Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Who is Adrian Frutiger and why is he important to typography?

Adrian Frutiger is one of the most renowned type designers of the modern era. Frutiger began his studies by apprenticing under a printer starting at the age of 16. He continued structuring his work during his formal education while studying in Zurich.

Frutiger has created many typefaces in his career, the most notable of which are univers and frutiger. Frutiger, the man, not the typeface, reveals his focus in type design in his own words when he says, “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.” (well spoken on Frutiger’s part)

Univers is a sans-serif typeface that is comprised of 44 faces in 16 different width, weight, and position combinations. The univers grid is the organization of those difference faces with specific coordinating numbers based on the width, weight, and position combinations. The typeface has been used extensively since the 1960’s.


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