Frutiger (typeface): Difference between revisions
GearedBull (talk | contribs) update infobox |
m language link |
||
| Line 37: | Line 37: | ||
[[hu:Frutiger]] |
[[hu:Frutiger]] |
||
[[ja:フルティガー]] |
[[ja:フルティガー]] |
||
[[zh:Frutiger]] |
|||
==External Links== |
==External Links== |
||
*[http://typophile.com/wiki/Frutiger Typowiki: Frutiger] |
*[http://typophile.com/wiki/Frutiger Typowiki: Frutiger] |
||
Revision as of 05:17, 8 January 2007
 | |
| Category | Realist Sans-serif |
|---|---|
| Designer(s) | Adrian Frutiger |
| Foundry | Linotype |
| Variations | Frutiger Next |
Frutiger is a sans-serif typeface by the Swiss type designer Adrian Frutiger. It was commissioned in 1968 by the newly built Charles De Gaulle International Airport at Roissy, France, which needed a new directional sign system. Instead of using one of his previously designed typefaces like Univers, Frutiger chose to design a new one. The new typeface, originally called Roissy, was completed in 1975 and installed at the airport the same year.
Frutiger's goal was to create a sans serif typeface with the rationality and cleanliness of Univers, but with the organic and proportional aspects of Gill Sans. The result is that Frutiger is a distinctive and legible typeface. The letter properties were suited to the needs of Charles De Gaulle – modern appearance and legibility at various angles, sizes, and distances. Ascenders and descenders are very prominent, and apertures are wide to easily distinguish letters from each other.
The Frutiger family was released publicly in 1976, by the Stempel type foundry in conjunction with Linotype. Frutiger's simple and legible, yet warm and casual character that have made it popular today in advertising and small print. Some major uses of Frutiger are in the corporate identity of the UK National Health Service, and on road signs in Switzerland. The typeface has also been used across the public transport network in Oslo, Norway since the 1980's. It is currently the best-selling typeface of the Linotype foundry.
The Frutiger family was updated in 1997 for signage at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. The new version, named Frutiger Next, changes a number of details and adds a "true" italic style in place of the oblique roman of the original.
As with all successful designs, Frutiger has been much imitated. Adobe's Myriad and Microsoft's Segoe UI are two prominent typefaces whose similarities to Frutiger have aroused controversy.
External links
References
- Philip B. Meggs and Rob Carter. Typographic Specimens: The Great Typefaces. Van Nostrand Reinhold 1993, pp. 163. ISBN 0-442-00758-2
- Jennifer Gibson. "Univers and Frutiger." Revival of the Fittest: Digital Versions of Classical Typefaces, Ed. Philip Meggs and Roy McKelvey, RC Publications 2000, pp. 176-177. ISBN 1-883915-08-2