Univers: A New Sans Serif Type by Adrian Frutiger

Univers: A New Sans Serif Type by Adrian Frutiger
By: Emily Ruder

• Modern technical devices make it very easy to produce typefaces.
• Is the progress of mechanic typefounding equal to the visual aspect to handmade type.
• New Types are not intended to last.
• Every typographer can name classic fonts but don't know many new fonts.
• Every press works with one of more standard.
• It looks like our own age is attracted to ephemeral and aviods standard typefaces.
  
• Swiss Designer Adrian Frutiger worked in Paris to design a new san serif typeface
• Instead of adhering to conventional principles of construction Frutiger used forms which permit a rich interplay of visual effect.
  
• To emphasize the visual character of the letters the larger sizes are varied.
  
• The strokes are that are joined are slightly conical in shape.
• The height of capitals are varied.
• The upper parts of g, m, n, p, q are condenced.
• The lower parts of a, b, d, and u are expanded.
• The c is made narrower than o because the white space it makes makes it optically as broad.
• Frutiger's method of allowing all 21 sizes from the beginning was new.
• Univers was prepared in the first place for electric composing machine "Lumitype."
• Altogether there are 17,280 letters and punctuation marks.
  

Before I started at Ringling, I knew nothing about type. I did not know how long it took to make a font, or how many fonts there were. I did not know that comic sans was a horrible horrible type face. I actually thought I was being trendy by setting my birthday party invitations in Comics Sans. My type knowledge consisted only of comic sans, times new, and ariel, default faces. I certainly did not know about Univers, now one of my favorite faces. As a starting design student I was told that Papyrus was bad and Helvetica was good. It wasn't until the beginning of my sophmore that I learned more. I discovered Univers and its many different varities. Creating one opptical typeface is hard enough but create many many different varriations. I can only appriciate the time and work that Adrian Frutiger must have put into creating Univers. A wonderful typeface.