Futura (typeface)

Futura
CategorySans-serif
ClassificationGeometric
Designer(s)Paul Renner
FoundryBauer Type Foundry (Bauersche Gießerei)
Date created1927
Re-issuing foundriesIntertype
Shown hereFutura LT

Futura is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Paul Renner and released in 1927.[1] It was designed as a contribution on the New Frankfurt-project. It is based on geometric shapes, especially the circle, similar in spirit to the Bauhaus design style of the period.[2][3] It was developed as a typeface by the Bauer Type Foundry (Bauersche Gießerei), in competition with Ludwig & Mayer's seminal Erbar typeface of 1926.[4][5]

Although Renner was not associated with the Bauhaus, he shared many of its idioms and believed that a modern typeface should express modern models, rather than be a revival of a previous design. Renner's design rejected the approach of most previous sans-serif designs (now often called grotesques), which were based on the models of signpainting, condensed lettering and nineteenth-century serif typefaces, in favour of simple geometric forms: near-perfect circles, triangles and squares. It is based on strokes of near-even weight, which are low in contrast. The lowercase has tall ascenders, which rise above the cap line, and uses nearly-circular, single-storey forms for the "a" and "g", the former previously more common in handwriting than in printed text.[a] The uppercase characters present proportions similar to those of classical Roman capitals.[7] The original metal type showed extensive adaptation of the design to individual sizes, and several divergent digitisations have been released by different companies.[8]

Futura was extensively marketed by Bauer Type Foundry and its American distribution arm by brochure as capturing the spirit of modernity, using the German slogan "die Schrift unserer Zeit" ("the typeface of our time") and in English "the typeface of today and tomorrow".[9][10] It has remained popular since then.[5][11]

  1. ^ Christopher Burke (December 1998). Paul Renner: The Art of Typography. Princeton Architectural Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-56898-158-1.
  2. ^ The Bauhaus Designer Paul Renner. Creativepro.com.
  3. ^ Kupferschmid, Indra (6 January 2012). "True Type of the Bauhaus". Fonts In Use. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  4. ^ Kupferschmid, Indra. "On Erbar and Early Geometric Sans Serifs". CJ Type. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  5. ^ a b Paul Shaw (April 2017). Revival Type: Digital Typefaces Inspired by the Past. Yale University Press. pp. 210–3. ISBN 978-0-300-21929-6.
  6. ^ "Koralle". Fonts in Use. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  7. ^ Ulrich, Ferdinand. "Types of their time – A short history of the geometric sans". FontShop. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Burke1998 manufacturing was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Rhatigan, Dan. "Futura: The Typeface of Today and Tomorrow". Ultrasparky. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  10. ^ Aynsley, Jeremy (2000). Graphic Design in Germany: 1890-1945. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 102–5. ISBN 9780520227965.
  11. ^ Handover, Phyllis Margaret (1958). "Grotesque Letters". Monotype Newsletter, Also Printed in Motif as "Letters Without Serifs".


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