I have been quite confused on which font to choose for my Partner. Therefore I picked a selection of fonts I feel resembles Swiss Design and structure well. I've started looking into Avenir, Futura, Univers, Bayer Universal and Helvetica.
HELVETICA
Developed at the Haas typefoundry in Münchenstein, Switzerland, to compete with the sans-serif typeface Akzidenz Grotesk, it has succeeded in becoming the most popular typeface in the world. It was originally named "Neue Haas Grotesk", but was renamed Helvetica (from the Latin name for Switzerland) by the German Stempel foundry when they produced versions in 1961.Designer: Max Miedinger & Eduard Hoffman
Year: 1956-58
Copyright: Linotype
Publishers: Linotype and Adobe
Influenced by Akzidenz-Grotesk
Included with Apple's Mac OS X Panther (10.3) operating system.
FUTURA
Designer: Paul Renner
Year: 1927 - 8
Copyright: Neufville
Publishers: Linotype and Adobe
Influenced: Avenir, Odessa, Nobel, Virginia
Included with Apple's Mac OS X Panther (10.3) operating system.
Examples:
Volkswagen still uses Futura in its advertising.
Apollo 11 astronauts left plaque on the moon which was inscribed in Futura capitals.
Used throughout all of Wes Anderson's films.
AVENIR
Designer: Adrian Frutiger
Year: 1988
Copyright: Linotype
Publishers: Linotype and Adobe
Influenced by Futura, 'Avenir' means future in french.
Examples:
The city of Amsterdam uses Avenir as the principal typeface in its corporate identity.
LG Electronics uses Avenir as the primary typeface for buttons on most of their cellular phones.
The AT&T logo as of late 2005 uses Avenir
UNIVERS
Designer: Adrian Frutiger
Year: 1954
Copyright: Linotype
Publishers: Linotype and Adobe
Influenced: Frutiger, Serifa.
Examples:
In the Star Wars opening craw, the title for the film is in Univers.
The current eBay logo is set in Univers.
George W. Bush used Univers for his campaign logos in both 2000 and 2004
BAYER UNIVERSAL
Designer: Herbert Bayer, Denis Kegler, Richard Kegler
Year: 1925, 1997
Copyright: P22
Publishers: P22
There are no upper-case characters!
I researched Herbert Bayers typeface 'Universal, Architype', even though this font is not included within the Adobe Font Folio.
Brad mention Herbert Bayer and said he liked the Bauhaus design movement. Fortunately I had bought this book, 'the abc's of the bauhaus and design theory' a while ago and it had some very useful information on the font itself. It also had original sketches from Bayer himself. It proved very interesting to read.
Universals letterforms are composed of geometrically defined lines of uniform width; the o is a perfect circle, the b, d, and q consist of a circle and a vertical staff, and the x is created by connecting half circles. This is something I could investigate further by using these characteristics for my manipulations.
Bayer Universal is used in the abc logo!
I also read up on Futura, in Simon Gaskell's 'Just My Type' book.
Looked into grid systems and the golden ratio was very intriguing. For the final A2 Poster, I'm going to try and include the golden ratio within the positioning of my alphabet and glyphs, this will further resemble switzerland and its structure.
golden ratio formula - a:b=b(a+b)
side a is to side b as side b is to the sum of both sides.
The golden ratio numerically is 1:1.618
Hans Neuberg and Josef Müller Brockmann posters.
Both showing text at a 45 degree angle. I could present my final typeface like this.
Massimo Vignelli - Knoll International
Karl Gerstner
I came across these images of overlapping coloured fonts from Karl Gerstner and Massimo Vignelli. This then interested me in the use of different coloured fonts overlapping one another using opacity to forecast other colours. As I have been looking at Futura, Avenir, Univers, Bayer Universal and Helvetica, It gave me the idea of overlapping these fonts to see the formations in comparison to each other too. I used Helvetica and overlapped each of the other 4 fonts on top to see the shapes of the letter forms, in the name of my partner, Brad. It was interesting looking at the differences betweens these typefaces. I think they are also quite effective visually.
Outlines of fonts above in order:
Bayer Universal and Univers on top of Helvetica.
Bayer on top of Helvetica.
Avenir on top of Helvetica.
Futura on top of Helvetica.
Univers on top of Helvetica.
Helvetica Bold & Bayer Universal Helvetica Bold & Futura
Helvetica Bold & Avenir
Helvetica Bold & Univers Bold
I have realised after looking at these two fonts together that Univers
is quite similar to Helvetica. It's the closest to Helvetica out of all the others.
Helvetica Bold, Bayer Universal and Univers Bold.
After looking into my swiss related fonts, I have finally decided to use Helvetica as the font to base my manipulations on, that relate to my partner. This is mainly because Helvetica is the epitome of swiss type. The word Helvetica even translates into the word Switzerland. I also find Helvetica as a typeface, easier to manipulate too. Helvetica Bold will be my chosen font that resembles Brad.
I have been looking into the architect Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, as he is relevant to the Swiss/German theme of this project. His building have had an influence on our modern society, as has Helvetica. They both have similar elements. His buildings are very straight, rectangular, structured, bold and appear to look simple. His buildings became a blueprint for the modern industrial society.
Ludwig liked to use exposed metal frame structures to exploit bold rectangular forms.
I plan on incorporating an architectural elements from Ludwig's buildings into Helvetica.
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