Kristall Grotesk
Auf der Mitgliederversammlung 2009 des Fördervereins des
»Museums für Druckkunst Leipzig« übergab Veronika Elsner nach einer kurzen Präsentation von Günther Flake am 15. Mai die im Auftrag des Museums als Replik erstellte 7 Schnitte umfassende Kristall Grotesk. Die darauf basierende Textschrift-Familie wird bis Ende des Jahres vorliegen und über www.fonts4ever.com erhältlich sein.
Bei der Schriftfamilie Kristall Grotesk handelt es sich um einen so genannten »Hausschnitt« aus der Stempelschneiderei Wagner&Schmidt, Leipzig. Wagner&Schmidt lieferte, ähnlich wie die amerikanische Firma ITC (International Typeface Corporation) in den 70er und 80er Jahren, analoge und digitale Vorlagen, Matern an Schriftgießereien in ganz Europa, die die Schriften jeweils unter eigenem Namen vertrieben.
Zuerst erschienen Schnitte dieses Designs im Laufe der 30er Jahre unter dem Namen Polar unter anderem bei der Schriftgießerei J. John Söhne, die 1956 nach deren Konkurs von der Schriftgießerei Johannes Wagner, Ingolstadt, übernommen wurde. Die Lettern der Polar von J. John Söhne wurden nach der Übernahme jedoch nicht mehr angeboten. Ende der 30er Jahre erschien dann die Kristall Grotesk mit erweiterter Schnittanzahl bei der Norddeutschen Schriftgießerei GmbH, Berlin, die von Johannes Wagner geleitet wurde.
Aus der Norddeutschen Gießerei, der von ihm ausgegründeten Firma Johannes Wagner, Berlin-West, und Teilen der 1954 von Leipzig nach Berlin verlegten Ludwig Wagner AG, an der Johannes Wagner beteiligt war, entstand nach dem Tod von Johannes Wagner 1965 unter Leitung des Prokuristen und späteren Inhabers Arnold Dröse 1971 die Schriftgießerei Johannes Wagner, Ingolstadt, die ihren Schriftbestand und ihre Gussrechte mit Übernahmen von Matrizen der 1971 geschlossenen Gießerei C. E. Weber und der H. Berthold AG noch erweitern konnte.
Die Kristall Grotesk wurde bis zur Einstellung des Gussprogrammes der Johannes Wagner GmbH über deren Vertrieb, Lettern Service Ingolstadt, angeboten.
Der Matrizenbestand sowie die Guss- bzw. Reproduktionsrechte der Schriftgießerei Johannes Wagner, Ingolstadt, sind seit 2002 durch Ankauf im Eigentum der Stiftung Werkstattmuseum für Druckkunst Leipzig.
»Museums für Druckkunst Leipzig« übergab Veronika Elsner nach einer kurzen Präsentation von Günther Flake am 15. Mai die im Auftrag des Museums als Replik erstellte 7 Schnitte umfassende Kristall Grotesk. Die darauf basierende Textschrift-Familie wird bis Ende des Jahres vorliegen und über www.fonts4ever.com erhältlich sein.
Bei der Schriftfamilie Kristall Grotesk handelt es sich um einen so genannten »Hausschnitt« aus der Stempelschneiderei Wagner&Schmidt, Leipzig. Wagner&Schmidt lieferte, ähnlich wie die amerikanische Firma ITC (International Typeface Corporation) in den 70er und 80er Jahren, analoge und digitale Vorlagen, Matern an Schriftgießereien in ganz Europa, die die Schriften jeweils unter eigenem Namen vertrieben.
Zuerst erschienen Schnitte dieses Designs im Laufe der 30er Jahre unter dem Namen Polar unter anderem bei der Schriftgießerei J. John Söhne, die 1956 nach deren Konkurs von der Schriftgießerei Johannes Wagner, Ingolstadt, übernommen wurde. Die Lettern der Polar von J. John Söhne wurden nach der Übernahme jedoch nicht mehr angeboten. Ende der 30er Jahre erschien dann die Kristall Grotesk mit erweiterter Schnittanzahl bei der Norddeutschen Schriftgießerei GmbH, Berlin, die von Johannes Wagner geleitet wurde.
Aus der Norddeutschen Gießerei, der von ihm ausgegründeten Firma Johannes Wagner, Berlin-West, und Teilen der 1954 von Leipzig nach Berlin verlegten Ludwig Wagner AG, an der Johannes Wagner beteiligt war, entstand nach dem Tod von Johannes Wagner 1965 unter Leitung des Prokuristen und späteren Inhabers Arnold Dröse 1971 die Schriftgießerei Johannes Wagner, Ingolstadt, die ihren Schriftbestand und ihre Gussrechte mit Übernahmen von Matrizen der 1971 geschlossenen Gießerei C. E. Weber und der H. Berthold AG noch erweitern konnte.
Die Kristall Grotesk wurde bis zur Einstellung des Gussprogrammes der Johannes Wagner GmbH über deren Vertrieb, Lettern Service Ingolstadt, angeboten.
Der Matrizenbestand sowie die Guss- bzw. Reproduktionsrechte der Schriftgießerei Johannes Wagner, Ingolstadt, sind seit 2002 durch Ankauf im Eigentum der Stiftung Werkstattmuseum für Druckkunst Leipzig.
TypeCon and Rhythm
The motto for this year’s TypeCon is »Rhythm« – TypeCon is a conference for everybody who loves type and typography, and for everybody who works with, and uses, type and typography. The conference takes place from the 14th to the 19th of July in Atlanta, Georgia.
Seventy of the most notable members of the type industry will take part in the conference. Among them: Gail Anderson, Matthew Carter, John Downer, Peter Enneson, Shelley Gruendler, Stefán Kjartansson, Akira Kobayashi, Kevin Larson, Gerry Leonidas, Mathieu Lommen, Brian Lucid, Bruno Maag, Vítor Quelhas, Hank Richardson, Stuart Sandler, Paul Shaw, Jim Sherraden, Ilene Strizver and Gerard Unger. You will be able to attend a large number of presentations on subjects such as: Screen Types; Dutch Design; Advertising Typography; Wood Type; the first showing of Kartemquin Films' documentary »Typeface« about the Hamilton Woodtype Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin; different displays and a variety of workshops, panel discussions and guided tours.
Seventy of the most notable members of the type industry will take part in the conference. Among them: Gail Anderson, Matthew Carter, John Downer, Peter Enneson, Shelley Gruendler, Stefán Kjartansson, Akira Kobayashi, Kevin Larson, Gerry Leonidas, Mathieu Lommen, Brian Lucid, Bruno Maag, Vítor Quelhas, Hank Richardson, Stuart Sandler, Paul Shaw, Jim Sherraden, Ilene Strizver and Gerard Unger. You will be able to attend a large number of presentations on subjects such as: Screen Types; Dutch Design; Advertising Typography; Wood Type; the first showing of Kartemquin Films' documentary »Typeface« about the Hamilton Woodtype Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin; different displays and a variety of workshops, panel discussions and guided tours.
Custom Fonts – now also online!
On the menu, look for »Foundries« where you will find a Custom Font Library now offered by Veronika Elsner and Günther Flake. Here, the user has the opportunity to acquire licenses for exclusive as well as non-exclusive house typefaces.
A growing number of firms increasingly use their own Custom Fonts, Corporate Fonts, Corporate Types, and Corporate or House Fonts which respond to the respective needs and image of the company. In the course of more than 30 years, Veronika Elsner and Günther Flake have developed a large complement of Corporate Identity Fonts, which are partly now available to clients for downloads. Please check them out under »Libraries/Custom Fonts« on the menu. In order to access these fonts, a special access code is necessary which, as a rule, will be provided by the corporation who is holding the rights for the Custom Font or the leading agency. For further information, please contact the fonts4ever-Team via e-mail.
A growing number of firms increasingly use their own Custom Fonts, Corporate Fonts, Corporate Types, and Corporate or House Fonts which respond to the respective needs and image of the company. In the course of more than 30 years, Veronika Elsner and Günther Flake have developed a large complement of Corporate Identity Fonts, which are partly now available to clients for downloads. Please check them out under »Libraries/Custom Fonts« on the menu. In order to access these fonts, a special access code is necessary which, as a rule, will be provided by the corporation who is holding the rights for the Custom Font or the leading agency. For further information, please contact the fonts4ever-Team via e-mail.
From the Acquisition of the Land to the Founding of the State Israel
Within the framework of the 8th Jewish Week the Museum für Druckkunst (Museum for the Printing Arts) in Leipzig will exhibit valuable papers from the time before the founding of the state of Israel.
The exhibit will open on Friday, June 19th 2009 at 3 p.m. in the rooms of the museum located at Nonnenstraße 38 in Leipzig (postal code 04229). Dr. Susanne Richter, the Director of the Museum, and Michael Weingarten, Head of the Corporation for Papers of Historic Value, Wolfenbüttel, will make the introductions to the exhibit. Svitlana Kapitanova will enhance the event with the performance of Jewish folksongs and dances. The exhibit will be open daily until July 5th with the exception of Saturdays.
The documents shown in this exhibit also give an excellent overview of the typographic culture of Hebrew. In this context you will be able to view a project which was conducted by Veronika Elsner and Günther Flake in collaboration with Dr. Ittai Tamari in the early 90s. This project incorporates more than 60 Hebrew typefaces which were developed in accordance with historic samples. In this case, typefaces such as Aharoni EF, Amir EF, Aviv EF, Chaim EF, David EF, Drugulin EF, Frank Rühl EF, Hadassah EF, Koren EF, Saphir EF and EF Tiqua are presented. These fonts are available for Apple Macintosh and can be used in programs such as InDesign Middle East for Hebrew typesetting. A version for latin-based systems is also available.
The exhibit will open on Friday, June 19th 2009 at 3 p.m. in the rooms of the museum located at Nonnenstraße 38 in Leipzig (postal code 04229). Dr. Susanne Richter, the Director of the Museum, and Michael Weingarten, Head of the Corporation for Papers of Historic Value, Wolfenbüttel, will make the introductions to the exhibit. Svitlana Kapitanova will enhance the event with the performance of Jewish folksongs and dances. The exhibit will be open daily until July 5th with the exception of Saturdays.
The documents shown in this exhibit also give an excellent overview of the typographic culture of Hebrew. In this context you will be able to view a project which was conducted by Veronika Elsner and Günther Flake in collaboration with Dr. Ittai Tamari in the early 90s. This project incorporates more than 60 Hebrew typefaces which were developed in accordance with historic samples. In this case, typefaces such as Aharoni EF, Amir EF, Aviv EF, Chaim EF, David EF, Drugulin EF, Frank Rühl EF, Hadassah EF, Koren EF, Saphir EF and EF Tiqua are presented. These fonts are available for Apple Macintosh and can be used in programs such as InDesign Middle East for Hebrew typesetting. A version for latin-based systems is also available.
Fonts4ever Onlineshop offers new functionality!
In addition to the broadened functionality, we are now going to make most of the complete Typoart Library accessible to the public. This library contains the typefaces created by the designers who worked for Typoart during the time of the German Democratic Republic. Temporarily, the library contains not only typefaces created during the hot type area, but also the digitized typefaces of the 1980s.
In this new version of fonts4ever, our clients not only have the opportunity to store their own data in their own customer’s area, to supervise it and view it at any time, but they can also profit themselves from our partner program. Furthermore we have added a magnifier to the detail page to obtain a much clearer impression of the individual characters.
Go ahead and embark on a journey of discovery!
In this new version of fonts4ever, our clients not only have the opportunity to store their own data in their own customer’s area, to supervise it and view it at any time, but they can also profit themselves from our partner program. Furthermore we have added a magnifier to the detail page to obtain a much clearer impression of the individual characters.
Go ahead and embark on a journey of discovery!
Museum starts to digitize historic fonts
Museum of the Printing Arts Leipzig and Elsner+Flake Designstudios signed a cooperation contract to digitize and distribute type faces from the museum's unique collection of type matrices and hot metal type.
The museum is unique for its collection of lead and wood type, type matrices, composing and casting machines, hand-, platen-, and cylinder presses, rescured by Eckehart SchumacherGebler since the end of the German Democratic Republic and gave them a new home in the former factory building of Offizin Haag-Drugulin. This way, SchumacherGebler saved precious relicts from the past and gave them a new home and a new field of application. It is not yet well known, that besides these casting and printing machines the valuable collection of thousandes of lead and wood types for hand composition, European and Oriental type matrices, letter patterns and masterfully-cut steel punches has been continuously growing over the last 20 years. The museum's new director Dr. Susanne Richter initiated to save these untapped treasures by conserving them for future generations. This will be done in cooperation of Elsner+Flake Designstudios. As active members of the foundation of the museum Veronika Elsner and Günther Flake will support and associate this project.
The museum is unique for its collection of lead and wood type, type matrices, composing and casting machines, hand-, platen-, and cylinder presses, rescured by Eckehart SchumacherGebler since the end of the German Democratic Republic and gave them a new home in the former factory building of Offizin Haag-Drugulin. This way, SchumacherGebler saved precious relicts from the past and gave them a new home and a new field of application. It is not yet well known, that besides these casting and printing machines the valuable collection of thousandes of lead and wood types for hand composition, European and Oriental type matrices, letter patterns and masterfully-cut steel punches has been continuously growing over the last 20 years. The museum's new director Dr. Susanne Richter initiated to save these untapped treasures by conserving them for future generations. This will be done in cooperation of Elsner+Flake Designstudios. As active members of the foundation of the museum Veronika Elsner and Günther Flake will support and associate this project.
»ABC Schule«, a new writing concept for Swiss schools
Hans Eduard Meier, Designer of Syntax and ITC Syndor, developed a ground breaking concept for handwriting education in primary schools as an alternative to Schnürlischrift, which was used for many years in Swiss schools.
ABC Schule started as a cooperation between Meier and Elsner+Flake in 2002 to improve and extend \"Basisschrift\", a previous version of ABC Schule, which was first introduced in schools in the Aargau canton of Switzerland. Many suggestions and improvements from teachers, publishers and experts have subsequently been incorporated. ABC Schule is now in widespread use throughout Switzerland. In contrast with the old Schnürlischrift, the idea is to guide a child in three steps to learning handwriting. ABC Schule 1 is for the first grade, ABC 2 starts to introduce the first connections and ABC 4 Ligaturen is designed with many ligatures to serve as a good example for handwriting. ABC Schule is also available with ruling and for visually impaired students.
ABC Schule is now also attracting attention in German schools and is licensed by Germany institutions. Authorized versions are available only through www. fonts4ever.com. Please contact Veronika Elsner about licensing issues and other questions (www.elsner-flake.com).
ABC Schule started as a cooperation between Meier and Elsner+Flake in 2002 to improve and extend \"Basisschrift\", a previous version of ABC Schule, which was first introduced in schools in the Aargau canton of Switzerland. Many suggestions and improvements from teachers, publishers and experts have subsequently been incorporated. ABC Schule is now in widespread use throughout Switzerland. In contrast with the old Schnürlischrift, the idea is to guide a child in three steps to learning handwriting. ABC Schule 1 is for the first grade, ABC 2 starts to introduce the first connections and ABC 4 Ligaturen is designed with many ligatures to serve as a good example for handwriting. ABC Schule is also available with ruling and for visually impaired students.
ABC Schule is now also attracting attention in German schools and is licensed by Germany institutions. Authorized versions are available only through www. fonts4ever.com. Please contact Veronika Elsner about licensing issues and other questions (www.elsner-flake.com).
Maxima Now
Prof. Gert Wunderlich, the well known German typographer and book designer, has extended his typeface Maxima (1962 – 1989) to become a comprehensive font family.
The sans serif font family Maxima was the most popular typeface in East Germany until the unification of Germany in 1989 . Its success started in 1962 as a hot metal version, which was digitized in 1979 for various phototypesetters and the Digitset CRT typesetter. The first weights of Maxima were introduced to the Western desktop publishing world in 1985. All the original versions had been made available in digital form by 1989, which included Greek, Cyrillic and Vietnamese. Now Wunderlich has commissioned Elsner+Flake to update and extend the family to prepare it for the 21st century.
Maxima Now
The sans serif font family Maxima was the most popular typeface in East Germany until the unification of Germany in 1989 . Its success started in 1962 as a hot metal version, which was digitized in 1979 for various phototypesetters and the Digitset CRT typesetter. The first weights of Maxima were introduced to the Western desktop publishing world in 1985. All the original versions had been made available in digital form by 1989, which included Greek, Cyrillic and Vietnamese. Now Wunderlich has commissioned Elsner+Flake to update and extend the family to prepare it for the 21st century.
Maxima Now
Günter Gerhard Lange is dead.
On December 2, 2008, one of the most well-known and highly-regarded typographers of the 20th century passed away in Munich. He was 87 years old. His artistic legacy consists of more than 100 typefaces which he developed primarily under the Berthold label. They include »AG Buch« (1969-1980); »Concorde« (1968-1978); Berthold »Imago« (1979-1982); and revivals of Garamond, Walbaum, Caslon and Bodoni types. An eloquent and commanding speaker –Manfred Klein called him »Gutenberg’s Machine Gun« – he fascinated his audiences with his powerful talks about type and typography.
Günter Lange and I met for the first time in the mid-seventies when Berthold evaluated the newly introduced IKARUS System as a possible way to support its design team with digital technology. The very first typeface I ever digitized and edited was the »AG Buch Regular« (»Akzidenz Grotesk«) and, as a test, double outlines and shadows. Later, Günter Lange evaluated light to heavy interpolated weights and compared them to »Poplar Alleys« while he fondly called me the »Digital Nurse«. (http://www.gglange.de)
We mourn the passing of a dear and true friend whose life and work educated and enriched us in many hours of working together.
Günter Lange and I met for the first time in the mid-seventies when Berthold evaluated the newly introduced IKARUS System as a possible way to support its design team with digital technology. The very first typeface I ever digitized and edited was the »AG Buch Regular« (»Akzidenz Grotesk«) and, as a test, double outlines and shadows. Later, Günter Lange evaluated light to heavy interpolated weights and compared them to »Poplar Alleys« while he fondly called me the »Digital Nurse«. (http://www.gglange.de)
We mourn the passing of a dear and true friend whose life and work educated and enriched us in many hours of working together.
»Aniene« Typefaces Receive TDC medal
The typefaces »Aniene Vecchia« and »Aniene Nuova«, designed by Adriane Krakowski, received the TDC medal at the Type Director’s Club, New York.
Round shapes underline the feminine appearance of the font family. The characters have been created with a wide pen which underlines the hand-written ductus. »Aniene Vecchia« is firmly rooted in its historic background, »Romana«, which was already used in Roman times. The name »Romana« derives from the word »Roma« (lat. for Rome) and »Romanus« (lat. for Roman). It is based on the »Capitalis Monumentalis« as well as the »Roman Majuscle« which was the letterform used by Romans for the writing of letters. The characters had a slight italic angle to enhance writing speed. This, as well as a more casual attitude, led to shapes like ascenders and descenders. The »Roman Minuscle« derived from the »Roman Majuscle« – thus the upper- and lower case characters. The »Aniene Nuova« shows signs of derivation from the »Aniene Vecchia« and includes letters which adopt recent character shapes. Both typefaces have been developed in Regular and Bold weights with Small Caps and Old Style figures, and the body sizes are optimized for use in longer texts. The »Aniene« is well suited for historical and cultural contexts as well as for areas such as gastronomy and packaging design. A special feature of the typefaces is that the user can combine characters from both the «Aniene Vecchia« and »Nuova« designs.
»Aniene Vechia« and »Nuova« are produced in four font formats and are available exclusively from www.fonts4ever.com.
Round shapes underline the feminine appearance of the font family. The characters have been created with a wide pen which underlines the hand-written ductus. »Aniene Vecchia« is firmly rooted in its historic background, »Romana«, which was already used in Roman times. The name »Romana« derives from the word »Roma« (lat. for Rome) and »Romanus« (lat. for Roman). It is based on the »Capitalis Monumentalis« as well as the »Roman Majuscle« which was the letterform used by Romans for the writing of letters. The characters had a slight italic angle to enhance writing speed. This, as well as a more casual attitude, led to shapes like ascenders and descenders. The »Roman Minuscle« derived from the »Roman Majuscle« – thus the upper- and lower case characters. The »Aniene Nuova« shows signs of derivation from the »Aniene Vecchia« and includes letters which adopt recent character shapes. Both typefaces have been developed in Regular and Bold weights with Small Caps and Old Style figures, and the body sizes are optimized for use in longer texts. The »Aniene« is well suited for historical and cultural contexts as well as for areas such as gastronomy and packaging design. A special feature of the typefaces is that the user can combine characters from both the «Aniene Vecchia« and »Nuova« designs.
»Aniene Vechia« and »Nuova« are produced in four font formats and are available exclusively from www.fonts4ever.com.
Indigo, a »Biblical« Roman Type
The new millennium also created a new Roman Type – Indigo Pro designed by Swedish type designer Johan Ström, available for text- and display sizes.
Indigo was developed for the third edition of the Swedish Bible, previously printed in Fraktur, and improved to achieve optimal legibility at ordinary type sizes, i.e. the sizes most frequently used (6 pt to 16 pt).
The typeface is a perfect symbiosis from characters of the 15th and 16th century adapted to modern reproduction techniques. Sources of inspiration were Guillaume le Bé (France), Miklós Kis (typeface: Janson), Christoffel van Dijck (typeface: van Dijck) and Peter Valpergen (typeface: Fell). While designing Indigo, Ström was aware that the modern printing process shows a tendency to thin out typefaces, so he slightly exaggerated the weight of the type, which improves the legibility.
In addition, a Display weight was designed for sizes 16 pt and up.
Ström’s efforts have been the subject of several awards. The latest prize he received was the Berlingpriset 2008 in Sweden.
Indigo
Indigo was developed for the third edition of the Swedish Bible, previously printed in Fraktur, and improved to achieve optimal legibility at ordinary type sizes, i.e. the sizes most frequently used (6 pt to 16 pt).
The typeface is a perfect symbiosis from characters of the 15th and 16th century adapted to modern reproduction techniques. Sources of inspiration were Guillaume le Bé (France), Miklós Kis (typeface: Janson), Christoffel van Dijck (typeface: van Dijck) and Peter Valpergen (typeface: Fell). While designing Indigo, Ström was aware that the modern printing process shows a tendency to thin out typefaces, so he slightly exaggerated the weight of the type, which improves the legibility.
In addition, a Display weight was designed for sizes 16 pt and up.
Ström’s efforts have been the subject of several awards. The latest prize he received was the Berlingpriset 2008 in Sweden.
Indigo
Casanova Script
For years now Petras Script designed by calligrapher Petra Beisse has been successful in the Mac and PC-world. Now Petra has been inspired by the handwriting of the famous womanizer Casanova – and designed a font called Casanova Script.
Petra Beisse lives and works in Wiesbaden, Germany. Most of her art is hand-made, her digital fonts being an exception. Since the success of Petras Script she decided to release another handwritten typeface which has been turned to an OpenType Pro font with 1400 characters by Günther Flake and Jessica Franke.
Casanova Script
Petra Beisse lives and works in Wiesbaden, Germany. Most of her art is hand-made, her digital fonts being an exception. Since the success of Petras Script she decided to release another handwritten typeface which has been turned to an OpenType Pro font with 1400 characters by Günther Flake and Jessica Franke.
Casanova Script
