Univers by Sharon Silverberg

UNIVERS

Univers brings in a new evaluation of the sans serif. Its letterforms neither revert to those of older sans serifs or have the demonstrative style of a typeface designed as a revolt against the past. Univers exemplifies the recognition that printing types are a cultural heritage from our ancestors, which should not be neglected or violently altered and which should be passed on to our successors in good condition. Emil Ruder

THE DESIGNER Adrian Frutiger (1928â&#x20AC;&#x201C;present) is one of the most important type designers to emerge since World War II. He was educated in Zurich and began his career in Paris with the Deberny & Peignot

foundry. He is the designer of many notable faces, the best known being the sans serifs Univers and Frutiger. Univers appeared in 1957 in both film and foundry metal for handsetting. From the initial

stages of its design, Frutiger established twenty-one distinct variations of Univers, making it a versatile International Style ideal. Frutiger has said that all his types have Univers as their skeleton.

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President Ordine Meridien Egyptienne Univers Apollo Serifa OCR-B Iridium Frutiger Glypha Icone Breughel Versailles Centennial Avenir Westside Herculaneum Vectura Linotype Didot Pomeijana Rusticana Frutiger Stones Frutiger Symbols Linotype Univers Frutiger Next Frutiger Arabic Frutiger Serif 1954

Frutiger's system is successful because of the sufficient degree of uniformity within the family, identical x-heights and consistent ascender and descender lengths. The integration of twenty-one versions took three years of design efforts and required cutting 35,000 final matrices. 48

FIGURE 2. Variations of Univers according to the Adobe numeric system.

FIGURE 1. Frutiger’s repertoire includes 28 typefaces.

THE UNIVERSAL SYSTEM

THE DESIGN Over the last fifty years, Frutiger has created a broad range of typefaces including OCR-B, a typeface for optical character recognition and Breughel, a typeface made up entirely of curves,

fitting into no existing category ( FIG. 1). He embraced new technology and used it to his advantage in faces such as Centennial, a modern typeface whose fine serifs are made possible by recent

improvements in printing definition. Iridium demonstrated that the classical modern face was neither outdated nor necessarily caused legibility problems. Frutiger himself is skeptical about

theories of legibility. He learned to read with gothic characters without difficulty and believes legibility is solely a matter of habit.1

The creation of Univers was the first instance in the modern era of a designer systematically developing nearly two dozen variations of one typeface ( FIG. 2) . The family’s book face, Univers 55, was

the basis for twenty other variations, each font was unique yet compatible with all the others.2 In Frutiger’s initial system, the first number establishes the letter width, from ultra-condensed (39)

to expanded (94) while the stroke weight is determined by the second number, from heavy (83) to light (47). With Frutiger's input, Linotype released a digital version of Univers in 1999 that set up a new

tri-numeral system that took weight, width and position into account. Despite their practicality, neither of these systems have become standard for digital users.

Modernity STEm of uniform width

round letters extend slightly above the x-height and sit slightly below the baseline

bowl & counteR

short descender

eye

vertical terminal

tapered shoulder joint

square tittle

short crossbar

cap height

x-height

baseline

vertical axis

THE KEY CHARACTERISTICS When Univers was designed, it was truly contemporary in production and form. Designed with both metal and photo typesetting processes in mind, Univers was cutting edge by 1957 standards.

Its form was a visual expression of the optimism of the 1950s about technology and mechanization. 4 To achieve the lofty goal of an expansive, integrated type family, a designer must

be sensitive to the nuances of each letterform while considering the overall system. In the case of Univers, this sophisticated approach to type family design is supported by a well considered

set of typographical characters. Inspired by his study of the limitations of existing sans serifs, Frutiger began with the assumption that “purely geometric characters are unacceptable in

the long run” ( FIG. 3 ).5 This drove the decision to make round letters more square, creating a strong horizontal flow through lines of text. Frutiger’s decision to use varied stroke thicknesses for the

short descender

horizontal terminal

horizontals, diagonals, and verticals was a response to his assessment of visual discrepancies in other faces. Frutiger’s desire to create an efficient and functional type family followed well-

documented research from the 1940s on the mechanics of eye movement during reading.6 Frutiger’s goal was to make letters that fit together so flawlessly that the assemblage formed a new satisfying

gestalt, but he also deemed it important that individual letterforms remain distinct from one another. To maintain each letterform’s integrity, deliberate optical adjustments were made.

FIGURE 3. A close study of Univers’ anatomical structure reveals the quirkiness that helps maintain its optical uniformity. 7

Aa Aa

Gg Gg

Jj Jj

Qq Qq

AaGgJjQq FIGURE 4. Comparing Univers 55 Akzidenz Grotesk, Futura and Gill Sans (top to bottom) reveals how much Frutiger considered and improved upon his predecessors.

THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE The first sans serif was designed by William Caslon Jr. in 1815. Sans serif faces proliferated in the early twentieth century, among them Akzidenz Grotesk (1896), Futura (1927) and Gill Sans (1928). Taking into account the rigid geometry

Helvetica Regular, 24/36

Univers 55, 24/36 FIGURE 5. Helvetica and Univers are often confused, despite distinct differences in individual letterforms.

the contemporary competition of Futura and the quirkiness of Akzidenz Grotesk and Gill Sans, Frutiger created a sans serif face with more humane and complex geometry than that of the prewar sans serifs. As a result, Univers runs more comfortably along the line ( FIG. 4 ).

Univers was created almost simultaneously with other successful alphabets like Max Miedinger’s Helvetica. Both Helvetica and Univers became ubiquitous in ‘50s and ‘60s corporate culture and are often

confused ( FIG. 5 ). Univers’ ascenders and descenders were shortened in comparison with existing typographic norms, and xheights were increased. Higher x-heights also provided greater legibility,

addressing the concern that sans serif type was more difficult to read than serif type. All of these innovations contributed to the overall harmony among letters, allowing for a smooth line flow.7

REFERENCES 1. Pincus W. Jaspert. The Encyclopaedia of Typefaces. (Poole, Dorset: Blandford Press, 1983), 69-70. 2. Carter, Sebastian. Twentieth Century Typographers. (London: Lund Humphries, 2002), 170. 3. Jennifer Gibson. Revival of the Fittest: Digital Versions of Classic Typefaces. (New York: RC Publications), 170.

4. Ibid, 172.

5. Alexander S. Lawson. Anatomy of a Typeface. (Boston: D.R. Godine, 1990), 304.

Printed at Washington University in St. Louis,

6. Gibson, 171.

Fall 2008

8. Ibid, 173.

Set in Univers 47 Light Condensed, 8/12

With its broad palette, Univers opens up a wealth of possibilities for the typographic designer. The 21 versions, with the same x-height, ascender and descender lengths, together with the standardized bold faces, all belong to the same family and, even when used profusely, never give the impression of accidently mated styles. Emil Ruder

UNIVERS