Or why there´s now an Avenir Next
While Adrian Frutiger has created such famous typefaces as Univers® or Frutiger®, another matter has remained very close to his heart – the design of his linear sans serif – the Avenir.
In 1988, the Swiss typeface designer first presented Avenir to the public, which already at that time marked an excellent alternative to other well known typefaces such as Futura® or Avant Garde®. Compared to the mere metric construction of other typefaces, Avenir
[...]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
[...]
Now is a great time to get reacquianted with the best Linotype faces from the last 10 years; reaquaint is certainly the best word, as you’ve already gotten to know these designs in your visual enviroment for some time.
Since the late 1990s, Linotype has brought new typefaces onto the market that have changed the way the world communicates. Many of our fonts are found on computers in all parts of the globe, and a few have even become household names – at least among graphic
[...]Agilita™ is a new humanistic sanserif typeface designed by Jürgen Weltin. The mulitilingual OpenType font family has rather classical proportions, to give it more distinct word shapes through clear descenders and ascenders.
This new face has a dynamic, yet strong and very functional appearance with a fine but clear emphasis on the horizontals.
The classical approach of Agilita makes it a versatile typeface for largescale textsetting but it can also be used in complex information design
[...]Football Jersey Fonts
Football is in the air! Like all great team sports, football (or soccer, if you are in the US) inspires its fans to identify with their favorite team’s players, and sometimes even with a specific city or country. Each football team has its own visual identity, and the appearance of their logos and jerseys are one of the most exciting areas of graphic design. And it is no surprise that fonts play a strong role!
Below are images of just a few of the jerseys known and
[...]The repetition of simple geometric shapes forms a daily part of our environment. Throughout the 20th century – and into the 21st – typefaces whose designs have taken advantage of this have remained popular. But finding exactly the right mood can be tricky. For your convenience, we have grouped some of our favorite geometric typefaces (mostly sans serif and symbol) into four categories: circles, squares, ovals, and triangles.
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.
No sand required to enjoy this collection of Beach Party-themed fonts. These designs conjure up images ranging from 1960s surfers to tiki huts to DJs playing techno music in a sandpit. So no matter if you are promoting a party, documenting travel adventures, or designing packaging for summertime products, these typefaces will certainly give you that “fun in the sun” feeling.
Customers from all over the world come to Linotype.com every day to purchase fonts. Below is a list of the 20 typeface families that our customers licensed most often in during 2008. Do you know them all?
Here is a selection of hidden font gems. You might know some of these designs already … but do you know them all?
We hope that you enjoy sifting through this selection!
Adrian Frutiger: Right from the beginning, I was convinced that Avenir™ is the better Futura®.
Akira Kobayashi: I share your opinion, but some weights have been missing to make Avenir an all-purpose typeface.
Adrian Frutiger: You mean the condensed weights?
Akira Kobayashi: Yes, with this extension I’m sure Avenir will then be able to cut its own path.
Adrian Frutiger: Then we should get to work putting Avenir onto that path ...
Akira Kobayashi: Yes.
How to order Avenir Next:
Please
[...]Brazilian designer Eduardo Omine designed his Beret family of typefaces in an attempt to create a warm counterpart to the clean, minimalist sans serif of the 20th Century. The most individual characteristics of Beret are the terminals at the ends of its vertical strokes. They are slightly "bent", simulating a subtle flare. Like many classic sans-serif typefaces (e.g., the original Syntax and Univers), this family does not include true (calligraphic) italics. Instead, a masterful set of obliques
[...]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
[...]Swedish designer Lutz Baar creates noteworthy and well-rounded typefaces with a modern and contemporary vibe.
More about the fonts:
Linotype Atlantis™
Atlantis is classified as a European sans serif. In comparison to its American cousins, which display the heavier influence of an antiqua, the European version usually have strictly constructed forms. Those of Atlantis are based on the geometric forms of the circle, square and rectangle. The a is rather stout and the g has an open descender,
[...]Linotype’s Platinum Collection typefaces – Value Packs for the fonts now available
The Platinum Collection is an exclusive series of optimized classic typefaces in the Linotype Library. In close collaboration with world-famous type designers, Linotype has produced reworked, expanded typeface families that are both technologically and aesthetically up to date. These new typeface families have fine, harmonious weights; some have new italic weights and often come complete with Small Caps
[...]
The right fonts for the three official alphabets of the European Union. With the entrance of Bulgaria in January 2007, the Cyrillic script joined the Latin and Greek alphabets to become the Union’s third official alphabet.
Linotype Original Fonts with the “W1G” additional marking meet the character set allocation in accordance with Linotype W1G (World Glyph 1) norm.
Here is a list of all languages supported by W1G fonts (PDF file English/German, 1 mb).
Search our
[...]Adrian Frutiger is considered one of the most important typeface artists of the 20th century. He has been the creator of such internationally renowned typefaces as Avenir™, Linotype Centennial™, Frutiger™, Icone™, Meridien™ and Univers™. Numerous prizes distinguish his pioneering work in the fields of typography and the graphic arts.
More about the fonts:
Apollo™
The text typeface Apollo was designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1962–64, and was one of the first fonts produced by Monotype for
[...]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.
Herb Lubalin (Herbert Frederick) – born 17. 3. 1918 in New York, USA, died 24. 5. 1981 in New York, USA – graphic designer, typographer, type designer, teacher.
1936–39: studies at the Cooper Union in New York. 1939: produces work for the world exhibition in New York. Art director for Deutsch & Shea Advertising (1941–42), Fairchild Publications (1942–43) and Reiss Advertising (1943–45). 1945: vice-president of Sudler & Hennesey Inc. in New York. 1964–69: founds Herb Lubalin Inc. in New York.
[...]Neville Brody – born 23. 4. 1957 in London, England – graphic designer, art director, type designer.
1975: studies painting at Hornsey College and from 1976–79 at the London College of Printing. Numerous record covers. 1981–86: art director of the English magazine "The Face". 1983–87: covers for the London magazine "City Limits". 1987–90: works for the "Arena" magazine. Art director for the magazines "Per Lui" and "Lei" of the Condé Nast Publications in Milan and the French magazine
[...]Matthew Carter – born 1. 10. 1937 in London, England – type designer.
1956: trains as a punch cutter in the Netherlands. 1963–65: typography consultant for Crossfield Electronics. 1965: moves to the USA and works for Mergenthaler-Linotype in New York. 1971: moves back to England where he continues to work for Linotype. 1980–84: typography consultant to Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. 1981: the Royal Society of Arts make him a Royal Designer for Industry. 1981: he and Mike Parker set up
[...]Ed (Ephram Edward) Benguiat, born 27. 10. 1927 in New York, USA, type designer, calligrapher. Studied at Columbia University, New York and the Workshop School of Advertising Art, New York.
1953: associate director of "Esquire" magazine. Opens his own design studio in New York. 1962: joins Photo-Lettering Inc. as typographic design director, a position he still holds today. 1970: joins the International Typeface Corporation and is made vice-president; he works on the in-house magazine
[...]Morris Fuller Benton – born 30. 11. 1872 in Milwaukee, USA, died 30. 6. 1948 in Morristown, USA – engineer, type designer.
After training as a mechanic and engineer, Benton jointed the ATF, where he became type designer and in-house designer with ATF.
Fonts: Benton developed over 200 alphabets, all of which were published by ATF, including Century roman (with Theodor Low de Vinne, 1885), Mariage (1901), Alternate Gothic (1903), Franklin Gothic (1903–12), Cheltenham® (1904), Clearface®
[...]The Russian designer Alexei Chekoulaev created the font Linotype Bariton™ in 1997. Linotype Bariton is part of the TakeType Library, chosen from contestants of Linotype's International Digital Type Design Contests of 1994 and 1997. Designer Alexej Chekoulaev designed his font in one weight to mirror the Zeitgeist of the early 1930s. The characters of this extremely bold font are based on the form of a rectangle though its rounded edges soften its look a bit. Linotype Bariton should be used only
[...]The designer Arthur Baker created the following fonts: Amigo™, Baker Signet™, Kigali™, Marigold™, Oxford™, Pelican™, Sassafras™, Visigoth™.
Tom Carnase – born 1939 – typographer, type designer, teacher, graphic designer.
1959: after completing his studies, Carnase joins the agency Sudler & Hennessey Inc. in New York. 1964–68: freelance designer. Opens the studio Bonder & Carnase Inc. (WTC). 1969–79: vice-president and partner of the agency Lubalin, Smith, Carnase Inc. 1979: opens the Carnase Computer Typography studio. 1980: co-founder and president of the World Typeface Center Inc., an independent type design agency.
[...]Chauncey H. Griffith – born 1879 in Irontown/Ohio, USA, died 1956 in Butler/N.Y., USA – typesetter, machine compositor.
1915: – becomes assistant to the president of Mergenthaler Linotype Company. Newspaper typesetting specialist. 1936: vice president of Mergenthaler Linotype with responsibility for typographic development.
Fonts: Ionic No 5 (1926), Ionic Condensed (1927), Papst (1928–1931), Poster Bodoni™ (1929), Textype (1929), Granjon® bold (1930), Excelsior® (1931), Janson
[...]The designer Erich Gschwind created the font ITC Avant Garde Gothic® in 1977 (with André Gürtler and Christian Mengelt).
Karlgeorg Hoefer was born on February 6th, 1914 in Schlesisch-Drehnow. Following schooling in Schlesien and Hamburg, he served a four-year typesetting apprenticeship from 1930-1934 in Hamburg. After two years of military service, he studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts) in Offenbach am Main and then worked in Potsdam. From 1939 until 1945 he was in active military service and was also a prisoner of the Russians.
His activities as a calligrapher began after his
[...]The German designer Karin Huschka created the fonts Linotype Authentic™ (1999), Chineze Dragon™ (2002) and Picture Yourself™ (2003, with Peter Huschka).
The text font Linotype Authentic is part of the TakeType Library, chosen from the entries of the 1999 International Digital Type Design Contest.
Picture Yourself was a winner in the 2003 International Type Design Contest, sponsored by Linotype GmbH.
Edward Johnston – born 11. 2. 1872 in San José, Uruguay, died 26. 11. 1944 in Ditchling, England – type designer, calligrapher, author, teacher. Studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh.
1898: obtains his Ph. D. Moves to London. Studies ancient writing techniques in the British Museum. 1899–1913: teaches at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London in the new lettering department. 1901–40: teaches at the Royal College of Art in London. 1906: his book "Writing and Illuminating
[...]Designer Erwin Koch created the following fonts: Angro™, Dalcora™ (1989) and Monanti (1989).
Designer Christian Mengelt (born 1938) created the font ITC Avant Garde Gothic® in 1977 (with André Gürtler and Erich Gschwind).
Designer Jan Tomás created the fonts Linotype Alphabat™, Linotype Element™, Linotype Silver™ and Linotype Startec™ in 1999.
These fonts are part of the Take Type Library, chosen from the entries of the 1999 International Digital Type Design Contest for inclusion on the TakeType 3.1 CD.
When you look closely to Linotype Alphabat, the figures start to change from letters into flying bats and scary faces. Linotype Alphabat can be used for very short texts however it is particularly effective
[...]Jürgen Weltin was born on May 8th, 1969 in Constance. After schooling and swimming a lot in the Lake of Constance he worked in a publishing house before he started to study graphic design at the Technical College in Würzburg. After an apprenticeship in design company Stankowski + Duschek and after one term at Bournemouth & Poole College of Art and Design he graduated in Würzburg under Reinhard Haus from Linotype presenting the beginning of the new typeface Linotype Finnegan®.
Then he
[...]American designer Daniel Pelavin created the fonts ITC Anna™ (1991) and ITC Kulukundis™ (1997).
Daniel Pelavin designed ITC Anna for his wedding invitation and reused it on the birth announcement of his first child, Anna, whose namesake it is. The simple geometric forms and their proportions create a unique font appropriate for any special occasion.
ITC Kulukundis is a square, connecting script font which looks as though it could have been cast in shiny chrome for the side of a 1950s
[...]German designer Hans-Jürgen Ellenberger created the following fonts:
Linotype Albafire™ (2002), Linotype Albatross™ (2002), Linotype Albawing™ (2002), Linotype Aspect™ (1999), Linotype Beluga™ (2003), Cajoun™ (2002), Carlin Script™ (2002), Linotype Colibri™ (1999), Linotype Escript™ (2003), Linotype Inagur™ (1999), Mateo™ (1994), Linotype Pegathlon™ (1999), Linotype Rana™ (1997), Linotype Traco™ (1999), Linotype Biosymbols™ (2003), Linotype Chemsymbols™ (2003), Linotype Chemtools™ (2003),
[...]Swedish designer Lutz Baar created the following fonts:
Linotype Atlantis™ (1999), Balder™ (1994), Linotype Feltpen™ (1997), Linotype Kaliber™ (1999), Linotype Nordica™ (1997), Linotype Ordinar™ (1999), Linotype Pisa™ (1997).
Please take a look at the personal designer portrait of Lutz Baar.
German artist Tim Ahrens created the font Linotype Aroma™ in 1999.
Please take a look at the personal designer portrait of Tim Ahrens.
Designer Franko Luin created the following fonts: Ad Hoc, Baskerville™ Classico, Birka™, Bodoni™ Classico, Carniola™, Caslon Classico™, Devin™, Dialog™, Emona™, Esperanto™, Fortuna™, Garamond Classico™, Griffo Classico™, Humana™, Isolde™, Jenson Classico™, Jesper™, Jonatan™, Kalix™, Kasper™, Kis Classico™, Marco Polo™, Memento™, Miramar™, Norma™, Nyfors™, Odense™, Omnibus™, Pax™, Pax™ #2, Persona™, Ragnar™, Res Publica™, Rustika™, Saga™, Semper™, Transport™, Vega™.
Franko Luin, born 6. 4.
[...]Type designer Eduardo Omine was born in 1981 in São Paulo where he still lives. Eduardo Omine graduated from the School of Architecture and Urbanism, São Paulo University (FAUUSP) in 2002. The font Beret™ is his first typeface to be commercially released.
Eduardo Omine designed his Beret family of typefaces in an attempt to create a warm counterpart to the clean, minimalist sans serif of the 20th Century. The most individual characteristics of Beret are the terminals at the ends of its
[...]American designer Paul Veres created the fonts Linotype Aperto™ (1996), Banjoman™ (1996) and Caterina™ (2004).
Linotype Aperto is a typical text font in the style of transitional faces, like its often-used cousin Times. It is available in roman, semibold and bold weights, each with its matching italic. The roman weight is complete with old style figures and small caps. Its balanced, reserved appearance makes Aperto extremely flexible, good for long texts as well as headlines.
Most of the
[...]German designer Carla Schweyer created the font Linotype Ambigue™ in 1999. The original name was "Confidence". This font family receives the first prize at the German Kurt Christians-Foerderpreis in 1997/98. This professional typeface is available in the weights Light, Book, Regular, Medium, Bold and Black. Its interpolated weights offer a subtle differentiation in the grey levels. A special "Small" weights is available which offers a better readability in small point sizes like lexica and
[...]British designer Jeremy Tankard began Blue Island™ in 1996 with the idea of creating a completely ligature-based roman typeface, an original but complex task that took years to realize. Individually, Blue Island's letters can appear a bit dismembered, but when set together, they are clearly transformed into words which fall in waves down the page. Successfully balancing readability with intriguing decorative forms, Blue Island is especially effective for titling. As for its romantic name, Blue
[...]Gustav Jaeger, son of a printer, studied at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach am Main. An enthusiast for type and typography from an early age, he started his career at the Bauer typefoundry, where he developed type specimens promoting the work of Konrad Bauer and Walter Baum. Encouraged by the former, he designed contemporary 1970s display types for H. Berthold AG. He progressed to text types, the first of which, Seneca® BQ, was released by Berthold in 1977. Many others followed,
[...]Swedish designer Mårten Thavenius created Aptifer™ Sans and Aptifer™ Slab for the Linotype Library in 2006. Apart from designing type faces, Mårten Thavenius develops user interfaces for online solutions, mostly complex web based applications and portal systems. Visual design, usability and readability as well as technical implementations are on his daily agenda. He is currently working as a Senior GUI Architect at IBM.
Marten Thavenius lives in Belgium and Sweden.
Visit Mårten’s foundry
[...]Ong Chong Wah (born 1955 in Malaysia) created the fonts Abadi® (1987), Bookman Old Style™ (2005), Delima™ (1993), Footlight® (1986), Mahsuri Sans, Ocean Sans® (1993).
These fonts are part of the Monotype Library OpenType Edition.
Designer Steve Matteson created the fonts Andale® Mono, Andy™, Blueprint™, Curlz® (1995), Fineprint™, Kidprint™ and Truesdell.
Early on, Matteson planned a career in printing management, but a college job editing font bitmaps quickly changed his mind. That’s when he discovered the world of typeface design and font technology, an irresistibly fascinating convergence of left- and right-brain processes. Sensitively designed letters and their digital representations soon became
[...]Robin Nicholas’s early training as an apprentice draftsman let his natural artistic talent fuse with the accuracy and attention to detail required in technical drawing. Typeface design is a similar blend of right- and left-brain activities. Happily for those of us who use fonts, Nicholas’s career path took a turn when he joined the Monotype Type Drawing Office in 1965.
After a period of training at Monotype, Nicholas’s first projects involved redrawing master artwork for typefaces licensed
[...]Patricia Saunders created the fonts Arial® (1982, with Robin Nicholas), Columbus® (1992, with David Saunders) and Monotype Corsiva®.
These fonts are part of the Monotype Library OpenType Edition.
Jim Spiece was born in Wabash, Indiana in 1946. He spent his college years at Indiana University in Bloomington. After working at an advertising agency in New York, he founded his own studio, Spiece Graphics, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Ambigue, Angro, Anno, Anzeigen Grotesk, Aptifer, Balder, Banjoman, Basic Commercial, Becket, Bell Gothic, Beret, Linotype Albafire, Linotype Alphabat, Linotype Aperto, Linotype Aroma, Linotype Atlantis, Linotype Authentic and Linotype Bariton are trademarks of Linotype GmbH and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Arcadia is a trademark of Linotype Corp. registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain other jurisdictions in the name of Linotype Corp. or its licensee Linotype GmbH. Agilita and Avenir are trademarks of Linotype GmbH registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain other jurisdictions.
Blue Island is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated which may be registered in certain jurisdictions.
Bigband is a trademark of Bauer Types.
Avenida, ITC Aftershock, ITC Anna, ITC Bailey, ITC Belter, ITC Benguiat Gothic, ITC Binary, ITC Black Tulip and ITC Blair are trademarks of International Typeface Corporation and may be registered in certain jurisdictions.
ITC Avant Garde Gothic, ITC Bauhaus and ITC Benguiat are trademarks of International Typeface Corporation registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and which may be registered in certain other jurisdictions.
Antique Olive is a trademark of Madame Marcel Olive.
Albany is a trademark of Monotype Imaging Inc. registered in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and may be registered in certain jurisdictions.
Ad Hoc is a trademark of Omnibus.
Abadi, Andale and Arial are trademarks of The Monotype Corporation registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain jurisdictions.
Baker Signet is a trademark of VGC Corporation.
