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meta was designed to be easily read at small sizes
typeface origins
I
n 1984, the German State Post Office, the Bundespost, was persuaded by Erik Spiekermann of MetaDesign to commission a new,
exclusive font for use on all of their printed material. Although the font was digitized, tested, and approved in the summer of 1985, the project was canceled. The Bundespost returned to using one of its many previous typefaces, Helvetica, assuming that digital type would not catch on. In 1989, after design software made creating new fonts more efficient, MetaDesign refined the Bundespost typeface for its own exclusive use, renaming it Meta. Initially, Meta was just used for in-house projects, but soon MetaDesign began to use it in mail-order catalogs for FontShop, a digital type foundry, confounded by Erik Spiekermann. FontShop encouraged the parent company to license the face. Released as FF Meta, it has become one of the most successful typefaces available from FontFont, a subsidiary of FontShop.
book subtitle quoted from Erik Spiekermann
characteristics • 4/5
The E has an angled finial on its top stoke, similar to the C, F, and G
QE The tail of the Q is wavy
The base stroke of the E extends out past the rest of the character
M
eta is part of the Humanistic family of typefaces. These faces draw from calligraphic forms and often feature variable stroke
widths, something that makes them much more legible than other sans-serif fonts. Meta’s characters contain elements that are inconsistent within the family, which helps to make each letterform unique and personal. Meta’s nuanced construction and lack of regularized forms helps to create the typeface’s appealing personality.
The junction of the W rests flat along the cap-height line, just as the junction of the M rests along the baseline
All Meta capitals have flat apices
WK The K has only one junction
characteristics • 6/7
bkhl vwy The y is unique, even within the Meta family, due to its offset junction along the baseline
The upper finial of the Z is angled, opposed to that of the lowercase z which remains flush vertically
These lowercase letters all share slightly bent ascenders, a trait that is carried through the stems of the m, n, p. and q
The finials of these letters are all angled on top, unlike their capital counterparts
Yy Zz
g
Varying stroke widths are something that allow Meta to be readable at such small sizes
A defining characteristic of Meta is the open bowl of the double-story lowercase g
comparisons • 8/9
CC C finial angles
Meta Angled
Helvetica Neue Flush Horizontal
Gill Sans Flush Vertical
Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs Meta Book Roman (32/35pt)
Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs Helvetica Neue Regular (32/35pt)
Pack my box with ďŹ ve dozen liquor jugs Gill Sans Regular (32/35pt)
Q
uirky characteristics exist within the Meta family to help quickly distinguish it from other sans-serif type families. Elements such as angled finials and bent stems are unique to the FF Meta family. Both Helvetica Neue and Gill Sans are much more linear, regularized typefaces, the latter being highly geometric in its construction.
O O O relative width
Meta is a much more condensed typeface than either Helvetica Neue or Futura, as seen when comparing the width of their Os
Meta
Helvetica Neue Gill Sans
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“A real typefac rhythm, needs it comes from Helvetica has any of that.”
ce needs s contrast, handwriting... sn’t got —Erik Spiekermann, designer of FF Meta
comparisons: the antithesis • 12/13
humanistic forms
The stems of the Meta M are angled, and the tail of the Q is wavy. These features lend themselves to a more hand-drawn style, a defining characteristic of FF Meta that differentiates it from Helvetica Neue
Q M MQ
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 0123456789 !@#$%^&*() Meta Book Roman (29/33pt)
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz 0123456789 !@#$%^&*() Helvetica Neue Regular (29/33pt)
M
eta was designed by Erik Spiekermann as an “antithesis of Helvetica,” which he found “boring and bland.” Ironically, Spiekermann was the Design Consultant for the creation of Helvetica Neue. However, in the documentary Helvetica, he makes a witty comparison by saying, “Most people who use Helvetica use it because it’s ubiquitous. It’s like McDonald’s...it’s there...on every street corner, so let’s eat crap because it’s on the corner.”
GJ d iffering parts
The Meta G does not have a spur on the bottom of it, as does the Helvetica Neue G; similarly, the Meta J does not loop on the bottom as does its Helvetica counterpart
the smallest details
The dots, both over characters and in punctuation, of FF Meta (left) are round, opposed to the linear, square forms found in Helvetica Neue.
designer bio
E
rik Spiekermann, born in 1947, calls himself an information architect. He is equally comfortable and prolific as a writer,
graphic and typeface designer, but type is always at the epicenter of this communication dynamo. In 1988, Spiekermann started FontShop, a digital typeface foundry and distributor of fonts. When it comes to the design of typefaces, Spiekermann sees himself
as more of a problem solver than an artist. His process for beginning a new typeface is simple and straightforward. “Identify a problem– like space saving, bad paper, low resolution, on-screen use–then find typefaces that almost work but could be improved,” he explains. “Study them. Note the approaches and failings. Sleep on it, then start sketching without looking at anything else.”
colophon This book was designed by Zach Thomas in the Fall of 2012 for Typography I at Washington University. It measures 6"x9.7" and was printed on 28lb Hammermill paper with a brightness of 100 using a Xerox Color Fiery 550 printer. Pages were bound in an accordion format using cloth tape. All typesetting and diagrams were done using Adobe InDesign CS6. Typefaces in this book include FF Meta Book, book capitals, and Bold, Helvetica Neue, and Gill Sans Light, which was used for copy and caption text.
bibliography
Sweet, Fay. MetaDesign: Design from the Word up. New York: Watson-Guptil Publications, 1999. (A&A: VNC999.6.G4 M48 1999 and Vault) Spiekermann, Erik and Ginger, E.M. Stop Stealing Sheep & Find out how Type Works. USA: Hayden, 1993. (Vault) Revival of the Fittest: Digital Versions of Classic Typefaces/essays by Carolyn Annand ... [et al.]; edited by Philip B. Meggs and Roy McKelvey, New York: RC Publications, Š 2000. (A&A: Z250 .R45 2000) http://fonts.com http://fontfont.com http://linotype.com http://quotefully.com http://typography.com http://typophile.com
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