By Adrian Frutiger
Much has been written about the evolution of type: how the forms of our letters took shape, from the roman capitals to the Carolingian minuscules, and how the Latin alphabet was then, essentially, finalized for eternity by the first printing presses of the Renaissance Age.
Looking back from where we stand now, we could say that the original forms of our uppercase letters are around 2,000 years old, while those of our lowercase letters would be over 1,000 years old. And
[...]Adrian Frutiger has spent decades working very closely with Linotype. In the many years of this fruitful collaboration, we’ve accumulated a number of photographs of Adrian Frutiger. These images show glimpses of the different periods and highlights of his life so far, including pictures of him working in his studio, moments of him along with his typefaces, and even more recent shots of him working together with Akira Kobayashi.
We hope that you enjoy browsing through these images.
Frutiger® – the sans serif classic.
Get the original from Linotype as single fonts, in a Value Pack, or on CD.
About Frutiger
Famous type designer Adrian Frutiger created a masterpiece with this typeface. Faced with the challenge of designing an exceptionally legible type for the signs of the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, he developed the now legendary Frutiger in 1968. The original Linotype typeface has since been expanded to include 14 weights and is of course not just
[...]Über die Lesbarkeit
Unter dem Einfluss der verschieden Druckverfahren hat die lateinische Textschrift subtile Formveränderungen erfahren. Grundsätzlich neue Formen sind jedoch keine entstanden. Als Demonstration dafür sind acht a in den meistgelesenen Schriftstilen mit einem Drehraster versehen und übereinander kopiert. Das Resultat zeigt eine erstaunliche Übereinstimmung.
Portrait
We can read because we perceive elements and forms which are familiar to us. So in order to even recognize words, we must first decipher the elements which make up the shapes of the letters – a process which involves the interplay of myriad aspects. To a certain degree, many of us are aware of these aspects. Yet Adrian Frutiger knows about such shifting dynamics in perception in a way no other person can, as he has been instrumental in researching the subject and over several decades
[...]OCR™
OCR A and OCR B are standardized, monospaced fonts designed for "Optical Character Recognition" on electronic devices. OCR A was developed to meet the standards set by the American National Standards Institute in 1966 for the processing of documents by banks, credit card companies and similar businesses. This font was intended to be "read" by scanning devices, and not necessarily by humans. However, because of its "techno" look, it has been re-discovered for advertising and display
[...]With the invention of the printing press, a longing for formal refinement began to awaken. First leaning on the bold and distinct typography of incunabula, styles gradually progressed to culminate in the decorative classical fonts of the 17th and 18th centuries. This growing preoccupation with ever greater refinement was also reflected in the architecture of the times, as well as in objects of daily use, especially furniture. But also the fashionable attire worn by the upper classes of each
[...]
Adrian Frutiger designed Vectora™ for Linotype in 1990, after realizing there was need for a sans serif type that could be read easily at
small sizes . He was influenced by the sans serif types designed by Morris Fuller Benton in the early 1900s for American Type Founders, such as
Franklin Gothic and News Gothic. Vectora has a visually balanced monotone appearance, tall x-heights, taut individual shapes, and open counterspaces - all characteristics that aid in legibility at small sizes. Frutiger also built in design consistency to all the weights and styles to create a harmonious and functional family. When a contemporary sans serif is appropriate for text typography, Vectora provides a practical choice.
