15556387 kmcnena a5book by Kevin McNena

Adrian Frutiger 1928 - 2015

Man on a Mission

I was fortunate. Early in life, I understood that my world was a two-dimensional one. At sixteen I knew that my work would be in black and white.

Contents Adrian Frutiger - Man on a Mission Typefaces

4 16

Typography 32 Semiotics

The French Connection

Charles De Gaul

Orly

Paris Metro

Quotations 54

Adrian

Man on a Mission

rutiger

Typographer

The Early Days

Adrian Frutiger was born on May 24th, 1928, in Unterseen near Interlaken, Switzerland. His mother, Johanna, raised the children and ran the household. His father, Johann worked as a weaver. Adrianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s love of everything mechanical, came about from seeing this in his early years. Living close to a gas works with its coal silos and loading cranes, and a mountain cable car, his passion for model traction engines and the interest in electricity was all generated from seeing this every day. Even the Jacquard loom in his fathers workplace was of interest to him.

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Education

Ernst Eberhard

Franz Knuchel

Frutiger’s education began in 1935. He found little enthusiasim in his first years in school. It wasn’t until his adolesent years that things changed. He enjoyed reading, drawing and painting and soon discovered the children’s books of Ernst Eberhard. The hand-drawn ink illustrations intrigued him. One story about a boy who inherits a large sum of money which enables him to attend the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) in Bern, and ends with the boy studying in Italy. Adrian wrote to Ernst Eberhard, who lived in Unterseen and worked as a secondary school teacher. He recieved a reply with an invitation to visit. The invitation was written in a script that Frutiger started to imitate. During yearly visits to Eberhard, Adrian received critical analysis on his drawings. Eberhard became the first mentor to Frutiger.

Adrian developed a deep relationship with his former primary school teacher Franz Knuchel and his wife Leny. He began to read classic literature by Herman Hesse, particularly Steppenwolf, Narcissus and Goldmund, and The Glass Bead Game, all of which left a lasting impression on him. Frutiger, even at that age, showed a desire to travel extensively, but home remained very important to him. He would eventually live in Paris for almost 20 years.

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Paul Hulliger

Ernst Jordi

It was at the end of secondary school that Adrian’s interest in letterforms began. He didn’t like the stiff up-and-down strokes of the Hulliger Schrift which was developed by the Basel teacher Paul Hulliger. It was brought into the schools in Basel in 1926 and was adopted by ten of Switzerland’s 25 cantons. Frutiger rebelled against the reworked Lucwig Sutterlin’s handwritting style, and straightened the joined, rightward-sloping script, and modelled his own rounder, more flowing one on the writing of Ernst Eberhard.

When Frutiger was 15, he had decided on his career path, but his father was against a ‘starving painter’ profession. Money wasn’t available for a scholarship because of the economic climate. His father advised him to ‘learn a trade, then you can do what you want’. Adrian applied to Ernst Jordi, head of the Otto Schlaefi Buchund Kunstdruckerei AG in Interlaken for a typesetting apprenticeship. His father did not want him to do this as he thought all memebers of the printing trade were socialists. He studied woodcuts at the Gewerbeschule in Bern, and stood out as a conscientious, remarkable and extraordinary student. He produced two publications, one of which was presented as his final submission for his typesetting apprenticeship. After he completed it successfully he began a six month position as a hand compositor at the printing plant Gebr. Fretz Ag in Zurich. 8

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The essence of calligraphy was not building up the black, but rather covering the white, so that the light of the white page remains alive. Alfred Willimann

Just before his 21st birthday, Frutiger began studying type design at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich. Alfred Willimann, a sculptor, graphic artist and typographical designer was his calligraphy teacher who lectured in drawing and lettering. Frutiger presented him his book on churches and received a reply that left his pride dented. Willimann did that to give him a wake up call and get him fired up from the start. Adrian followed him to every class and observed him closely to learn as much a he possibly could. Willimann taught the history of lettering with examples drawn with a piece of chalk held flat against the board imitating a broad nib pen. Frutiger learned to create letters with pen and brush in favour of crafting tools, and also how pressure must be applied at both the beginning and end of the stroke, taking care that the stroke ends donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t become flat.

Man on a Mission

head, I always had this idea of completeness. And that had already In my

started forming under Käch.

think in terms of typeface families

Käch had taught us how to

Walter KÄch

He showed the tracing of the outlines of a script using illustrated examples for drawn scripts. He used Roman Imperial Capitals as a model showing the differences of a correctly and incorrect drawn sans serif capital. Adrian Frutiger adopted many of these form giving principles, which helped in shaping his canonical forms. This knowledge was important when it came to the optical rules governing his letter shapes, refining them over time. This led to the creation of Univers in 1953.

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Work

D&P Deberny & Peignot

EMil Ruder

In 1952, Frutiger, at the age of 24 began his career as a type designer at Deberny & Peignot. He eventually developed his first major textface MĂŠridien. Adrian was encouraged in his approach to the French Antiques, he could put to use all he had learned in the past, while gaining experience in typeface production in hot metal and then, from 1954 in photosetting. He became internationally known for Univers which he derived from earlier designs for a Grotesk.

Emil became another father figure and mentor to Frutiger, whose influence on his work as a type designer was decisive, especially his work on the Univers typeface family. Ruders standard work, Typographie - ein Gestaltungslehrbuch / Typography - A Manual of Design, was set in Univers, and Frutiger wrote the foreward.

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Typefaces a. the art, craft, or process of composing type

and printing from it

b. the selection and planning of type

for printed publications

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Méridien

This was Frutiger’s first major typeface (1954). For someone whose most significant fonts have been sans serifs, it is interesting that his life’s best work has been bookended by two excellent and distinctive serifs, Méridien and Didot.

Adrian Frutiger designed Avenir in 1988, after years of having an interest in sans serif typefaces. The word Avenir means ‘future’ in French and hints that the typeface owes some of its interpretation to Futura. But unlike Futura, Avenir is not purely geometric; it has vertical strokes that are thicker than the horizontals, an “o” that is not a perfect circle, and shortened ascenders. These nuances aid in legibility and give Avenir a harmonious and sensible appearance for both texts and headlines. In 2004 Adrian Frutiger and the type director of Linotype GmbH Akira Kobayashi reworked the Avenir and created the Avenir Next for the Platinum Collection. It includes new small caps, newly designed true italics, and a complete new range of condensed weights. Avenir Next is a versatile sans serif family, ready for large and complex projects from books to signage to advertising. The typeface Adrian Frutiger himself considered his best was Avenir, released in 1988. “The quality of the draughtsmanship – rather than the intellectual idea behind it – is my masterpiece. (...) It was the hardest typeface 19

Avenir

I have worked on in my life. Working on it, I always had human nature in mind. And what’s crucial is that I developed the typeface alone, in peace and quiet – no drafting assistants, no-one was there. My personality is stamped upon it. I’m proud that I was able to create Avenir.” Frutiger crafted Avenir the old-fashioned way… with pen and paper. Arguably a classier version of Futura (even the phrase “à venir” means future in French), Avenir is a favourite with designers because it works beautifully across the spectrum…print, web, signage and packaging. Among the places you can see it in use is at Hong Kong airport, the city of Amsterdam (branding materials and website), BBC Two, and Honda ads in the US. Francois Hollande used it for his Presidential campaign, and Best Buy had a modified version of Avenir Next created for their advertising materials.

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Frutiger

The Frutiger was originally created for Charles de Gaulle Airport (then called Paris-Roissy) in 1975. The font was initially titled Roissy, after the airport, before being renamed a year later when the font family was expanded. Frutiger was intended as a sign and directional system, which meant the letters had to be easily recognized from a distance as well as from various angles. Adrian Frutiger, who hand-crafted each letter, reportedly tested the effectiveness of the typeface for poor lighting conditions and fog by blurring the characters and checking which letterforms could still be identified. Over time, the typeface family grew both in numbers and popularity, and can now be seen not just in large signage, but everywhere including in small body copy.

Frutiger Next

Frutiger has been used in Euro banknotes, numerous logos including Flickr, road signage in Switzerland and Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris It isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t widely known, but the Frutiger typeface has in recent years also been adapted for other language scripts, including Devanagari, Arabic, Greek and Cyrillic.

Frutiger Next is Linotype Libraryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s completely new interpretation of Frutiger, designed in conjunction with Adrian Frutiger and released in 2000. The goal was to create a complete system of 18 weights, and priority was placed on retaining the aesthetic aspects of the original characters while optically adjusting the contrast between weights. The italics in the original Frutiger were based very closely on the roman forms, and in the new Frutiger Next, they are re-designed to be true italics. The expansion and harmonization of the palette in regular, italic and condensed allows a wider range of application; now each regular typeface has a companion italic. With the re-worked forms the areas of application are almost limitless, and Frutiger Next can be used for anything from office communications to multimedia to complex printed materials. Frutiger Next is part of the Linotype Platinum Collection. 21

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Frutiger Serif

Designed by Adrian Frutiger and Akira Kobayashi, Frutiger Serif is a strong, workhorse type family. Based on Frutiger’s classic typeface Meridien, Frutiger Serif has been significantly revised and extended to increase its versatility. New weights, widths, and x-height allow it to perfectly match with the Frutiger Next type system. The generous x-height and open letterforms are excellent for setting large amounts of text at small point sizes. Moreover, the design features elegantly flared stems and exquisite serifs which are beautiful seen up close in large scale. When not paring Frutiger Serif with with Frutiger Next, try using other of Adrian Frutiger’s sans serif types to achieve wonderful effects.

The typeface that made Adrian Frutiger famous around the world has its origins in exercises that he worked on way back in 1949, as a 21-year-old at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts. What was new about Univers was that it treated a font family as a complete, cohesive system for the first time. Its starting point is the regular font (Univers 55), from which all others are derived. The contrast is balanced in such a way that the font is suitable even for long texts. Frutiger placed great importance on the range of differences in weight between capitals and minuscules, and the x-height is unusually large for a font of that period. Composition of the Univers system in 1954 (further fonts have since been added): the first figure stands for weight and the second for character width, with even figures signifying “oblique” 22

Univers

It took 15 years for Univers to become widely known and available on the various types of mechanical and phototypesetting equipment. The cool, systematically designed font family appealed to the rationalistic style which dominated typography in the late 1970s, and corresponded with the aim of “Total Design” (as Wim Crouwel and Ben Bos had named their design agency in 1964). In Holland, Univers became something of an unofficial national font, while designers in the USA and Germany tended to favour Helvetica. In 2004, Univers was comprehensively revised by Adrian Frutiger and Linotype, expanded to include 59 fonts, and given three-figure numbering.

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Univers Next

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Centennial

Univers Next is a completely reworked version of the original Univers family of typefaces designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1957. After a long process of painstakingly detailed revision, Adrian Frutiger and the design team at Linotype completed this large joint project in 1997. The result: a brilliant and cohesive font family of 63 weights and styles including the 4 monospaced typewriter weights. All the existing weights were completely redrawn, with careful attention paid to making the proportions more consistent with each other and improving fine details such as curves and thick-to-thin stroke ratios. The family was expanded from 27 to 63 weights, providing a much larger framework to graphic designers for choosing just the right style. The bold and condensed weights were reworked for improved legibility and on-screen application. The stroke weights were revised for consistency within each face as well as in relationship to the

other weights. By following Frutigerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original designs, the humanist character of the sans serif Univers now comes through more distinctly. The systemized numbering system has also been updated. With its sturdy, clean forms Univers can facilitate an expression of cool elegance and rational competence. In fact, the strong familial relationships between all the styles and weights make it a serviceable choice for large graphic design projects that require versatility with consistency. Frutiger was successful in staying true to his initial aims; the new Linotype Univers does indeed work in longer texts as well as for display settings. The Univers Next Family is a part of the Linotype Platinum Collection and was formerly named Linotype Univers.

Linotype Centennial was designed by Adrian Frutiger and released in 1986 for the celebration of Linotypeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 100th anniversary. Frutiger was influenced by Century, a type designed by Linn Boyd Benton and his son Morris F. Benton for the American Type Founders Company at the end of the nineteenth century. Linotype Centennial is quite close in concept to Century, but it also has the characteristic Frutiger enhancements for contemporary elegance and legibility. It has a vertical stress, slightly condensed forms, a tall x-height, and fairly high contrast between thick and thin strokes. Linotype Centennial is available in several weights and includes small caps, Old style Figures, and Central European accents. This sturdy, clean and tasteful font is an excellent choice for books, magazines, and newspapers.

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Breughel

Adrian Frutiger came up with this unusually purposeful and strong design in 1981 for Linotype. Early humanistic typefaces of the sixteenth century, especially Jenson, served as models for Breughel. The right sides of the stems are vertical and at right angles to the baseline while the left sides of the stem curve into the serifs, making the typeface look as though it slants to the right, and giving it a sense of movement and liveliness. The ductus of the broad-edged pen is reflected in the flow, rhythm, and texture of text set in Breughel, but at the same time this design has a regularity of form that is typographically solid. Breughel is an ideal typeface for the designer with skill and vision. Use it to create innovative publications, posters, and advertisements

Herculanum

Like Pompeijana and Rusticana, Herculanum is one of Adrian Frutiger’s contributions to the “Type Before Gutenberg” series. Linotype invited accomplished designers and calligraphers to create new interpretations of scripts from the centuries before Gutenberg’s revolutionary invention. Herculanum is named after Herculaneum, one of the ancient Roman cities destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The typeface is based on cursive writing found on papyri from this period, and is composed of all-capital letters. Narrow caps are mixed with wide ones, and the lively strokes create an expressive line flow. Alternate caps include A, K, M, N, R, U, V, X, Y and Z. Herculanum has an aura of informal grace and dignity; it works well as an individualistic headline font.

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Nami Nami, the Japanese word for wave, is the latest collaboration between Adrian Frutiger and Linotypes Type Director, Akira Kobayashi. This typeface family is the most humanistic sans serif design ever to come from Adrian Frutiger, and it has an interesting twist: lapidar alternates that may be surfed through with the help of OpenType-savy applications. Adrian Frutiger began the design that would blossom into Nami during the 1980s. Although it would not be produced during the 20th century, it was quite forward thinking. The typeface included several seemingly avant garde alternates; these were lapidary versions of common letterforms. Revisiting the project in 2006, Akira Kobayashi reworked the concept into a working family of three typefaces. Each font contains 483 glyphs, including 11 alternates - two extra forms of the lowercase g, as well as new forms for a, e, h, l, m, n, r, t, and u. 28

Linotype Didot

Adrian Frutigerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interpretation of a turn-of-the19th-century classic. This rich, elegant font is a favourite with high-end fashion, lifestyle and in-flight magazines. Vogue Magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s logo is believed to be a modified version of Linotype Didot.

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On my career path I learned

Typography must be as

to understand that beauty and

beautiful as a forest,

readability â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and up to a certain

not like the

point, banality

concrete jungle

â&#x20AC;&#x201C; are close bedfellows:

of the tenements

the best typeface is the one that

It gives d i s t a n c e between the trees,

impinges least on the readerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

the room to breathe

consciousness, becoming the sole tool that communicates the

and allow for life.

meaning of the writer to the understanding of the reader.

Typo gra phy Man on a Mission

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Frutiger Frutiger 5555 Roman Roman 82pt 82pt Univers Univers 5555 Roman Roman 82pt 82pt

G G G G G G aa aa aa

Univers Univers widerwider and taller and taller than Frutiger than Frutiger StrokeStroke widthwidth aproximately aproximately the same the same

StrokeStroke widthwidth aproximately aproximately the same the same

OpenOpen Counter Counter CurveCurve ends ends in a slight in a slight diagonal diagonal cut cut

OpenOpen Counter Counter Flattened Flattened curvecurve on theonbelly the belly Very slight Very slight thinning thinning wherewhere bottom bottom curvecurve meetsmeets stem stem

Closed Closed Counter Counter CurveCurve ends ends in a in a horizontal horizontal cut cut

Closed Closed Counter Counter

RR RR RR

Frutiger Frutiger narrower narrower than Univers than Univers Univers Univers has larger has larger counters counters and has andahas higher a higher cap-height cap-height

Diagonal Diagonal leg isleg curved is curved wherewhere it exitsit the exitsbowl the bowl

Diagonal Diagonal leg has legmore has more pronounced pronounced curvecurve wherewhere it extisit the extisbowl the bowl

M M M M MM Univers Univers has ahas littlea higher little higher cap-height cap-height than Frutiger than Frutiger

Frutiger Frutiger strokestroke widthwidth is more is more unified unified

Univers Univers has deeper has deeper cuts cuts wherewhere the diagonal the diagonal strokestroke meetsmeets the stem the stem

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Helvetica Helvetica 82pt 82pt MetaNormal MetaNormal Roman Roman 82pt 82pt

GG G G G GG G a aa a aa aa

Helvetica Helvetica widerwider and taller and taller than Meta than Meta Helvetica Helvetica has ahas spura that spur goes that goes into the intostem the stem The terminals in Meta are cut The terminals in Meta arediagonally cut diagonally

StrokeStroke widthwidth aproximately aproximately the same the same

Closed Closed Counter Counter CurveCurve ends ends in a slight in a slight diagonal diagonal cut cut Terminals Terminals followfollow the flow the flow of theofstem the stem

Closed Closed Counter Counter StrokeStroke is curved is curved on theonbelly the belly wherewhere it meets it meets the stem the stem Very slight Very slight thinning thinning wherewhere bottom bottom curvecurve meetsmeets stem stem Has aHas tail aattail theatend theofend theofstem the stem

OpenOpen Counter Counter Terminals Terminals cut diagonally cut diagonally

OpenOpen Counter Counter StrokeStroke straightens straightens on theon the belly belly wherewhere it meets it meets the stem the stem Bowl Bowl strokestroke not equal not equal widthwidth Tail not Tailasnot pronounced as pronounced at at end ofend theofstem the stem

R RR R R R RR

Helvetica Helvetica is clearly is clearly widerwider than Meta than Meta and has andahas higher a higher cap-height cap-height

Diagonal Diagonal leg has legmore has more pronounced pronounced curvecurve wherewhere it extisit the extisbowl the bowl

Diagonal Diagonal leg has legahas slight a slight curvecurve wherewhere it extisit the extisbowl the bowl

M M M M M MM M

Helvetica Helvetica is more is more square square and has andahas higher a higher cap-height cap-height than Meta than Meta

The stems The stems are straight are straight wherewhere they meet they meet the diagonal the diagonal strokestroke

Strokes Strokes are allare diagonal all diagonal Deeper Deeper cuts at cuts theatapex the apex

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Frutiger Frutiger 5555 Roman Roman 82pt 82pt Univers Univers 5555 Roman Roman 82pt 82pt

Q Q Q Q Q Q

Univers Univers tallertaller thanthan Frutiger Frutiger Stroke Stroke widthwidth aproximately aproximately the same the same Frutigers Frutigers tail istail significantly is significantly different different to that to that of Univers of Univers

Diagonal Diagonal tail tail

Horizontal Horizontal tail with tail with slightly slightly concave concave shape shape

kk kk kk

Cap-height Cap-height and and widthwidth almost almost the same the same Stroke Stroke widthwidth are similiar are similiar

LegsLegs comecome to antoangle an angle and and connect connect to the to stem the stem

LegsLegs havehave slightly slightly moremore openopen angleangle

gg gg gg Frutiger Frutiger stroke stroke moremore uniform uniform thanthan Univers Univers Counters Counters very very similiar similiar

MoreMore openopen descender descender where where it exits it exits the bowl the bowl

Closed Closed descender descender where where it extis it extis the bowl the bowl BowlBowl stroke stroke thinner thinner where where it connects it connects to to the stem the stem SlightSlight curvecurve at the at apex the apex of the of stem the stem

S S SS S SS S

Univers Univers has ahas little a little higher higher cap-height cap-height thanthan Frutiger Frutiger and and is much is much widerwider

Frutiger Frutiger has ahas more a more openopen flowing flowing shape shape ending ending withwith slightslight diagonal diagonal cut terminals cut terminals

Univers Univers has more has more a closed a closed shape shape and and terminals terminals are are cut horizontally cut horizontally

Helvetica Helvetica 82pt 82pt MetaNormal MetaNormal Roman Roman 82pt 82pt

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Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q

Helvetica Helvetica widerwider and and tallertaller thanthan MetaMeta Helvetica has ahas spur that that goesgoes Helvetica a spur into into the stem the stem The terminals in Meta are cut The terminals in Meta arediagonally cut diagonally

The cuts tail cuts through The tail through the the Stroke diagonally Stroke diagonally

A curvy tail rather A curvy tail rather thanthan a a flat one flat one

kkkk kk kk

letters similiar in height BothBoth letters similiar in height Stroke aproximately Stroke widthwidth aproximately the same the same

Theconnects leg connects to arm the arm The leg to the the stem and and joinsjoins the stem

a slight at apex the apex StemStem has ahas slight curvecurve at the an angle LegsLegs comecome to antoangle and and do touch not touch the stem do not the stem

g gg g gg gg

Helvetica is very similiar Helvetica is very similiar in cap-height to Meta in cap-height to Meta Stroke about the same Stroke widthwidth about the same

Descender a closed counter Descender has ahas closed counter stroke gradually BowlBowl stroke gradually thinsthins as it as it connects to stem the stem connects to the Single storey descender Single storey descender

A curved A curved ear, ear, storey descender two two storey descender counter withwith openopen counter

a similiar BothBoth shareshare a similiar cap-height cap-height and and widthwidth

Helvetica has more a closed Helvetica has more a closed shape terminals are cut shape and and terminals are cut horizontally horizontally

hasopen an open shape MetaMeta has an shape Stroke heavier in the Stroke widthwidth heavier in the the stroke spinespine thanthan the stroke Terminals cut diagonally Terminals cut diagonally

S S SS SS S S 37

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Frutiger Frutiger

Meta Meta Very Very similiar similiar character character reflected reflected

Same Same character character reflected reflected

abcdefghijklm abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvwxyz nopqrstuvwxyz

Round Round dotdot notnot square square

abcdefghijklm abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvwxyz nopqrstuvwxyz Gap between arm Gap between arm and stem and stem

Very Very similiar similiar character character reflected reflected

Same Same character character reflected reflected

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pq pq bd bd b and b and d are d are thethe same same character character p and p and q are q are thethe same same character character butbut reflected reflected butbut reflected reflected

b and b and d have d have thethe same same cap-height cap-height p and p and q have q have thethe same same cap-height cap-height TheThe descenders descenders of pofand p and q are q are of aofdifferent a different height height than ascenders b and than thethe ascenders of bofand d d

b and b and d are d are almost almost thethe same same p and p and q are q are almost almost thethe same same character character butbut reflected reflected character character butbut reflected reflected

b and b and d have d have thethe same same cap-height cap-height p and p and q have q have thethe same same cap-height cap-height TheThe descenders descenders of pofand p and q are q are thethe same same height height as as thethe ascenders ascenders of bofand b and d d

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Univers

Helvetica

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Very similiar character reflected

Same character reflected

abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklm nopqrstuvwxyz Very similiar character reflected

Same character reflected

pq p q bd bd b and d are the same character but reflected

p and q are the same character but reflected

b and d have the same cap-height p and q have the same cap-height The descenders of p and q are of a different height than the ascenders of b and d

b and d are almost the same p and q are almost the same character but reflected character but reflected

b and d have the same cap-height p and q have the same cap-height The descenders of p and q are ta little longer than the ascenders of b and d

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Eye

Bowl

Crossbar

Shoulder

Arm

Ascender height Cap height x-height Baseline Descender

Descender line Crossbar

Counter

Aperature

Leg

Cap height x-height Baseline Descender line Stem

Spine Terminal

Diagonal Stroke

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Semiotics 1. The study of signs and symbols as elements of communicative behavior; the analysis of systems of communication, as language, gestures, or clothing. 2. a general theory of signs and symbolism, usually divided into the branches of pragmatics, semantics, and syntactics.

In Switzerland, he is best known for ASTRAFrutiger, which has been used for Swiss road signs since 2003. ASTRA-Frutiger was designed to give the eye a better hold and be clear and highly legible at a distance or using small text sizes. His skills were not just limited to road users. Air and rail travellers also benefitted from his genius for combining legibility with style. The old Swiss traffic sign font is called SNV (“Schweizerische Normen-Vereinigung”). It is a very geometric typeface with obvious legibility problems. The SNV fonts can still be found on older Swiss traffic signs and also in Belgium where it is still the main font on road signs. Since 2003 a new font called ASTRA Frutiger is used. It is based on Frutiger 57 Condensed with slight changes. ASTRA Frutiger is used in two styles: “Standard” for normal roads and “Autobahn” for motorways. The latter uses a slightly wider spacing.

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N G I S T E E R T

LO N D O

Man on a Mission Univers Condensed Bold, by Adrian Frutiger,

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a particularly famous street sign design in London, apparently only in Westminster. Street signs like Abbey Road, Downing Street, and Baker Street (with complimentary Sherlock Holmes silhouette). The Westminster street signs are so iconic that the borough have now obtained all copyright to the design and are ready and willing to enforce it...

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Airports

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Alphabet Roissy Designed 1970-72 - Published 1972. Client Aéroport de Paris Typesetting Foil Stamping | Transfer Stamping

Manufacturer Unknown | Letraset Weights 1 Use Aéroport de Paris Signage

Alphabet Roissy

Manufacturer Unknown Weights 2 Use Aéroport d’Orly

Alphabet Orly

The Frutiger typeface welcomes visitors to the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. It was commissioned for use in the airport and implemented on signs throughout the building in 1975. Initially called Roissy, it was renamed after its designer Adrian Frutiger. The Concorde typeface was the starting point. The caps are smaller than the ascenders fo the lowercase letters. The airport signage is bilingual, and differentiated by colour. Taking their direction from a colour expert, a dark yellow was chosen for the background with the French text set in black and the English in white below.

Alphabet Orly Designed 1959 - Published 1961. Commissioned by Aeroport de Paris Orly Sud Typesetting technology 3d neon lettering. Adhesive letter set (backlit)

The signage in Orly Airport began life with Charles Peignot overseeing the design project. He had different colour signs for each location in the airport, departures had blue letters on a light blue background and arrivals had red letters on a pink background. Different signs were added all the time, this led to inconsistencies and caused confusion instead of helping with directing passengers. Signs had varying letter widths, narrow and wide letter shapes were appearing together on panels, different size and shape arrows, text allignment varied from sign to sign, nothing tied it together as a common system. Alphabet Orly is based on the typeface Peignot and Univers. It need a lot of space, the counters are too closed, which can result in a messy appearance. Frutiger’s first signage project was remembered by him a failure.

Departures

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Alphabet Metro Designed 1973 - Published 1973. Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP)

Photosetting Starssettograph Microfilm Manufacturer H. Berthold AG Weights 1 Paris Metro

Metro

Paris Metro

The Paris Metro was opened to coincide with the 1900 World’s Fair. It’s the fourth oldest underground system in the world. The entrances to the stations were visual markers in Art Nouveau, the main style of the time. Compared to the London Underground signage system which was easily read, the Paris system had been led more by the artistic style which was chosen by the architect. This led to a mish mash of styles, of which there were many. By 1970 the metro fell into neglect and something had to be done. Work began and new lines were built and old lines were renovated. The architect Paul Andreu was brought in and he then brought Adrian Frutiger on board.

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“Quo ta tions ” 54

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When I put my pen to a blank sheet, black isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t A letter has to be

added but rather the

as clear as an arrow

white sheet is deprived of light. Thus I also grasped that the empty spaces are the most important aspect of a typeface.

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Several years ago, I saw an elderly lady in a train station trying to

If you remember the shape of your spoon at lunch, it has to be the

decipher the departure schedule.

wrong shape. The spoon and the

She wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t able to make sense of it,

letter are tools; one to take food

because the lettering was too small.

from the bowl, the other to take

So I helped her, of course, and saw

information off the page... When it

myself faced with the challenge

is a good design, the reader has to

of creating a new typeface which

feel comfortable because the letter

could be implemented for such

is both banal and beautiful

purposes

Man on a Mission

The material of

Type consists of black

typography is the

and white elements: type

black, and it is the

bodies, white interiors

designerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s task with

and intermediate spaces.

the help of this black to

On a sign, type places

capture space, to create

different demands on

harmonious whites

readers than when it is

inside the letters as

in a book. When you are

well as between them.

driving a car, or even walking, you have to be able to recognize the letters immediately

Man on a Mission

Helvetica is the jeans,

Type must be open

and Univers the dinner

and clear! It must be

jacket. Helvetica is here

adapted to our lives.

to stay.

Type is the clothing a word wears, so it must be subordinate to the content.

Man on a Mission

Credits Typefaces used Avenir Frutiger Univers Printed on 170g on an Indigo printer Printed in Hackett Printers, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin Cover bound in Duffy Bookbinding, Seville Terrace, Dublin December 2015