5 Graphic Designers Relating to the History of Type
Adrian Frutiger
- Switzerland - 1928 to present
- Typeface designer who influenced the direction which the modern digital typeface and typography scene took in the second half of the 20th century. Best known for creating the Univers and Frutiger typefaces.
- "I first experienced the power of type to make the whole intellectual world readable with the same letters in the days of metal. This awakened in me the urge to develop the best possible legibility. The time soon came when texts were no longer set in metal types but by means of a beam of light. The task of adapting the typefaces of the old masters from relief type to flat film was my best school. When we came to the “Grotesk” style of sanserif, however, I had my own ideas which led to the Univers® family. Technological progress was rapid. Electronic transfer of images brought the stepping, followed by my feelings for form. But today, with curve programs and laser exposure, it seems to me that the way through the desert has been completed.
From all these experiences the most important thing I have learned is that legibility and beauty stand close together and that type design, in its restraint, should be only felt but not perceived by the reader. In the course of my professional life I have aquired knowledge and manual skill. To pass on what I had learned and achieved to the next generation became a necessity."
http://www.linotype.com/720/adrianfrutiger.html
http://theredlist.fr/wiki-2-343-917-998-view-type-profile-frutiger-adrian.html
- "Adrian Frutiger (b. 1928) is one of the most prominent typographers of the twentieth century and the designer of one of the most notable typeface families ever to be created—the sans serif Univers. As a young boy, he experimented with invented scripts and stylized handwriting as a negative response to the formal, cursive penmanship being enforced at the Swiss school he was attending. At the age of sixteen, he began a apprenticeship as a compositor with an Interlaken printer. During this apprenticeship, he also learned woodcutting, engraving, and calligraphy."
http://www.rockpaperink.com/content/article.php?id=59
Erik Spiekermann
- German - 1947 to present
- Graphic designer credited with designing many popular typefaces, such as:
Berliner Grotesk (original is from 1913, digitization is from 1979)
Lo-Type (original is from 1911/14, digitization is from 1980)
ITC Officina Sans (1990)
ITC Officina Serif (1990)
FF Meta (1991–1998)
FF Govan (2001)
FF Info (2000)
FF Unit (2003)
FF Meta Serif (with Christian Schwartz and Kris Sowersby, 2007)- http://edenspiekermann.com/
- http://spiekermann.com/
- "Erik Spiekermann, born 1947, studied History of Art and English in Berlin. He is an information architect, type designer, and author of books and articles on type and typography. He was founder (1979) of MetaDesign, Germany's largest design firm. Projects included corporate design programmes for Audi, Skoda, Volkswagen, Lexus, Heidelberg Printing and wayfinding projects like Berlin Transit, Düsseldorf Airport and many others.
In 1988 he started FontShop, a company for production and distribution of electronic fonts. Erik is board member of ATypI and the German Design Council and Past President of the istd, International Society of Typographic Designers, as well as the iiid. In 2001 he left MetaDesign and is now managing partner and creative director of Edenspiekermann with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, London and San Francisco.
He redesigned The Economist magazine in London for its relaunch in 2001. His book for Adobe Press, "Stop Stealing Sheep" is in its second edition as well as published in German and in Russian. His corporate font family for Nokia was released in 2002. In 2003 he received the Gerrit Noordzij Award from the Royal Academy in Den Haag. His type system DB Type for Deutsche Bahn was awarded the Federal German Design Prize in Gold for 2006. In May 2007 he was the first designer to be elected into the Hall of Fame by the European Design Awards for Communication Design.
Erik is Honorary Professor at the University of the Arts in Bremen and in 2006 received an honorary doctorship from Pasadena Art Center. He was made an Honorary Royal Designer for Industry by the RSA in Britain in 2007 and Ambassador for the European Year of Creativity and Innovation by the European Union for 2009."
http://www.identifont.com/show?12X
Gustav Jaeger
- German - 1925 -
- http://www.identifont.com/show?13W
- "Gustav Jaeger (born 1925, died in July 2010), 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 ofKonrad 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, highlighting Jäger’s ability to experiment successfully with letter forms for text use, and contributing significantly to the Berthold library. Jäger’s typeface Catull™ is currently being used in the logotype for the search engine Google.
In 1980, Gustav Jäger designed Becket™ for Linotype. Becket embodies a retro-medieval aesthetic. Base letterforms that might have been at home with a writer of Irish uncials have been streamlined according to late 20th century tastes to create a timeless effect. Becket is the perfect font to set headlines and logos for clients in the music industry."
Claude Garamond
- French - circa 1490 - 1561
- One of the leading type designers of his time, is credited with the introduction of the apostrophe, the accent and the cedilla into the French language. Many contemporary typefaces, such as Garamond, Granjon and Sabon were based upon his work and influences.
- http://garamond.org/
- http://www.pointlessart.com/education/loyalist/typetalk/garamond/biography.html
- "Claude Garamond – born c. 1480 in Paris, France, died 1561 in Paris, France – type founder, publisher, punch cutter, type designer. 1510: trains as a punch cutter with Simon de Colines in Paris. 1520: trains with Geoffroy Tory. 1530: Garamond’s first type is used in an edition of the book "Paraphrasis in Elegantiarum Libros Laurentii Vallae" by Erasmus. It is based on Aldus Manutius’ type De Aetna, cut in 1455. 1540: King Francis I commissions Garamond to cut a Greek type. Garamond’s ensuing Grec du Roi is used by Robert Estienne in three sizes exclusively for the printing of Greek books. From 1545 onwards: Garamond also works as a publisher, first with Pierre Gaultier and later with Jean Barbe. The first book he published is "Pia et Religiosa Meditatio" by David Chambellan. The books are set using typefaces designed by Garamond. After Garamond’s death, Christoph Plantin from Antwerp, the Le Bé type foundry and the Frankfurt foundry Egenolff-Bermer acquire a large proportion of Garamond’s original punches and matrices. The typefaces Garamond produced between 1530 and 1545 are considered the typographical highlight of the 16th century. His fonts have been widely copied and are still produced and in use today."
- One of the leading type designers of his time, is credited with the introduction of the apostrophe, the accent and the cedilla into the French language. Many contemporary typefaces, such as Garamond, Granjon and Sabon were based upon his work and influences.
- http://garamond.org/
- http://www.pointlessart.com/education/loyalist/typetalk/garamond/biography.html
- "Claude Garamond – born c. 1480 in Paris, France, died 1561 in Paris, France – type founder, publisher, punch cutter, type designer. 1510: trains as a punch cutter with Simon de Colines in Paris. 1520: trains with Geoffroy Tory. 1530: Garamond’s first type is used in an edition of the book "Paraphrasis in Elegantiarum Libros Laurentii Vallae" by Erasmus. It is based on Aldus Manutius’ type De Aetna, cut in 1455. 1540: King Francis I commissions Garamond to cut a Greek type. Garamond’s ensuing Grec du Roi is used by Robert Estienne in three sizes exclusively for the printing of Greek books. From 1545 onwards: Garamond also works as a publisher, first with Pierre Gaultier and later with Jean Barbe. The first book he published is "Pia et Religiosa Meditatio" by David Chambellan. The books are set using typefaces designed by Garamond. After Garamond’s death, Christoph Plantin from Antwerp, the Le Bé type foundry and the Frankfurt foundry Egenolff-Bermer acquire a large proportion of Garamond’s original punches and matrices. The typefaces Garamond produced between 1530 and 1545 are considered the typographical highlight of the 16th century. His fonts have been widely copied and are still produced and in use today."
http://www.linotype.com/414/claudegaramond.html
http://garamond.org/
Erik Spiekermann
- German - 1947 to present
- Graphic designer credited with designing many popular typefaces, such as:
Berliner Grotesk (original is from 1913, digitization is from 1979)
Lo-Type (original is from 1911/14, digitization is from 1980)
ITC Officina Sans (1990)
ITC Officina Serif (1990)
FF Meta (1991–1998)
FF Govan (2001)
FF Info (2000)
FF Unit (2003)
FF Meta Serif (with Christian Schwartz and Kris Sowersby, 2007)- http://edenspiekermann.com/
- http://spiekermann.com/
- "Erik Spiekermann, born 1947, studied History of Art and English in Berlin. He is an information architect, type designer, and author of books and articles on type and typography. He was founder (1979) of MetaDesign, Germany's largest design firm. Projects included corporate design programmes for Audi, Skoda, Volkswagen, Lexus, Heidelberg Printing and wayfinding projects like Berlin Transit, Düsseldorf Airport and many others.
In 1988 he started FontShop, a company for production and distribution of electronic fonts. Erik is board member of ATypI and the German Design Council and Past President of the istd, International Society of Typographic Designers, as well as the iiid. In 2001 he left MetaDesign and is now managing partner and creative director of Edenspiekermann with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, London and San Francisco.
He redesigned The Economist magazine in London for its relaunch in 2001. His book for Adobe Press, "Stop Stealing Sheep" is in its second edition as well as published in German and in Russian. His corporate font family for Nokia was released in 2002. In 2003 he received the Gerrit Noordzij Award from the Royal Academy in Den Haag. His type system DB Type for Deutsche Bahn was awarded the Federal German Design Prize in Gold for 2006. In May 2007 he was the first designer to be elected into the Hall of Fame by the European Design Awards for Communication Design.
Erik is Honorary Professor at the University of the Arts in Bremen and in 2006 received an honorary doctorship from Pasadena Art Center. He was made an Honorary Royal Designer for Industry by the RSA in Britain in 2007 and Ambassador for the European Year of Creativity and Innovation by the European Union for 2009."
http://www.identifont.com/show?12X
http://theredlist.fr/wiki-2-343-917-998-view-type-profile-spiekermann-erik-1.html#photo
Gustav Jaeger
- German - 1925 -
http://www.identifont.com/show?13W
- http://www.identifont.com/show?13W
- "Gustav Jaeger (born 1925, died in July 2010), 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 ofKonrad 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, highlighting Jäger’s ability to experiment successfully with letter forms for text use, and contributing significantly to the Berthold library. Jäger’s typeface Catull™ is currently being used in the logotype for the search engine Google.
In 1980, Gustav Jäger designed Becket™ for Linotype. Becket embodies a retro-medieval aesthetic. Base letterforms that might have been at home with a writer of Irish uncials have been streamlined according to late 20th century tastes to create a timeless effect. Becket is the perfect font to set headlines and logos for clients in the music industry."
http://www.linotype.com/2687/gustavjaeger.html
Stanley Morison
- English - 1889 - 1967
- Typographer, designer and historian of printing. He was a founding member of the Fleuron society (fleuron = typographic ornament) in 1922 and while in the role of typographical consultant to the Times newspaper, he designed the typeface and font family Times New Roman.
- http://www.pointlessart.com/education/loyalist/typetalk/timesnewroman/main.html
- "It is almost impossible to go through daily life without seeing testimony to the work of Stanley Morison, however it is so familiar to us that it mostly goes unnoticed. The Times New Roman font is around us everywhere, from newspapers to books, advertising to company reports. It appears as the font of choice in virtually every word processing program that we open up, yet what is known of it’s designer?"
Stanley Morison
- English - 1889 - 1967
- Typographer, designer and historian of printing. He was a founding member of the Fleuron society (fleuron = typographic ornament) in 1922 and while in the role of typographical consultant to the Times newspaper, he designed the typeface and font family Times New Roman.
- http://www.pointlessart.com/education/loyalist/typetalk/timesnewroman/main.html
- "It is almost impossible to go through daily life without seeing testimony to the work of Stanley Morison, however it is so familiar to us that it mostly goes unnoticed. The Times New Roman font is around us everywhere, from newspapers to books, advertising to company reports. It appears as the font of choice in virtually every word processing program that we open up, yet what is known of it’s designer?"
http://www.rodwell.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/morison.htm
http://theredlist.fr/wiki-2-343-917-998-view-type-profile-morison-stanley.html#photo
