streetwear brand Supreme has a recognizable, Futurabased logo used widely on their clothes. Swiss furniture manufacturer known for its collaboration with many prominent designers uses Futura on their website and throughout brand materials as their logo is set in Futura, also new venues and projects names are using the typeface.
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Signs designed for Vitra showroom VitraHouse on their campus by Graphic Through Facility in 2009. 57
Ikea catalog set in Futura before switch to Verdana. 58
Swissair Airlines logo being removed. 59
On bottles of Absolut Vodka brand and in the materials on their website and in general branding. 60
Brand of notebooks called Field Notes by Draplin Design Co. 39
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COVERS Rand was also an author and his publications were set in Futura and it also appeared on the cover. Since then there are numerous examples of designers using this timeless typeface for book, magazine and music covers.
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Cover and layout of The Gentlewoman magazine that uses Futura in the title as well as leads and titles, however not exclusively. This quality magazine creative director is Jop van Bennekom.
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Paul Rand book cover for mechanisierte grafik (mechanised graphics). This is a book he wrote in 1930 that discusses the modern technology impact on visual design. 64 65
Vampire Weekend is a band that used Futura on few of their album covers, here is an example on 2013 release and from their lyrics video for song Step. 66 67
Craig Ward book Popular Lies* About Graphic Design was published in 2013. Author also uses Futura in statements throughout the book that are turned into clever illustrations for specific myth.
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WES ANDERSON Another director known for his distinctive aesthetic and attention to design details is Wes Anderson, who also uses Futura in his films. Futura appears for example in Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and animated Fantastic Mr. Fox. Not only in the credits but throughout the movie on banners, books, posters and other props creating the context the story is set in.
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Stills from The Royal Tenenbaums movie directed by Wes Anderson and released in 2001.
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SCREEN AND POSTERS More recently Futura had been used quite often by film industry for posters and promotional materials for such films as Gravity, Gone Girl, The Social Network and earlier The King’s Speech, The Help, American Beauty, Disney’s The Muppets and Toy Story 3, Life of Pi, The Terminal, The Hangover, The Proposal, Killers and Inside Job. Also appears in credits and branding of hit tv series like Lost and Utopia. But that are only few of many examples and it is a sure bet that there are more to come.
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American Beauty film poster from 2000.
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“Gravity” directed by Alfonso Cuarón in 2013. 72 73
“The King’s Speech” won an Oscar for Best Movie and “The Social Network” for Best Screenplay, both films were relesed in 2010. 75
Directed by David Fincher in 2014 – “Gone Girl”. 45
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CONTINUOUS In the 80s Adrian Frutiger was inspired by Futura when he was designing Avenir typeface and later Avenir Next in 2004 with Akira Kobayashi. Futura originally created by Renner fitted the experimental spirit of the times, it also included a variety of alternate forms for various letters. They were not offered by Bauer with the original metal version of the typeface and left unavailable for many years. These radical forms were revived by The Foundry in Architype Renner typeface in 1997. Bauer Type Foundry has the right to original designs of Futura and a font created on their basis is distributed today by the Spanish Neufville Digital Foundry. Futura is a versatile family with range of weights and styles and timlessly modern look. In the 30’s it was striking, radical and tasteful, but still today it is popular typographic choice used to express elegance, strength, and conceptual clarity.
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Neues Bauen in Berlin published in 1931 was the first modern architecture guide documenting 118 selected buildings built after 1919, it also contained a folded map. Many of the buildings presented were designed by prominent architects like Walter Gropious and also many were destroyed during the World War II. The title was set in Futura Black. 79
From Futura specimen, 1928. 80 81
An artwork by Dustin Canalin called The Recipe is available in print, on mugs and t-shirt since 2010. The work pokes fun at the font being so often used nowadays and even being overdone sometimes.
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abcdefgh ijklmnop rstwuxyz ABCDEFG HIJKLMN OPRSTWU X Y Z 49
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Baseline Magazine, Autumn 11/2007 Bierut Michael, Helmut Krone, Period, http://www.designobserver.com Bringhurst Robert The Elements of Typographic Style, Design Plus, Kraków 2007 Heller Steven, Vanity Fair Type: 1930 Style, http://www.designobserver.com Meggs Philip B., Purvis Alston W., Meggs’ History of Graphic Design http://wiedler.ch/felix http://fontsinuse.com
All photographs rights reserved to the original owners. They are used in this reaserch about Futura typeface for academic purposes only.
Research, text and layout of the publication: Justyna Brzakalik 56