Fonts of Karlgeorg Hoefer in the Linotype Library

Prof. Karlgeorg Hoefer was one one the most influential calligraphers of the 20th Century. Aside from leading numerous workshops inside the United States, as well as abroad, he taught for decades at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach am Main (Germany). One of his most representative typefaces is Salto, which he developed in 1952 for the Klingspor foundry in Offenbach.
More about the fonts:


Beneta™
Karlgeorg Hoefer designed Beneta in 1991, inspired by the Littera beneventana, the script of the Benedictine scribes from the 10th to the 12th century. During this time, scribes began to use wider pens and set them at a 45 degree angle to the paper, which caused their scripts to have radical stroke contrasts. This script was mainly used for books and certificates but disappeared by the end of the 13th century. Beneta revives the characteristics of this historic script, changing a line of text into an almost ornamental space. Beneta should be used in middle to larger point sizes for shorter texts and headlines.


Bigband™
Karlgeorg Hoefer designed Bigband in 1974. The font lends text a sense of unpredictablility and change due to the irregular design of the inner areas and outer contours of the characters. Bigband is available in two weights, Bigband and Bigband Terrazzo, which can be combined effectively. Bigband is a striking and modern display font which lends itself to numerous applications.


Notre Dame™
The structure of forms once used mainly for liturgical purposes gave the idea for the font Notre Dame. Digital techniques made it possible to add Gothic ornaments and borders to the font, perfect for designing anything which should have a late Gothic feel.


Omnia™
Between the 3rd and the 9th centuries, calligraphers showed a marked preference for plain, curved capitals. Holding the quill at an angle allowed for a swift writing movement. Omnia is the modern combination of the Classical Roman monumental capitals and Roman cursive hands.
Omnia’s handwritten forms leads to line lengths that are longer than those set in more traditional text faces. The design is therefore ideal for shorter passages of text. Especially when used as a headline face for certificates, diplomas, or posters, Omnia evokes a ceremonial character.
Karlgeorg Hoefer created Omnia in 1990 for Linotype’s Type Before Gutenberg collection, which included the work of twelve contemporary designers representing writing style styles popular in Europe prior to 1450.


Salto™
Salto font was introduced in 1952 by the foundry Gebr. Klingspor in Offenbach. The capital letters were drawn with a brush, the lower case with a broad-tipped pen developed by Hoefer especially for the task. Salto font reflects the Zeitgeist of the 1950s, appearing frequently in advertisements during the years of the Wirtschaftswunder. The font’s extravagance and dynamic quality arise from the contrast between the strong, zestful capitals and the more reserved lower case letters.


San Marco™
The Italian rotunda style of blackletter writing from the fifteenth century, and the blackletter rotunda types of Nicolas Jenson gave Hoefer the inspiration to design San Marco. Though we often eulogize Jenson’s beautiful early roman typeface, we sometimes forget he actually designed many more blackletter types than roman or greek. He used his fine blackletter types in the history and medicine books he printed in Venice. The San Marco typeface was named for the San Marco cathedral in the center of Venice, and reflects its curvaceous arches and round-vaulted spaces. Its highly stylized characters make the San Marco typeface a good choice for compelling and potent display typography.


Sho™
The master German calligrapher Karlgeorg Hoefer created the Sho typeface for Linotype’s Calligraphy for Print collection. Sho is very different from most calligraphic typefaces, in that it creates its own new style, rather than mimicking an older one. Hoefer’s striking letters have generous forms. They were created with a wide lettering brush. This tool influenced the strong, expressive quality of the strokes. The design was originally going to be named after the comedian Charlie Chaplin, because when examined carefully, the lower case c looks like a sleeping man in a boat. This idea had to be discarded due to copyright issues, and the typeface was finally given the name Sho to signify its almost Japanese style.
Sho distinguishes itself formally from other faces via the extreme contrast between its strokes. A unique characteristic of the font is the way it uses simple round forms in many of its letters, lending text set in Sho a peppy and playful feeling.