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Course : Name : Project :
Typography III Moustafa Hassan Publication Project
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CHARACTER Like many disciplines dependent on technology for execution or production, type design has undergone a series of fundamental revolutions and changes in the past century.
Driven by technological advances, this process has completely changed the way people work with type, to the point where someone employed in the field had to adapt to a significantly changing situation multiple times throughout a career. At the beginning of the transition there was the 19th century hot metal typesetting with its very complex and expensive mechanized equipment invented by Monotype and Linotype, which started the Modernist Design movement. After, a period of opto-mechanical photocomposition systems followed in the 1950s and 60s, in which printing with cast letter-forms was replaced with exposure of optical outlines on spinning disks of glass onto light-sensitive paper, this further pushed the Swiss International Style to a global scene. Looking at these transitions, two designers who have been active during the Modernist and Post-Modernist movements come to mind, Adrian Frutiger and Wim Crouwel. These designers are also currently semi-active, meaning again they witnessed yet another transition occurring in typography by the digital simulation of these similar processes, by the computer.
“Form without function is formalism. typography can neither be modern nor beautiful if it just pays homage to form rather than fulfill its purpose – a legible communication.”
Adrian Frutiger
Adrian Frutiger was born in Unterseen, Switzerland on May 24, 1928. At the age of 16 he was apprenticed at the printer Otto Schaerfilli for four years. From 1949 to 1951, he studied at Kunstgewebeschule in Zurich under Walter Kach and Alfred Willimann.
He started his journey as a typeface designer at Deberny Et Peignot. Up till now he has designed sixty six typefaces from classical to modern, and from serif to san-serifs typefaces. With Univers being probably the most well-know typeface that he designed. During the 1950s and 60s,
Frutiger was at the center of the Modernist movement, where they valued a much more functional and scientific approach to design and typography. these ideals later lead to his approach to designing his San serif typefaces Univers and Frutiger. Adrian was able to realize that a systematic approach to expressing the different weights of a typeface would be very useful, this became the building block of Univers, with the numbers system.
Adrian Frutiger’s first commercial typeface was Président – a set of titling capital letters with small, bracketed serifs, released in 1954. A calligraphic, informal, script face, Ondine (“wave” in French), also was released in 1954. In 1955, Méridien, a glyphic, old-style, serif text face was released. The typeface shows inspiration by Nicholas Jenson, and, in the Méridien type, Frutiger’s ideas of letter construction, unity, and organic form, are first expressed together.
Wim Crouwel, born in Groningen, Netherlands in 1928 is a graphic designer and typographer. Vigorous and always distinguished, his career spans from the 1950s until the 21st century.
Wim Crouwel’s Architype Ingenieur
Adrian Furtiger’s Univers
Wim Crouwel, born in Groningen, Netherlands in 1928 is a graphic designer and typographer. Vigorous and always distinguished, his career spans from the 1950s until the
During his studies, he left art school to become a painter, who leans towards Expressionism, but as he got more and more involved with the design modernist movements, he discovered the pleasure of organizing visual information in an aesthetical context. The contrast between Crouwel as a lyrical expressionist painter and objectivist functionalist designer couldn’t be more extreme. This lead to his work being much more emotional and humanistic in comparison to his fellow modernist designers.
As a designer he felt related to the Bauhaus ideas and the swissinspired international style. He was fascinated by the rational aspect in Bauhaus typography, which he discovered through Karl Gerstner’s and Gerard Ifert’s work.
As a designer he felt related to the Bauhaus ideas and the swissinspired international style. He was fascinated by the rational aspect in Bauhaus typography, which he discovered through Karl Gerstner’s and Gerard Ifert’s work.
Although his ideas were bauhaus-related, unlike many Crouwel was not a dogmatist. He was fascinated by the ideas about serial and mass production, as he stated “we need the machine since we have no time”. But he also believed “the machine cannot replace the precision of the human eye and human feeling”.* Crouwel’s work has always consisted of these two essential elements: the emotional aspect and the rational one.
Wim Crouwel, born in Groningen, Netherlands in 1928 is a remarkable and inspiring figure with an inventive spirit and vision, vigorous and always distinguished. He designed his first poster in 1952. After leaving artschool he became a painter leaning towards Expressionism, but as he designed this first poster he discovered the pleasure of organising visual information in an aesthetical context.
drian Frutiger’s first commercial typeface was Président – a set of titling capital letters with small, bracketed serifs, released in 1954. A calligraphic, informal, script face, Ondine (“wave” in French), also was released in 1954. In 1955, Méridien, a glyphic, old-style, serif text face was released. The typeface shows inspiration by Nicholas Jenson, and, in the Méridien type, Frutiger’s ideas of letter construction, unity, and organic form, are first expressed together.
Frutiger’s 1984 typeface Versailles is an old-style serif text with capitals like those in the earlier Président. In Versailles, the serifs are small and glyphic. In 1988, Frutiger completed Avenir (“future” in French), inspired by Futura, with structural likeness to the neogrotesques; Avenir has a full series of unified weights. In 1991, he finished Vectora, a design influenced by Morris Fuller Benton’s type faces Franklin Gothic and News Gothic. The resultant face has a tall x-height and is legible in smallpoint sizes.
Frutiger’s 1984 typeface Versailles is an old-style serif text with capitals like those in the earlier Président. In Versailles, the serifs are small and glyphic. In 1988, Frutiger completed Avenir (“future” in French),
Adrian Frutiger’s first commercial typeface was Président – a set of titling capital letters with small, bracketed serifs, released in 1954. A calligraphic, informal, script face, Ondine (“wave” in French), also was released in 1954. In 1955, Méridien, a glyphic, old-style, serif text face was released. The typeface shows inspiration by Nicholas Jenson, and, in the Méridien type, Frutiger’s ideas of letter construction, unity, and organic form, are first expressed together.