Futura (typeface)
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| Category | Sans-serif |
|---|---|
| Classification | Geometric sans-serif |
| Designer(s) |
Paul Renner |
| Foundry | Bauer Type Foundry Neufville Digital |
| Date released | 1927 |
| Re-issuing foundries | Linotype, ParaType |
| Also known as | "Ikea Sans" |
Futura is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed in 1927 by Paul Renner. It is based on geometric shapes that became representative visual elements of the Bauhaus design style of 1919–1933.[1] Commissioned by the Bauer type foundry, Futura was commercially released in 1927.
The family was originally published in Light, Medium, Bold, and Bold Oblique fonts in 1928. Light Oblique, Medium Oblique, Demibold, and Demibold Oblique fonts were later released in 1930. Book font was released in 1932. Book Oblique font was released in 1939. Extra Bold font was designed by Edwin W. Shaar in 1952. Extra Bold Italic font was designed in 1955 by Edwin W. Shaar and Tommy Thompson.
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 initial design included several geometrically constructed alternative characters and ranging (old-style) figures, which can be found in the typeface Architype Renner.
Futura has an appearance of efficiency and forwardness. The typeface is derived from simple geometric forms (near-perfect circles, triangles and squares) and is based on strokes of near-even weight, which are low in contrast. This is most visible in the almost perfectly round stroke of the o, which is nonetheless slightly ovoid. In designing Futura, Renner avoided the decorative, eliminating non-essential elements. The lowercase has tall ascenders, which rise above the cap line. The uppercase characters present proportions similar to those of classical Roman capitals.
Original Futura design also included small capitals and the old-style figures, which were dropped from the original metal issue of the type. The digital versions of these glyphs were first produced by Neufville Digital under the Futura ND family.[2]
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[edit] Futura Black
Released in 1929, Futura Black is an alternate design that uses stencil letter forms.
[edit] Futura Display (Futura Schlagzeile)
Released in 1932, Futura Display uses more angular strokes, resulting in rectangular letter forms.
[edit] Futura Condensed
Futura Condensed is a condensed version of the original Futura font family. Bold and bold oblique fonts were released in 1930. Medium, medium oblique, extra bold, and extra bold oblique fonts were released in 1936. Light and light oblique fonts were released in 1950.
[edit] Steile Futura
Steile Futura was Paul Renner's attempt to create a typeface that would be closer to the nineteenth century sans serifs than to the geometric model. During the course of development, Renner developed several intermediate versions. Some of the early design could be found in the experimental font called Renner-Grotesk, which appeared as a trial type casting from the Stempel type foundry in 1936. Renner kursiv, a true italic companion to the regular version, was made after Stempel had been taken over by Bauer in 1938.
The work on the type family continued in the 1940s, but Renner's poor health had slowed down the development. Renner started to work again on this project in 1951 under the name of Steile Futura (steil in German means "upright" or "steep").
The font family released by Bauer consist of mager (light), halbfett (medium), fett (bold), kursiv halbfett (medium italic), and kursiv fett (bold italic). The font family was released in 1952–1953. It was sold in German, English, Spanish, and French markets as Steile Futura, Bauer Topic, Vox, Zénith respectively.[3]
The font family has rounder letters than Futura Display. For the first time, italic type features are incorporated in the italic fonts. The fonts incorporate handwriting features, especially in italic version.
[edit] Futura ND
This version is based on the original sources of the Bauersche Giesserei, which had passed its typefaces to its Barcelona branch, Fundición Tipográfica Bauer SL. Released in 1999 by Neufville Digital – a joint venture of Fundición Tipográfica Bauer SL and Visualogik Technology & Design b.v – it includes small capitals and the old-style figures that had not been made in metal types.
Neufville Digital issued Futura, Futura Black, Futura Condensed, and Futura Display (Futura Schlagzeile) under the Futura ND family.
[edit] ParaType version
The ParaType fonts added Cyrillic characters. They were developed at ParaType (ParaGraph) in 1995 by Vladimir Yefimov. They came in only Light, Book, Medium, Demi weights.
[edit] Futura Futuris
Futuris is a redesign at ParaType (ParaGraph) in 1991 by Vladimir Yefimov that includes Cyrillic characters. Condensed styles were added by in 1993 by Vladimir Yefimov and Alexander Tarbeev. It is available in Light, Medium, Bold, Black (without oblique) weights, while condensed fonts were made in Bold, Extra Bold, all without obliques. Also available are Cameo Extra Bold (black in reverse), Shadow Light, Shadow Extra Bold (black with shadow), Volume Light.
[edit] Futura PT
This version is based on the previous ParaType design by Vladimir Yefimov, but expanded to include 7 weights, with Book, Medium, Bold, Extra Bold weights for condensed fonts. Additional Cyrillic styles were developed in 2007 by Isabella Chaeva.
[edit] Futura Eugenia
This version is based on the Futura Black, but designed at the Polygraphmash type design bureau in 1987 by Elvira Slysh.
[edit] Bukra
Bukra is an Arabic variant designed by Pascal Zoghbi. It consists of Bukra Extra Bold, which was used as an Arabic display typeface for Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai as a complement for Futura Extra Bold. The design was based on Kufi script, but using shortened descenders.
[edit] Influence on other typefaces
The success of Futura coincided with the creation of many new geometric sans-serif faces by competing foundries including Kabel, Metro, Vogue, Erbar, Spartan, Twentieth Century, and Century Gothic among others. Some were near identical copies as in Spartan and Vogue, but others, were uniquely different including Nobel and Kabel.
Typeface designer Adrian Frutiger acknowledges Futura as one of his inspirations for his 1988 typeface Avenir. More recently Futura has been the basis of Ikea Sans and Opel Sans, fonts designed (for Ikea and Opel, respectively) by Robin Nicholas.[4]
Tasse is a revival of Steile Futura.
Beteckna is inspired by Futura.
Braggadocio is based on Futura Black.
Fujiyama is a clone of Futura.
Arkandis Digital Foundry Universalis is also a clone of Futura.
The 2000 typeface Gotham is similarly geometric and based on 1920s signage.
Passata is a modernised version of Futura specifically designed to replace Futura as the corporate branding font of Aarhus University.
[edit] Usage
Futura's success spawned a range of new geometric sans-serif typefaces from competing foundries, and remains one of the most used sans-serif types into the twenty-first century. Futura remains an important typeface family and is used on a daily basis for print and digital purposes as both a headline and body font. The font is also used extensively in advertisements and logos, notably by Volkswagen, Shell Petrol and HP in their print ads.[citation needed] For example, the font is used for the title logo of the 1999 film American Beauty. Futura also features ubiquitously throughout the film adaptation of V for Vendetta, used for everything from the title logo and ending credits, to signs, newspapers, computer screens and other props. Wes Anderson is also fond of the font and has used it for all of his films. In 1997, the Pittsburgh Steelers (an American Football team) switched to rounded numbers on the jersey to match the number font (Futura Condensed) on their helmets. It is also used on the Bell Canada and the current TV5 (Philippines) logo. Futura is also Animax Asia's main typeface.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Ronson, Jon. "Citizen Kubrick", The Guardian, London, March 27, 2004.
[edit] Further reading
- Burke, Christopher, Paul Renner: the art of typography. London: Hyphen Press, 1998. ISBN 0-907259-12-X.
- Jaspert, Berry and Johnson. Encyclopaedia of Type Faces. Cassell Paperback, London; 2001. ISBN 1-84188-139-2
- Lawson, Alexander S., Anatomy of a Typeface. Godine: 1990. ISBN 978-0879233334.
- Meggs, Philip. B and McKelvey, Roy. Revival of the Fittest: Digital Versions of Classic Typefaces. RC Publications; 2002. ISBN 1-883915-08-2
- Haley, Allen. Type: Hot Designers Make Cool Fonts. Rockport Publishers Inc, Gloucester; 1998. ISBN 1-56496-317-9
[edit] External links
- Typowiki: Futura
- Identifont: Futura Black
- Identifont: Futura Display
- Berthold Fonts: Steile Futura - Berthold BQ version
- URW Topic
- ParaType Futura: Futura, Futura PT, Futura Eugenia, Futura Futuris
- Bauertypes Futura ND
- Neufville Digital Futura: Futura, Futura Black, Futura Condensed, Futura Display
- MyFonts: Futura ND, Futura No. 2
- Bukra
- The Guardian's visual review of Futura
