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
[...]Frutiger® Next is a Platinum Collection family, exclusively available from Linotype GmH and authorized partners. Released in 2000, it is a revised and extended version of the famous Frutiger typeface.
Frutiger Next is available either as an extended OpenType family, or in traditional PostScript and TrueType formats. The OpenType version includes seven weights (a new, Ultra Light weight was released solely in OpenType format in 2007). Each weight has upright, true Italic, and Condensed
[...]Retooled with additional weights and improved spacing – Linotype’s Neue Frutiger
We’ve built an entire Micro-Site to illustrate Neue Frutiger’s intrinsicate details.
Visit www.NeueFrutiger.com to learn all about Adrian Frutiger and Akira Kobayashi’s newest family!
During planning for the new Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris at the beginning of the 1970s, it was determined that the airport’s signage system had to include the clearest and most legible lettering
[...]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
[...]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
[...]Neue Frutiger Special Offer: Save 50% on all Neue Frutiger Value Packs!
Valid until September 15, 2009
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.
Biography of Akira Kobayashi:
Studied at the Musashino Art University in Tokyo, and later followed this up with a calligraphy course at the London College of Printing. Freelance type designer since 1997.
Professional experience
April 1983–March 1989
Sha-ken Co. Ltd, Japan Typeface design department
December 1990–June 1993
Jiyu-kobo Ltd, Japan
September 1993–March 1997
TypeBank Co. Ltd, Japan
March 1997–April 2001
Freelance type designer
April 1998–April
[...]The typeface Frutiger™ from the famous font designer Adrian Frutiger is immense popular. Now Linotype offers the complete font family on CD. This enables for the first time to receive the entire font family more easily and inexpensively than buying each font individually.
Euro Symbol: All fonts contain an integrated Euro symbol.
For Frutiger we offer two delivery methods:
– Order the entire Frutiger font family as Value Pack for instant download.
Or
– Order the entire Frutiger font
[...]First encounter at the airport
When the Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport was being planned in Paris in the early 1970s, it was clear that the signage needed to be set in a clear and legible typeface. The development of the wayfinding system was assigned to Adrian Frutiger, and the result was so effective that the demand for the typeface rose, both for general printing as well as navigation systems. The typeface entered the Linotype library in 1977 under the name Frutiger™. It set a new
[...]Adrian Frutiger was born in 1928 at Unterseen near Interlaken (Switzerland). After an apprenticeship as a compositor he made further education in type and graphics at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbeschule) from 1949 to 1951 (teacher: Alfred Willimann and Walter Käch).
Frutiger was called to Paris in 1952 and worked as typeface designer and artistic manager at Deberny & Peignot. He founded his own studio in Arcueil near Paris 1961, together with Bruno Pfäffli and André
[...]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
[...]
Font Designer: Adrian Frutiger, 1976
In 1968, Adrian Frutiger was commissioned to develop a sign and directional system for the new Airport Roissy, later named Charles de Gaulle Airport, in Paris. The font was bolder than original typesetting fonts in order to offer better legibility for the light boxes of the signage system. Adrian Frutiger worked carefully on the letterforms so that characters and words could be recognized even in poor light conditions or when the reader was moving
[...]
Font Designer: Adrian Frutiger, 1976
In 1968, Adrian Frutiger was commissioned to develop a sign and directional system for the new Airport Roissy, later named Charles de Gaulle Airport, in Paris. The font was bolder than original typesetting fonts in order to offer better legibility for the light boxes of the signage system. Adrian Frutiger worked carefully on the letterforms so that characters and words could be recognized even in poor light conditions or when the reader was moving
[...]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
[...]Details, Highlights, and Optimization
During planning for the new Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris at the beginning of the 1970s, it was determined that the airport's signage system had to include the clearest and most legible lettering possible. The development of all signage was put into the hands of Adrian Frutiger and his studio. The team carried out their task so effectively that a huge demand for their typeface soon arose from customers who wanted to employ it in other signage systems, and in printed materials as well. The Frutiger® typeface not only established new standards for signage, but also for a range of other areas in which a clear and legible design would be required, especially for small point sizes and bread-and-butter type. The typeface family that which emerged as a result of this demand was added into the Linotype library as "Frutiger" in 1977.
Frutiger Next, created in 1999, is a further development of Frutiger, not necessarily a rethinking of the design itself. It was based on a new concept, the most obvious visual characteristics of which is the larger x-height, as well as a more pronounced ascender height and descender depth for lower case letters in relation to capitals. This new design created a balanced image and included considerably narrower letterspacing. Frutiger Next meets the demand for a space-saving, modern humanist sans.
2009's
Neue Frutiger is a rethink of the 1977 Frutiger family, now revised and improved by Akira Kobayashi in close collaboration with Adrian Frutiger. Despite the various changes, this "New Frutiger" still fits perfectly with the original Frutiger family, and serves to harmoniously enhance the weights and styles already in existence.
The perfect mix, guaranteed Neue Frutiger has the same character height as Frutiger. As a result of this, already existing Frutiger styles can be mixed with Neue Frutiger where necessary. Likewise, Neue Frutiger is perfect for use alongside Frutiger Serif.
