Helvetica Bodoni Futura Garamond

o what are the top a graphic designer should Shave? This list by no means is definitive. In fact, if you search for the top fonts of all time, or top favorite fonts, you will probably see about 20 fonts, out of the 73 billion available, showing up over and over. Not that you can’t grab something off the wall once in a while, but by and large the problem of good typography has been solved over and over, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel or look too hard in strange places for great fonts for regular daily work.

Helvetica Helvetica Bodoni Helvetica Bodoni was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas’sche Schrift- giesserei (Haas type foundry) of München- Bodoni

stein, Switzerland. Haas set out to design a new sans-serif typeface that could compete is a series of serif typefaces first designed Garamond with Akzidenz-Grotesk in the Swiss market. by Giambattista Bodoni (1740–1813) in Originally called Die Neue Haas Grotesk, it 1798. The typeface is classified as didone Garamond was created based on Schelter-Grotesk. The modern. Bodoni followed the ideas of John aim of the new design was to create a neutral Baskerville, as found in the printing type Futura typeface that had great clarity, had no intrin- Baskerville, that of increased stroke contrast sic meaning in its form, and could be used on and a more vertical, slightly condensed, Garamond Futura a wide variety of signage. upper case, but taking them to a more ex- treme conclusion. Bodoni’s typeface has a is the name given to a group of old-style When Linotype adopted the Neue Haas narrower underlying structure with flat, un- serif typefaces named for the punch-cutter Futura Grotesk (which was never planned to be a full bracketed serifs. The face has extreme con- Claude Garamond (c. 1480 – 1561). Most range of mechanical and hot-metal typefaces) of the Garamond faces are more closely trast between thick and thin strokes, and an is a geometric sans-serif typeface de- its design was reworked. After the success of related to the work of a later punch-cutter, overall geometric construction. signed between 1924 and 1926 by Paul Univers, Arthur Ritzel of Stempel redesigned Jean Jannon. A direct relationship between Renner. It is based on geometric shapes Neue Haas Grotesk into a larger family. Garamond’s letterforms and contemporary Bodoni admired the work of John Baskerville that became representative visual ele- type can be found in the Roman versions and studied in detail the designs of French ments of the Bauhaus design style In 1960, the typeface’s name was changed of the typefaces Adobe Garamond, Gran- type founders Pierre Simon Fournier and of 1919–1933. Commissioned by the by Haas’ German parent company Stempel jon, Sabon, and Stempel Garamond. Firmin Didot. Although he drew inspiration Bauer type foundry, Futura was com- to Helvetica (derived from Confoederatio from the work of these designers,[citation mercially released in 1927. Helvetica, the Latin name for Switzerland) in needed] above all from Didot, no doubt Garamond’s letterforms convey a sense order to make it more marketable internation- of fluidity and consistency. Some unique Bodoni found his own style for his type- The family was originally published in ally. It was initially suggested that the type be characteristics in his letters are the small faces, which deservedly gained worldwide Light, Medium, Bold, and Bold Oblique called ‘Helvetsia’ which is the original Latin bowl of the a and the small eye of the e. acceptance among printers. fonts in 1928. Light Oblique, Medium name for Switzerland. This was ignored by Long extenders and top serifs have a Oblique, Demibold, and Demibold Eduard Hoffmann as he decided it wouldn’t downward slope. Many digital versions of Bodoni suffer from Oblique fonts were later released in be appropriate to name a type after a country. a particular kind of legibility degradation 1930. Book font was released in 1932. He then decided on ‘Helvetica’ as this meant Garamond is considered to be among the known as “dazzle” caused by the alternat- Book Oblique font was released in ‘Swiss’ as opposed to ‘Switzerland’. most legible and readable serif typefaces ing thick and thin strokes, particularly from 1939. Extra Bold font was designed by for use in print (offline) applications. the thin strokes being very thin at small Edwin W. Shaar in 1952. Extra Bold Ital- point sizes. ic font was designed in 1955 by Edwin W. Shaar and Tommy Thompson.

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