Post-War Type Marketing A comparative study of three European type foundries during the 1950s and 1960s William Montrose-Helker Dissertation submited in partial fulillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts in Typeface Design, University of Reading, 2013 Abstract Type specimens are the most common piece of advertising material that is used to promote a new typeface design. From purely functional and informative examples of printed pages they transitioned to extensive catalogues, from there to individual lealets for a typeface and nowadays it is possible to immediately test the desired font on the web, or directly within a graphic design application. he aim of this dissertation is to explore the history of this piece of ephemera, as well as to discuss inluences, diferences and similarities between the individual programs of three major European type foundries during the post-war period. he irst section of this paper presents a short historical synopsis of type specimens until the beginning of the twentieth century, followed by on overview of important typographic design movements that emerged from this period. he second part compares the strategies and the marketing of the Stempel/Haas foundries in Germany/Switzerland, the Deberny-Peignot foundry in France and the Nebiolo foundry in Italy. In addition to the discussed material, one will ind references and excerpts from articles and essays that were published by the foundries’ respective art directors to provide context. Finally, a conclusion will demonstrate how the success of a typeface design depends on product management as well as marketing and the adaption to the respective technical requirements of a period. Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 A note on advertising 1.2 Terminology 2. Historical synopsis 2.1 Type showing from the beginnings of printing to the mechanisation of typeseting 2.2 Typographic design in the irst half of the twentieth century 2.2.1 From historism to modernism 2.2.2 he Bauhaus, New Typography & International Typographic Style 2.2.3 Graphic design and type founding 3. Deberny & Peignot, Stempel and Nebiolo 3.1 Deberny & Peignot 3.1.1 he early twentieth century 3.1.2 Post-war period 3.1.3 Type specimens 3.1.4 Adrian Frutiger 3.1.5 he Peignots and the foundry in context 3.2 Stempel 3.2.1 he early twentieth century 3.2.2 Interwar and post-war period 3.2.3 Type specimens 3.2.4 Hermann Zapf 3.2.5 Erich Schulz-Anker 3.2.6 he foundry in context 3.3 Nebiolo 3.3.1 he late nineteenth and the irst half of the twentieth century 3.3.2 Aldo Novarese 3.3.3 Type specimens 3.3.4 he foundry in context 4. Conclusion Bibliography Acknowledgements Note on type specimens Fig.1 Erbar type specimen. he typeface was originally released in 1922 by Ludwig & Mayer. he car shown in the in-use example is a Ford Taunus 12M, manufactured in 1952 (35% scale) 1. Introduction A type specimen is the most universal form of advertising material available to promote a typeface design. While it’s main purpose is to inform and generate demand the specimen has also become a collector’s item for those with an afection for printed mater. It is also a record of a speciic style that might have been prevalent by the time it was issued and a trace of printing technology. It was not uncommon for specimens to serve as an example of technical and aesthetic superiority throughout the centuries, as type founders were oten in competition with each other and had to demonstrate what their product is capable of. Oten the foundries employed the best graphic designers of their period and made use of the latest technology to produce their advertising material. However, no technological shit has yet managed to permanently change the main ideas of presenting leter forms to potential customers. Whether the shapes are printed on paper or appear on a screen, the idea of composing examples of type setings or showing an overview of a set of forms has endured from the end of the iteenth century and still remains persistent. In recent years we have seen diferent atempts to give customers an understanding of using type in certain surroundings, such as live type seting on websites and in sotware applications. here were eforts before to question established methods of presenting type but the specimen managed to remain relevant. he twentieth century is particularly interesting because society and culture were heavily inluenced by the impact of industrialisation. Change in this regard never happens without a cause and every period must be seen within the contextual frame and the efects that initiated or enabled a process to take place. his means that, when writing about the marketing and advertising measures of type foundries in Europe during the 1950s and 60s it is also important to supply information about the technical, historical and cultural dimensions. In order to meet these requirements the work is divided into three parts; a historical tract that summarises the evolution of the type specimen and focusses on the individual shits in design and connected ields, an analytical comparison of the type and marketing programs during that period and a conclusion. To be able to make this comparison the study concentrates on the material of three major European type foundries that developed similar programs during this period. hese are the Stempel/Haas foundries in Germany/Switzerland (in the case of Stempel/Haas a joint-venture), the Deberny-Peignot foundry in France and the Nebiolo foundry in Italy. All of them had to adapt to the demands of a market that was growing rapidly ater the Second World War came to an end. On the other hand it was oten necessary to anticipate a trend before the competitors did and although there was no global standard for hot metal fonts, type founding turned more and more into an international business. he amount of promotional material that exists for this particular aspect of typographic research is diicult to quantify and the literature on this topic is rather litle, nevertheless the art directors of said period publicised articles on their profession and regularly relected in writen form on current trends in typography and typeface design. his dissertation focusses largely on type specimen lealets as this has been and still is the most widely used marketing instrument to advertise a typeface design. Specimens hardly ever contain dates of creation, but catalogues were issued, listing the year a typeface was released. It is believed and most likely so, because the competition was ierce and the risk of falling out of fashion quite high. With the rise of advertising typography, more and more in-use examples were created as an addition to the lealet. hese were oten business cards, dining menus, light schedules, posters and other printing objects of every day life to make the application of the typeface more easily imaginable for the advertising typographer. Nevertheless even these pieces of ephemera sometimes include references to newly released cars (Fig.1), a book that has been recently published and other things happening at that time, and so it is sometimes possible to narrow down the publication date of the specimen. As this dissertation also provides an overview of the economical, and sociocultural dynamics afecting typography, it is not necessarily arranged in chronological order. Fig. 2 First known type specimen, Erhard Ratdolt, 1486 (65% scale) 9 1.1 A note on advertising Mechanisation and mass production mark the shit from a period when products were unlabelled and sold in bulks, to a period when products were given names and trademarks were created. From a manufacturers point of view this was necessary, so the customer was able to distinguish between his product and an unlabelled generic one. he act of naming a product also allowed for the possibility to atach meaning to something that is rather meaningless beyond it’s original purpose. Although branding a product had been practised since the thirteenth century when Italians put watermarks on their paper1 the idea became relevant much later when trademark laws, such as the Trade Mark Registration Act (1875)2 in Britain were released. he idea of ataching an additional layer of meaning to a product is also the foundation of what is considered modern advertising. 1.2 Terminology he term type specimen is oten used interchangeably to refer to a specimen lealet, a catalogue of printed types, a brochure and a digital document. his dissertation focuses largely on specimen lealets that were used to promote individual weights or a typeface family as opposed to catalogues oten used as a printers’ reference. hroughout this dissertation, the term specimen refers to the single lealet rather than the specimen book. Other terms that might need further explanation will be clariied within the text. he term post-war is oten used to describe the period following the end of the Second World War. Within the scope of this dissertation, post-war refers to the period of economic growth from 1945 until the end of the 1960s. Year dates in bracketing refer to the year a typeface was released. 2. Historical synopsis 2.1 Type showings from the beginnings of printing to the mechanisation of type seting he invention of movable type in the western world dates back to approximately the year 1450.3 Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press revolutionised the way and the speed in which information was published. Back then the concept of a typeface as we know it today did not exist, nor was there a market for such a product. In the beginning the printer was also the designer of type, therefore there was just no necessity in presenting a set of shapes in a seting that had no practical use. It was in 1485 when another German printer, Erhard Ratdolt returned to Augsburg, ater running a printing workshop in Venice for over ten years. A year later Radolt publicised the earliest known type specimen, (Fig. 2) a broadside showing of 14 diferent fonts, using Gothic, Roman and Greek leters in a range of diferent sizes.4 he sixteenth century saw a diversiication of professions, as print production became more advanced and the need for information steadily grew. Punch cuting had become a largely independent profession and printing had turned into an international business. Printing and type founding were at this point still strongly tied together, each depending on the other. he most common way to present leter forms to a printer was still a broadside showing. One famous example is the Egenolf-Berner specimen from 1592, (Fig. 3) issued by the Egenolf-Berner foundry in Frankfurt. It became an important historic source for later Garamond models.5 1 2 3 4 5 J. Colapinto, Famous Names, p. 39. T da Silva Lopes, P Duguid, Trademarks, Brands, and Competitiveness, p. 28 R. Jubert, Typography and Graphic Design, p.39 ibid., p. 50 see B. Warde, he Garamond types: 16th and 17th century sources considered, he Fleuron 5, p. 131 − 79 Fig. 3 Reproduction of the Egenolf-Berner specimen of 1592 (reproduced from: J. Dreyfus, Type specimen facsimiles) Fig. 4 Stempel’s Hauptprobe, 1926 (30% scale) 11 In the eighteenth century printers had the opportunity to select from a variety of fonts, depending on both, inancial situation and geographic location. Nowadays we would call this the shit from a seller’s to a buyer’s market. Founders started to release specimen books that were showing an inventory of fonts, basically to be used as a working reference for printers. Towards the end of the eighteenth century these books would sometimes contain examples of short paragraphs. Oten these were composed in an arrangement with decorative ornaments, rules and borders. Although printers had a set of choices to pick from they continued to depend on the founder ater the purchase, as the system was still lacking uniform standards of production. Combining fonts from diferent founders was not possible until the mechanisation of type seting. During the nineteenth century technology slightly modiied the specimens visual appearance. Typefaces had always fallen victim to copyright violation but electrotyping made it possible to exactly replicate the matrices from a limited set of cast characters. It became conventional not to show complete character sets of anything else than a text face. his period was also characterised by a conformal style of showing text typefaces. As David Pankow writes in he Art of the Specimen in the Twentieth Century: During the nineteenth century a fairly consistent style was developed for specimen books. Text faces were set into sample paragraphs, oten Cicero’s famous Latin denunciation of Catiline. he irst in-use example appeared in a specimen at the end of the nineteenth century with the purpose to provide jobbing printers with a recommended application of the fount or to give them typographic assistance. Another observation of late nineteenth century specimen books is, that the spectrum of fonts shown lead to an extreme growth in volumes, although a lot of the faces wouldn’t capitalise.6 According to a comment in the June issue of the Inland Printer in 1893 most of the types were not actually demanded by the printers, nor bought. he extensive compendiums were rather a product of the competition among type founders than serving a purpose. It was not uncommon for a type founders’ main catalogue to contain more than a thousand pages, the American Type Founders type specimen of 1912 contained 1303 pages and the 1923 edition was 1150 pages thick. Stempel’s Hauptprobe (1198 pages, Fig. 4) or Deberny & Peignot’s Spécimen Général of 1926 (two volumes, more than 1000 pages in total, exact number unknown) are all proof of this fact. As already mentioned in the beginning it does not make sense to solely observe a process in itself, because external factors play too much of an important role. In the midth of the eigteenth century industrialisation began in Western Europe and the United States and massively changed all aspects of life. Society transformed from an agrarian to an industrial one. he three sector hypothesis, developed by the french economist Jean Fourastié and the british economists Colin Clark and Allan Fisher classiies three sectors of an economy. a primary sector, scientiically not very developed and characterised by commodity production, a secondary sector, characterised by a higher use of machinery production and mechanisation and a tertiary sector, in which service industries and automatisation are more prevalent.7 he inal shit from primary to secondary sector took place in the second phase of the Industrial Revolution, which began in the 1860s and ended around the time World War I broke out. Important factors that were accompanying and carrying this change were the reinement of the steam engine and the invention of the assembly line. It is necessary to mention this because all these things inluenced the way in which society thought about life and had an impact on social and cultural developments. 6 7 D.Pankow, he Twentieth Century Type Specimen, he Art of the Type Specimen in the Twentieth Century, p. 14 G. Ambrosius, A Social and Economic History of Twentieth-Century Europe, p. 56 Fig. 5 Eckmannschrit specimen, Klingspor, ca. 1900 (30% scale) 13 2.2 Typographic design in the irst half of the twentieth century 2.2.1 From historism to modernism In the beginning of the twentieth century the most prevalent style was Art Nouveau, a movement that had started in the late nineteenth century and lasted for about twenty years. It had diferent names and manifestations throughout Europe and can be considered as the transitional period between historism and modernism. Art Nouveau can be conceived as an integral concept involving all design arts and afecting all aspects of daily life - architecture, graphic design, advertising, furniture, fashion, everyday objects, etc. his view difered from one country to another. he focus in England for example was primarily on graphic design and illustration rather than architecture. In Germany it was mostly Oto Eckmann and Peter Behrens who can be credited for applying the so called Jugendstil (youth style, the german expression for Art Nouveau) in a wider context. he Klingspor foundry released Eckmann’s Eckmannschrit in 1900, (Fig. 5) a promising atempt of combining Medieval and Roman forms. Behrens also released his irst typeface at the foundry, the Behrensschrit (1901), followed by an italic variant called Behrens Kursiv (1906) and Behrens Antiqua (1908).8 he foundry was among the irst to credit type designers for their work. his was also due to the foundries’ activities of seeking famous designers and it established a certain standard, even though most of the people involved in producing and reining the design were not credited. Earlier typefaces, had they not been created by someone with an already existing reputation, were oten referred to as being done ‘in-house’. Behrens was seeking a typographic reform and he believed that typography was apart from architecture ‘the most characteristic picture of a period and the strongest testimonial of the spiritual progress [and] development of a people.’ his is evident in Feste des Lebens und der Kunst: eine Betrachtung des heaters als höchstes Kultursymbol, a twenty-ive page booklet he published in 1900, where he made use of a sans-serif in running text, far from being conventional or widely accepted at that time. In 1907 he became the artistic consultant at AEG (a leading German company producing electric applicances) and was largely responsible for the complete visual appearance in product and graphic design. His works were later strongly inluenced by J. L. Mathieu Lauweriks, whom he met at the Düsseldorf faculty of the arts in 1904.9 Lauweriks had developed a new design approach on the basis of gemetric form composition which did not just have an impact on Behrens’ work but also on the De Stijl and the Bauhaus movements. Nevertheless, Behrens’ application of the theory ‘proved catalytic in pushing twentieth century architecture and design toward using rational geometry as an underlying system for visual organization.’10 Among others11 he was involved in the founding of the Deutsche Werkbund, an association inspired by William Morris’ Arts and crats movement, but more devoted to the beneits of Industrialisation.12 2. 2. 2 The Bauhaus, New Typography & International Typographic Style he seeds for the modernist design era were planted in diferent places but the most important dynamics were Russian suprematism and constructivism and the De Stijl movement. Both are rooted in cubism and distilled that idea to pure geometric expression. A prominent igure in this regard was héo van Doesburg. He was the founder of the De Stijl movement and publisher of the eponymous journal. In 1920 van Doesburg moved to Weimar and engaged in teaching De Stijl courses at the Bauhaus. Walter Gropius, a former apprentice of Peter Behrens and director of the newly 8 9 10 11 12 P. Meggs, Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, p. 243 Behrens became the head of the faculty in 1904 Meggs, op.cit., p. 245 Hermann Muthesius, heodor Fisher, Josef Hofman, Bruno Paul, Richard Riemerschmied and others Meggs, op.cit., p. 245 Fig. 6 Herbert Bayer’s Universal (reproduced from: U. Brüning, Das A und O des Bauhaus) Fig. 7 Paul Renner’s Futura, (reproduced from: D. Pankow, he Art of the Type Specimen in the Twentieth Century, p. 48) 15 found institution did not agree with all of van Doesburg’s views of impersonalised design and severe geometry but his impact on the visual culture of the Bauhaus is indisputable.13 he concept of the Bauhaus was to bring isolated arts together to express one visual culture. In 1923 László Moholy-Nagy, a Hungarian painter, began teaching in Weimar. he same year he published a text called: Die neue Typograie (he new typography) in which he describes typography as an ‘instrument of communication.’ his form of communication should be ‘as clear and efective as possible.’ he expression ‘new typography’ was later on used by Jan Tschichold in his key work Die neue Typograie (1928), in which he deined the main parameters of this new atempt to ind simple and rational design solutions and proclaimed a typography that is characteristic for the modern age. he type design experiments at Bauhaus did not lead directly to published typefaces but served later on as a source of inspiration for actual font development.14 What mainly determined the Bauhaus is not just the way of teaching, but its role as a hub for a lot of inluential people of that period that met on a frequent basis and were able to express and forward their ideas about the relationship of arts and society. he main ideas of objectivity, reduction, clarity and geometry combining inluences from De Stijl, constructivism, cubism and other art disciplines, all brought into accordance to deine a new cultural expression, later lead to the development of the International Typographic Style, oten referred to as Swiss Typography, or Swiss Style. he impact of these reformative processes is also evident in other works. Rudolf Koch, a type designer who is more associated with the Arts & Crats movement than the New Typography released Kabel in 1927, an expressionistic geometric sans that relects this desire for objective novelty. he same year Paul Renner designed Futura, (Fig.7) a typeface that was to become one of the most successful designs of its time, transitioning from hot metal to digital type. It is probably one of the few designs that can be considered both, − state of the art and timeless. Paul Renner was also inluential for the modernist movement, although he was not oten credited for his contributions in developing the New Typography.15 In Paul Renner: the art of typography Chris Burke points out, that apart from designing Futura he ‘made a signiicant contribution to modern typography through his writings and his educational work in Munich’. At the Meisterschule für Deutschlands Buchdrucker (Master School for Germany’s Printers ) Tschichold taught under Renner’s directorship, a position he held from 1927 to 1933, until he was accused of ‘communistic activity’. Tschichold drew his conclusions from a four week arrest prior to Renner’s encouter with the regime16 and let the country for Switzerland. He was eventually granted citizenship in 1942. Other leading igures of that period such as Walter Gropius and Moholy-Nagy moved through Britain to the United States where the ideas of modernism were carried on and developed further. Max Bill, who had studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau moved back to his home country Switzerland. here he also developed the idea of the New Typography to a further extent. In 1946, a dispute took place between Tschichold and Bill in the Schweizer Typographische Miteilungen (Swiss Typographic Messages) where Bill accused Tschichold of abandoning his own principles established at the Bauhaus, in favour of traditional typographic conventions. While Tschichold more and more fell apart from the ideal he once helped to erect, Bill and many others reined the ideas of constructivisim and elementary typography. he fact that Switzerland was excluded from an invasion from the surrounding warring powers, primarily Germany, enabled local and immigrated artists and designers to develop the earlier mentioned International Typographic Style. he development of this style also took place in the United States where it met the demands of a growing printing and advertising industry.17 It is deined by the absence of regional codes, a clear allocation of text and image, enclosure of photography as a conceptual element, font sizes matching the content and the lack of arbitrariness in the layout. While Swiss designers made consistently use of sans-serifs at irst, designers in the US also included 13 Meggs, op.cit., p. 328 14 most notably Herbert Bayer’s Universal, a unicase alphabet consisting mostly of lowercase leters. (Fig. 6) 15 G.W. Ovink, Festrede, p.16 16 see the chapter: ‘Renner’s engagement in controversy’ in Chris Burke’s: ‘Paul Renner: he art of typography’, pp. 126, a detailed record of the events that lead to his inal dismissal from his directorship at the Meisterschule in 1934 17 J. Middendorp, Dutch Type, p. 114 Fig. 8 Vickers Maxim MkVII lealet, found at the Monotype archive, Salfords (70% scale) 17 roman typefaces, a principle that became less dogmatic in Switzerland later on as well. he most famous and widely used contribution of Swiss type designers is presumably the typeface Neue Haas Grotesk, that was released in 1957. It was then redrawn into an expanded family and internationally distributed as Helvetica from 1960 on by the D. Stempel AG and Linotype. Type founding had been heavily afected by the war, not in only in Germany but also in the surrounding countries. he production and commissioning of new typefaces was stagnating during this period and apart from countries considered neutral, like Switzerland or Sweden where business kept on operating, no typefaces of signiicance were manufactured.18 Quite oten foundries had to melt down their type metal to supply their countries demands for weapons, Monotype for example moved most of its production capacities in 1939 to armament manufacture.19 (Fig. 8) In ‘A decade of typeface design’ Ken Dickinson describes the 1940s as a ‘typographically frustrating period’ due to the fact that there were no new faces issued. With the end of the Second World War the type founding and printing industry began to recover slowly, due to the shortage of personnel and material. 2.2.3 Graphic design and type founding he mechanisation of typeseting heavily afected the industry and the business of creating and selling foundry type. While the foundries in the United States depending on big newspapers as clients practically vanished ater the introduction of the Monotype, smaller foundries specialising in book typography managed to survive for quite a while. he application of the new technology onto all areas of printing took longer than expected, therefore hand composed type was still demanded. he introduction of mechanical typeseting lead to a concentration process in the American printing industry that forced some of the major foundries to join forces. he American Type Founders were a trust that followed from these events. Although they bought and commissioned new type designs, the main business was the conversion of typefaces from the hand seting era to the requirements of the new machines. One of the irst foundries to commission artists to design typefaces were the Klingspor foundry in Ofenbach and the Bauer foundry in Frankfurt am Main. As mentioned earlier the Klingspor foundry released the Eckmannschrit in 1899, a design based on the drawings of Oto Eckmann, a painter and professor for ‘ornamental painting’ who had up to this point no professional training as a type designer. he commissioning of designs based on the individual typographic or writen expression of one person marks a turning point in type founding, as the designer himself was now put in focus. While type founders and printers had ever since used their names as a reputation and presumably a sign of good business, highlighting the work of a certain individual was not used as an argument to sell fonts.20 he following year Klingspor released the Behrensschrit ater designs of Peter Behrens and in 1910 the Kochschrit that was later on named the Deutsche Schrit (German type). his procedure shows clearly how the foundry not only expected to diferentiate themselves from other foundries through the newly commissioned designs, but also through the application of an additional layer of meaning. ‘German Type’ does not indicate a certain purpose nor is there a historical necessity to name it so but it implies that the characteristics of this type resemble something that is German. heir eforts paid of and the Deutsche Schrit was widely used in ine printing and jobbing printing. Interestingly the english counterpart was named Oxford, possibly this could have been an atempt to approach the British market by building up on the popularity of the well known Oxford University Press.21 Other foundries adapted the model of actively approaching and crediting designers, but the concept also 18 S. Carter, he Morison years and beyond, Monotype Recorder centenary issue, p.23 19 ibid., p. 23 20 In his biography about Rudolf Koch, Gerald Cinamon refers to the naming of a font ater its designer as ‘a Klingspor custom’. According to him the irst example of this custom was Eckmannschrit. However, Deberny & Peignot’s Grasset, which could also be considered an artistic type design was named ater it’s designer in 1897. 21 Prior atempts of Koch to design a typeface were motivated by his search for an ‘Ideal Bible typeface’. he Oxford University press was one of the major publishers of academic and religious titles, such as the the Oxford Annotated Bible or the Oxford Hebrew Bible. Fig. 8 Cassandre’s Bifur, a showing, designed by him (reproduced from: D. Pankow, he Art of the Type Specimen in the Twentieth Century, p. 55) 19 revealed its limitations. While designers might have had a reputation in one country they might be completely unknown in another. he situation is aggravated by the fact that words are not equally pronounceable throughout diferent languages in some cases the meaning might even change. A prominent example in this regard is the typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk that was simply distributed under the name Standard in the Englishspeaking market.22 A convention that proved to be more universal was the adoption of themes that incorporate trends of a certain period. he demands of a lourishing advertising industry had to be met, so recognisable themes, especially of display typefaces and specimen in the 1920s and 1930s are oten centred around change, progression, movement, and euphoria for machines and technology. 3. Deberny & Peignot, Stempel and Nebiolo he following comparison evaluates to some extent the history of the type foundries Stempel/Haas, Deberny & Peignot and Nebiolo but also focusses on their individual atempts in facing the changes of an industry in the course of time. he period of the 1950s and 1960s is characterised by the introduction of a new technology (photo type seting) and rapid economical growth, leading to the production of mass consumer goods on a global scale and as an efect of that to a rising advertising industry. Foundries were now ‘no longer in business in a sellers’ market’, which forced them to ‘design and to market intelligently in order to sell and prosper’23. Dickinson identiied three major trends, the revival of the Clarendons, the sans and the romans.24 It is unlikely not to ind at least one interpretation of each in any major type foundries’ program during that period. In order to be successful with their design the foundries now had to anticipate the customers demands as far as possible, as it took time, resources and labour to manufacture the typeface. An efective marketing and distribution strategy was therefore inevitable. he following examples were chosen because these foundries (among others) were of great importance to their countries typographical environment, but also competing against each other on an international scale - with sometimes similar programs, but difering approaches as the comparison will show. he study does not claim to be exhaustive and there are many more foundries that are worth being taken into account. Nevertheless it works within the scope of this essay and could be considered a starting point for further research, as the history of twentieth century marketing in this regard has yet to be writen. 3.1 Deberny & Peignot 3.1.1 The early twentieth century Similiar to the Klingspor foundry in Ofenbach, the success and rising of Deberny & Peignot to become France’s biggest type foundry is to some extent rooted in the commissioning of artists to design new typefaces. In 1897, prior to the manufacturing of the Eckmannschrit in Germany, Georges Peignot introduced Grasset to the french printing market. Grasset was designed by Eugène Grasset and relects like Eckmannschrit the current Art Nouveau trend of that period. French foundries did not adapt their production to the requirements of the hot metal era but instead focussed on the production of display faces for handseting. One noteable typeface in this regard is Bifur,(Fig. 8) designed by the Ukrainian-French painter and poster artist Cassandre and released by Deberny & Peignot in 1928. 22 23 24 R. Kinross, Modern typography, p. 153 K. Dickinson, A decade of typeface design, Penrose Annual Vol. 62, p. 17 Dickinson, ibid., p. 17 Fig. 10 Deberny & Peignot’s distribution range, 1956 (reproduced from: H. Osterer, Adrian Frutiger - typefaces: the complete works p.54) 21 It is surprising to some extent that the modernist movement (discussed at length in the irst chapter), although inluential on an international scale did not lead to the design and production of an early French sans-serif. It was Deberny & Peignot who anticipated the upcoming aesthetic and cultural shit and obtained the rights to sell Paul Renner’s Futura in France. It was released under the name Europe in 1929. During the Inter-war period, but prior to the German invasion the foundry commissioned the autodidactic French graphic designer Marcel Jacno25 to design the type faces Le ilm in 1934 and Scribe in 1937. he same year Cassandre’s Peignot was introduced at the International Exhibition where it was used for the signage. he modernist design was only partly appealing to French printers who tended to buy mostly the capital leters. Peignots misperception of printers’ needs lead to the design being used as a display face and not as the modern text face he wished for. he role of the foundry during the occupation of Northern France is not completely investigated, but there were no new type designs released between 1939 and 1947. 3.1.2 Post-war period he end of the Second World War marked the beginning of the so called Post-World War II economic expansion, in which Western European and East Asian countries, experienced a high economic growth, even those heavily afected by the war such as Germany, France, Italy and Japan. his efect allowed foundries to increase their production capacities and commission and manufacture new designs ater a period of typographic stagnation. Cassandre and Jacno were the irst to work on new designs for Deberny & Peignot. Jacno, named ater the designer, was released in 1950 to meet the expectations of a growing advertising industry. he specimen produced for this typeface points out the versatility and legibility of the design: it can be ‘used for large scale display whilst retaining its readability in the very smallest sizes.’26 (Fig. 9) Fig. 9 Jacno’s Jacno, type specimen ca. 1950 (reproduced from: C. Rosner, French Typefounders in he Penrose Annual Vol. 48, pp. 44 - 46) 25 Jacno is mostly known for his illustration of the Gaulish helmet on the cigarete packaging of the french tobacco company Gauloises, which is still in use today. 26 Deberny & Peignot, Jacno type specimen, ca. 1950 Fig. 11 Méridien specimen, designed by Rémy Peignot, 1958 (65% scale) 23 3.1.3 Type specimens Like most of the bigger type foundries Deberny issued extensive catalogues in the early twentieth century, listing their complete range of fonts. For a beter understanding it might be useful to diferentiate between such catalogues that were just listing fonts, oten accompanied by a waterfall showing27 and those including examples of printed mater, oten sample pages from books containing illustrations, and complex typography. he later were common at the foundry until the reorientation ater the Second World War. Although the market for books was still in need for typefaces, it was not the most import factor in the commissioning and distribution of new designs. he production of new goods for a mass market, and in this context, advertising deined the demands for type faces. It became more and more desirable to have a typeface that works across a wide range of applications. An important igure regarding the irm’s marketing activities during the 1950s and 1960s is also Charles Peignot’s son Rémy Peignot. He was responsible for designing many of the specimen lealets and developed the typeface Cristal (1957), the irst typeface to be printed Typophane, an adhesive alphabet sheet.28 He was also involved in Deberny & Peignot’s creative direction. 3.1.4 Adrian Frutiger Adrian Frutiger joined Deberny & Peignot in 1952 ater graduating with a diploma from the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zürich (Zürich school of arts and crats) in 1951, where he studied under Walter Käch and Alfred Williman. His irst assignment was to design the all-capitals typeface Initiales Président, primarily intended to be used for business cards. he following year he was commissioned to develop Ondine, to compete with Roger Excofon’s Mistral, an informal script typeface resembling the designer’s handwriting.29 Shortly ater that, Frutiger began his work on Méridien. (Fig. 11) Rémy Peignot advised the project to put Frutiger’s talent to legitimate use, which he saw rather in the creation of ‘classical type’ than in ‘designing fantasy typefaces’. Another motivation was to constrain the competitive behaviour of the Fonderie Olive again and oppose something to François Ganeau’s Vendôme (1951). His work at the foundry consisted not only in the creation of new types, he was also involved in the adaption of existing designs, such as Garamond, Baskerville or Bodoni for the Lumitype. he work Frutiger is mostly known for, is the development of Univers, (Fig. 14) a neo-grotesque sans-serif design he had started developing in 1951 while still studying. he design is considered Fig. 12 Ladislas Mandel (presenting Frutiger to be more rational than its contemporaries as it the inal drat of Univers 83) Adrian Frutiger and ‘eliminated virtually everything but the essential Lucete Girard at the Deberny & Peignot studio. forms of the leters.’30 According to Frutiger it was (Image reproduced from: Osterer, ibid., p. 90) the commercial success of Univers that endured 27 he term waterfall showing refers to a showing of a line of sample text set one below the other in increasing point sizes 28 S. Carter, Twentieth Century Type Designers, p. 163 29 he relationship between the foundries of Deberny & Peignot and Fonderie Olive is described as a ‘long and ierce commercial rivalry’ by Sébastien Morlighem in his article about Roger Excofon, Mr. Mistral, published in Eye no. 79 vol. 20 30 Carter, op.cit., p. 165 Fig. 14 Univers specimen, designed by Rémy Peignot, date unknown (70% scale) 25 Deberny & Peignot’s economical independence for a few years and provided work for the company’s engravers.31 He succesfully convinced Charles Peignot to manufacture Univers as one of the irst typefaces for the Lumitype instead of the already established Europe (Futura), even though it was not Peignot’s favourite choice. He called it an ‘excellent treatment of an existing theme, but not really a creation in the true sense of the word.’ Nevertheless he admited that it was due to the commercial success of Univers that ‘French typography regained its position in the international market.’32 However, it did not exceed Helvetica’s sales in the American market, even though the design is widely perceived as being more original, meaning that it is not a modiication of an existing design.33 Fig. 13 Sales leter explaining the discounts for Univers. he leter claims that the demand is already high and customers will be satisied, so there is no reason to wait. (30% scale) 3.1.5 The Peignots and the foundry in context he history of the foundry dates back to the late eighteenth - early nineteenth century, regarding the Deberny side. Before the merger with the Laurent & Deberny foundry in 1923, Gustave Peignot followed the principle of buying smaller foundries and aggregating their type libraries. His foundry was run as a family business, the admission of his ive sons into the company (and renaming it to ‘G.Peinot et Fils’) took place a year prior to his death in 1899. His successor, Georges Peignot (the second oldest son) recognised the potential that the Art Nouveau movement provided for type founding and commissioned designs that capture this aesthetic like the earlier mentioned Grasset (1898), but also Auriol (1904) and Robur (1912). he First World War lead to the mobilisation of the brothers (Georges, André, Lucien and Rémy - Robert had died in 1913), to serve in the army. None of them returned from the front.34 he company was under the administration of Henri Menut during this time, he even remained in this position ater Charles (Georges’ son) returned from the war. Charles then undertook an apprenticeship in all of the foundry’s ateliers.35 he Interwar period in France is characterised by fulilling the needs of a lourishing advertising industry, while ignoring the growing importance of Linotype and Monotype machines. An orientation towards the 31 H. Osterer, P. Stamm, Adrian Frutiger - Typefaces: the Complete Works, p.95 32 S. Heller, Charles Peignot: Man Behind the Faces, Print, Print 40, p. 65 33 Walter Tracy noted for example that Univers is ‘more original and subtle in its modelling than Helvetica’ and due to its ‘properly done’ spacing also ‘a beter performer in text composition’, see W. Tracy, Leters of Credit, p. 98 34 A. Hugill-Fontanel, History of Deberny & Peignot, htp://amgweb.rit.edu/dphist3.htm, accessed on 01/09/2013 35 Charles Peignot , Author unknown, htp://www.atypi.org/about-us/whos-who/charles-peignot, accessed on 02/09/2013 Fig. 16, 17 Univers specimens, date unknown (both 50% scale) 27 Fig. 15 Cochin, Auriol and Robur specimens from a collective lealet, issued approximately in the late 1950s or 1960s. he designs were shown along other typefaces released at that time (25% scale) production of display faces (which were commonly hand-set at this time) turned out to be only a temporary solution. Monotype and Ludlow both started manufacturing machines capable of casting bigger type sizes, in order to take over market shares in this segment.36 However, Charles Peignot drew what he expected to be the right conclusions and adapted quite early to Phototypeseting, as well as securing the distribution rights to the Lumitype photoseting machine.37 It seems obvious that this was at least partly a reaction to the misjudgement of Georges Peinot, regarding the growing importance of mechanical type seting in the beginning of the century. As it should turn out later this decision was made too early, as the Lumitype’s technical problems were not entirely solved, while the company was not able to support the project inancially any further. 3.2 Stempel 3.2.1 The early twentieth century In comparing the history of the Stempel foundry to other European type foundries of the twentieth century it becomes evident that their business model was diferent. While the company was also commissioning, manufacturing and producing typefaces another part of their operation was the production of matrices for Linotype machines. he adaption to the requirements of mechanical type seting at the beginning of the century helped Stempel to become a European monopolist in this respect. he focusing of the company to act in many related sectors at once proved to be helpful in their expansion throughout the irst half of the twentieth century. he chronicle of the company noted the following in 1955:38 Since the founding on January 15th 1895 the core [business] of D. Stempel AG is the development and manufacturing of typographical products. Supported by numerous foreign representations the company exports to almost all countries worldwide. he industrial activity of D. Stempel AG, however, went beyond that for 36 For further reading see A. Savoi’s dissertation on ‘French type foundries in the twentieth century’, as this particular aspect exceeds the scope of this dissertation 37 S. Carter, Twentieth Century Type Designers, p. 163 38 G. K. Schauer, Chronik Der Schritgiesserei D. Stempel Ag Frankfurt A.M. Sechzig Jahre Im Dienste Der Letern, p. 2 Fig. 18 Typographic Clocks, fold-out for Helvetica and Clarendon, ca. 1968 (reproduced from de L. Meyer, Advertising for a type foundry in he Penrose Annual Vol. 61, pp. 199 - 210) 29 decades and does so in present times, especially in the ields of mechanical engineering, metalware manufacturing and recently in modern rerigeration (Stempel-Hermetik GmbH)39 Stempel also acquired shareholdings in other companies and formed partnerships with foundries, in order to buy smaller foundries and to integrate and distribute their libraries. Some examples of this procedure are the participation in the Klingspor foundry in 1918, the take-over of the Drugulin types from Leipzig in 1919, and the of acquisition of the majority of shares in the Haas Typefoundry together with Berthold.40 Fig. 19, 20 Specimens for Elan and Diskus – Diskus (1938) was issued in the Interwar period, both specimens are thematically centered around the idea of sport, movement and energy (both 25% scale) 3.2.2 Interwar and Post-war period In 1941 Linotype became the main shareholder in the D. Stempel AG. here are several things that can be observed from this. he irst is that a concentration process as a result of the mechanisation of type seting took place in Europe as well (as opposed to the concentration process in the United States that lead to the formation of the American Type Founders trust). he second is that due to this amalgamation, a structure of diferent companies, ranging from a comparatively small foundry to a major machine manufacturer, could now bundle their capacities and develop extensive type development projects. he most prominent example in this regard is Helvetica,41 which was designed at Haas, extended and adapted to mechanical typeseting at Stempel and internationally distributed through Stempel and Linotype. Haas undertook the distribution in Switzerland (the manual type cast in Switzerland continued to be distributed as Neue Haas Grotesk for some years)42. he process of adapting the typeface to international manufacturing, distribution and marketing standards shows what can be economically achieved with a design, that is not original in terms of being designed without a previously existing model as a patern.43 39 Text translated by the author 40 Both Stempel and Berthold purchased 45 percent of the Hass foundries’ stocks. In 1954 Stempel became Haas’ majority owner, holding 51 percent of the company’s stocks that were purchased from Berthold. See A. Langer, Helvetica forever, p. 25 41 he origin of the name is still not entirely clear, as there are diferent explanations of how the name emerged. In Helvetica forever, Axel Langer states that Heinz Eul, a salesman at Stempel suggested the name Helvetia. A document writen by Eul and addressed to the company’s executives supports that information. Langer claims that it was Eduard Hofmann, deputy director of the Haas foundry, who inally changed the name from Helvetia to Helvetica. Jürgen Siebert from FontShop published an article, in which he states that Erich Schulz-Anker is the one who modiied the name to Helvetica. see: J. Siebert, Wie Helvetica zu ihrem Namen kam, htp://www.fontblog.de/wie-helvetica-zuihrem-namen-kam, accessed on 01/09/2013 and A. Langer, Helvetica Forever, p. 47 42 Langer, ibid., p. 47 43 Tracy, op.cit., p. 98 Fig. 22, 23 Stempel’s Typorama was presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Drupa exhibition. Exact date unknown, reproduced from de L. Meyer, op. cit., pp. 206, 207 Fig. 24 Helvetica Light specimen, date unknown, (both 40% scale) 31 3.2.3 Type specimens As it is mentioned in the historical synopsis, the foundry issued a comprehensive catalogue in 1925, called the Hauptprobe. It was printed at high standards at the house printing oice, making use of a variety of diferent colours, papers and printing techniques. In parallel, presumably as part of a diversiied marketing strategy to approach book and jobbing printers individually, Stempel issued specimen lealets for single type faces and families. Other publications (but also the Hauptprobe) were oten centered around the history of the company and their atempts to combine industrial production and cratsmanship, which is evident in the following text: he movement to bring industry and art together and turn especially the book printing industry into an industry of applied arts falls into the period of the companys’ founding.44 he concept of producing an extensive compedium was not followed ater the Second World War, however the companies’ printing facilities were used to print lealets and special publications like the Manuale Typographicum by Hermann Zapf later on in 1954. Fig. 21 Melior specimen, date unknown (25% scale) 3.2.4 Hermann Zapf Hermann Zapf ’s relationship with Stempel began during the Second World War ater he inished his apprenticeship as a retoucher and moved to Frankfurt in 1938. here he started to work on his irst typeface Gilgenart. During the war years Zapf worked as a cartographer for the army. He was made the artistic head of the company’s in-house printshop upon his return in 1947, followed by a position as type director from which he resigned in 1956. During his time at Stempel he designed various typefaces, most notably Palatino (1949) and Melior (1952). he connection with the irm remained ater his withdrawal, in 1958 Stempel released Optima,45 which is according to Sebastian Carter, his ‘most original design’.46 But Zapf ’s signiicance for the irm was not just deined by the typefaces he designed. Apart from the Manuale Typograicum, which illustrated statements on 44 from D. Stempel AG, Hauptprobe, 1925 45 he later Forma by the Nebiolo foundry follows the humanist principle of Optima to some extent, the strokes broaden up towards the end. 46 Carter, op.cit., pp. 150 − 152 Fig. 25 – 28 Various advertisements for Clarendon, the lower let is taken from a Haas specimen (30% scale, the upper let is reproduced from Linotype Post nr. 61. Both Pear advertisements are from de L.Meyer, op. cit., pp. 201, 203) 33 typeface design, set in typefaces from the Stempel collection, the in-house press also issued editions of novels, poems books and publications of typographic relevance, such as Formenwandlung der Et-Zeichen (Transition of the et-sign) by Jan Tschichold.47 3.2.5 Erich Schulz-Anker An inluential igure regarding Stempel’s marketing activities was Erich Schulz-Anker. He became the art-director and publicity manager of the company in 1961 and held this position until his retirement in 1976.48 Prior to this engagement he had been working as an independent graphic designer for iteen years and lecturing for seven years49. he publications issued during his time at the company show a diversiied addressing of the marketing ephemera towards printers, publishers, art directors, students and in some cases to a wider public audience. Apart from lealets for individual type families and inventory catalogues, the marketing department send out direct mailings containing fold-outs of typographically composed clocks, showing diferent pairings in a combined seting. he message on the cover stated ‘move with the times – don’t lag behind’.50 Schulz-Anker also made use of the publication potential that had been provided to him through the close cooperation with Linotype.51 He contributed essays to the Linotype Post, thematically oten centered around trends in typeface design and application possibilities. In Beständigkeit und Wandel von Schritformen (Consistency and changes in typeface designs) Schulz-Anker describes the renunciation from a period of individualist form language (as evident in Art Nouveau typefaces) to a period of anonymous expression that goes beyond personal taste. By doing so, the design would not patronise the reader, but achieve universal validity and broad impact. Looking at the designs Stempel released from the 1960s on, there must have been a programmatic change, as the focus shited from designs with more personal expression (such as Zapf ’s) to the extension of successful families suitable for application in a wider context (Helvetica, Clarendon). 3.2.6 The foundry in context What characterises the work at Stempel as opposed to Deberny & Peignot and Nebiolo is the fact that their inancial success is rooted primarily in the acquisition of type libraries rather than the development of own programs in the beginning. he Peignot foundry started out with a similar concept in the late nineteenth century but focussed on artistic typefaces much earlier. Peignot’s strategy could be considered more visionary from a design perspective but the potential of failure was much bigger than it was in the concept of buying designs that have proven to be successful. he exclusive contract Stempel had made with Linotype guaranteed a steady income and presumably made the development of new designs much easier as it was not the company’s only revenue. he implementation of modern marketing strategies at an early point ater the end of the Second World War and the diversiied approach to target a wide range of potential customers with individual measures seems to have worked to Stempel’s advantage – in 1973 the Haas’sche type foundry, with Stempel still as a majority owner, took over the Deberny & Peignot foundry. 47 Chronik der Schritgießerei Stempel, htp://www.schritenservice-d-stempel.de/ChronikStempel.pdf, accessed on 20/08/2013 48 Erich Schulz-Anker was born in 1911 in Eschenau, Ostpreußen (formerly a part of Germany, now Poland) and died in 1995 in Königstein, Taunus (near Frankfurt, Main). his information was made available through an interview, conducted by the author, with his son, Jürgen Schulz-Anker. 49 J.J. de L. Meyer, Advertising for a type foundry, Penrose Annual 61, p. 200 50 Text translated by the author 51 In 1941 Linotype acquired the majority of Stempel’s stocks and became the company’s main shareholder. Fig. 29 Microgramma specimen, exact date unknown (40% scale). he other typeface shown is Slogan, released in 1957. Fig. 30 Eurostile specimen, date unknown (40% scale) 35 3.3 Nebiolo 3.3.1 The late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century he history of the Nebiolo type foundry dates back to the middle of the nineteenth century, ater Giovanni Nebiolo had acquired the Narizzano (founded in 1852) foundry in 1878. he inclusion of Lazzaro Levi as a further associate provided the company with greater inancial scope. In 1896 it was possible to simultaneously start the manufacturing of lithographic and typographic printing machines as well as seting up the type production. In 1908 a merger between Nebiolo and their former competitor Urania took place, resulting in a new company named Augusta.52 However, the irm decided to re-operate as Nebiolo in 1919 and bought out several smaller type foundries, such as Neuroni (Bologna), Rayer (Genova) and Alessandri (Florence), as well as the also Turin-based Fonograica. However, the company’s primary business was the production of printing machines, as there were no strong eforts to create own typefaces until 1933. As with many other foundries during that time, the shits in design, architecture and advertising forced the company to orientate their production capacities towards contemporary typefaces, suitable for a range of commercial applications. Nebiolo decided then, to set up a type development department. he underlying idea was also to train future type designers, guided by Rafaello Baertieri. Giulio da Milano, an expressionist painter became the director of said programme. He was succeeded by Alessandro Buti, a type designer by profession and apart from his position at Nebiolo, also a teacher at the Scuola Vigliani-Paravia.53 3.3.2 Aldo Novarese Aldo Novarese became the director of Nebiolo’s type department in 1952 and held this position until his withdrawal in 1975. Although he had to consider commercial interests coming from the management, he was able to work largely independent at the company and express his own typographic vision.54 Prior to this appointment he had been working there as draughtsman, he joined the work force in 1936 at the age of sixteen ater graduating from the Scuola Tipograica e di Arti Aini ‘Giuseppe Vigliardi-Paravia’, a typography school, where he studied under Alessandro Buti. It was Buti, who got him to join the company in order to work with him as his direct collaborator. His previous education was completed ater three years at the Sculoa Artieri Stampatori, a Turin based printing school, where he was introduced to woodcuting, engraving and etching.55 In his early twenties Novarese was known to be a ‘ierce libertarian’. His protest against the war lead to a prison sentence that was later on abolished, due to the fact that he had won a gold medal in a national artistic competition in 1938.56 He was also involved in the anti-fascist partisan movement in Northern Italy ighting against German invaders in 1943. his involvement lead to him and his comrades being captured and sentenced to death by shooting. Allegedly, his life was saved by a companion who acted as human shield to protect Novarese’s life. He survived the execution, pretending to be dead, and later on continued his activity in the resistance.57 52 A reference to the earlier mentioned Renaissance printer ‘Erhardus Ratdolt de Augusta’ (Erhard Ratdolt from Augsburg) 53 Font Designer – Alessandro Buti, htp://www.linotype.com/672/alessandrobuti.html, accessed on 27/08/2013 54 A. Novarese, Il segno alfabetico, Progresso Graico, no page number given 55 Author unknown, htp://coopertypography.wordpress.com/2009/12/28/aldo-novarese/, retrieved 17/08/2013 56 Author unknown, htp://www.identifont.com/show?118, retrieved on 17/08/2013 57 Sergio Polano and Pierpaolo Veta were provided with this information by Aldo Novarese himself in 1993, two years prior to his death. Aldo Novarese: Leters Are hings, Emigre 26, p. 31 Fig. 31 Garaldus specimen, date unknown, (55% scale). he extensive folder contains separate specimens for the individual weights (Regular, Italic and Bold). Additionally there are various in-use examples included. 37 he amount of typefaces designed by Novarese was very extensive. he most prominent of his designs is most likely Eurostile (1962, Fig. 30), a square sans-serif based on Microgramma, (Fig. 29) an earlier design he had developed with Alessandro Buti in 1952. While Microgramma originated as a Letraset typeface and only consisted of capital leterforms, the later Eurostile was extended by lower-case leters a bold condensed version and an ultra narrow called Eurostile Compact. Novarese’s work as art director and typeface designer can be depicted as a search for a new contemporary expression. In an article for the Italian graphic design magazine Pagina he refers to Eurostile as ‘a symbol of our present times’ while ‘other faces were the expression of other periods of the past.’ he essay contains illustrations and pictures that link architecture and industrial design to the development of Eurostile’s form language.58 Another point that he makes, is the demand for new designs that are capable of atracting the readers atention quickly in a context of rapid movement. Following his argumentation of messages that had to be instantly perceived, Eurostile lives up to these demands with an ‘outline’ that is ‘well matching the feverish activity all around us’.59 Fig. 32, 33 Schematic visualisation of connections in form language (Fig. 32 reproduced from: A. Novarese, Eurostile: An Expression of Our Times, Print vol. 14, pp. 24 − 26, Fig. 33 reproduced from: htp://max.kleiner.com/TEE_iles/breda_power.jpg, accessed on 29/08/2013) Apart from his activities as a designer and teacher,60 he published his own type classiication in a booklet called Il caratere (1957). he classiication was based on the Vox system by Maximilien Vox,61 but beyond that ‘indicated what styles may and what may not be employed with any other style in graphic design.’62 3.3.3 Type specimens he type specimens of Nebiolo show a variety of diferent inluences and themes, yet most of them follow a single principle. An underlying theme of Eurostile’s specimen from 1962 is movement. his is apparent in the waterfall showings, where the leading is increased to a size that forces the eye to ‘jump’ from line to line. his movement is supported by a change in colour, shiting from red to black. (Fig. 30) It is not entirely clear who was ultimately responsible for the design of the specimen, but it might be reasonably assumed that Novarese 58 he train shown in the illustration is presumably a 1957 model of the Trans Europa Express by the Italian mechanical manufacturing company Società Italiana Ernesto Breda, see ig. 32, 33 59 A. Novarese, Eurostile: An Expression of Our Times, Print vol. 14, pp. 24 − 26 60 He was teaching ‘typography design aesthetics’ at the Giuseppe Vigliardi-Paravia typography school from 1948 to 1957 61 Maximilien Vox developed a classiication system in 1954 that comprises nine groups of typefaces. he system was later on adapted and extended by the Association Typographique Internationale and the British Standards Institution. Tracy, op.cit., pp. 20 − 21 62 Author unknown, he British Printer, October 1959, p. 122 Fig. 34 Forma specimen, date unknown, (65% scale) 39 was involved to a great degree. His own graphic design work earned him several prizes and honours, such as the Italian Newspapermen Competition (1939), the Graphic Progress Competition of 1947 or the Rassegna Graica Competition (1955). Some of the specimens use photographic images as an integral element, these pictures are supposed to be taken by himself.63 he statement that he ‘ruled’ the studio ‘with a irm hand, personally supervising every stage in the long road from inished designs to the release of the irst founts’ seems to validate that theory.64 Most of the specimens for typefaces designed in the 1950s and early 1960s such as Microgramma, Cigno, Recta, Fontanesi, Rondine and Eurostile are also directly accredited to Novarese. In 1968, Nebiolo’s type department was extended by a team of graphic designers who were hired to work on type designs as well as to provide feedback about the application of Nebiolo’s typefaces. It became more and more complicated to compete against the success of Univers and Helvetica. heir solution to this problem was the development of Forma, (Fig. 34) a ‘luid’ and ‘acurate’ design, that unfortunately did not meet the sales expectations.65 3.3.4 The foundry in context Taking all the information into account, it seems evident that Nebiolo’s type founding activities were largely determined not only by the market but also by its competitors type design programs. Recta, which can be considered Nebiolo’s answer to the already successful typefaces Univers and Helvetica was released a year later and had only a moderate impact. Egizio, relecting the Clarendon trend was released in 1958, ive years ater the Haas foundry had released their highly successful Clarendon. he partnership with Stempel then made it easier to extend the family with light, semibold, extended and condensed weights and to ofer a greater variety to the customers. Sebastian Carter writes that ‘Novarese let Nebiolo in 1975 ater an internal reorganisation’, which might be correctly formulated but does not provide the motifs for his resignation. ‘he lack of technological renewal’ made Novarese leave the foundry in an ‘embitered state of mind’, according to Polano’s and Vetas’ explanation. For a company like Nebiolo it must have been complicated to keep the business in operation since they also invested in printing machines, most of which were about to become obsolete as phototype Fig. 35 he department at Nebiolo, date unknown, (reproduced from: E. Tallone, Società Nebiolo, Colophon II, p. 12) Fig. 36 Aldo Novarese in his studio at Nebiolo, ca. 1959 (reproduced from: he British Printer, October 1959, p.122) 63 ‘In his work, Novarese oten made use of his own photographic portfolio, which showed journey fragments and sensible shots of architectural and human environments.’ Aldo Novarese: Leters Are hings, Emigre 26, p. 31 64 Author unknown, he British Printer, October 1959, p.122 65 A. Novarese, Il segno alfabetico, Progresso Graico, no page number given Fig. 36 Egizio specimen, date unknown (both 40% scale) Fig. 37 Promotional brochure for Monophoto, exact date unknown, ca. 1955 (55% scale) 41 became the dominant technology and largely replaced mechanical typeseting.66 here is no information available about the absolute size of Nebiolo’s type department staf. Most of the typefaces created at Nebiolo are accredited only to Novarese and Buti67 which was not uncommon, but the fact that the irst mentioning of extending the workforce in 1968 suggests that it must have been a smaller team of people, compared to Stempel or Deberny & Peignot, which were involved with Linotype and Monotype. Another observation is that Recta (1958) was intended to be released in 21 variations like Univers (1957)68 but the 1959 specimen shows only 7 variations,69 which indicates that Nebiolo’s production capacity might have been much lower than those of their competitors. In ‘Leters are things’, Polano and Veta also claim that ‘the commercial strategy of Nebiolo was always able to respond quickly to the market’s changing tastes’.70 4. Conclusion It becomes clear that comparing the activities of the foundries of Deberny & Peignot, Stempel and Nebiolo in just one aspect does not lead to satisfying results. If we only examine the promotional material that these companies generated through this period of ierce competition against each other, it does not take into account the technical challenges they were facing. If we tackle the subject only from a technical point of view, there is not enough room for an interpretation of the importance of economical parameters in which the companies had to operate. Deberny & Peignot encountered the subject of gaining and remaining typographical relevance mostly through innovative design works. heir very early atempts at seeking out graphic talents and turning this asset into something of economic value is what created their reputation. Not adapting to the technological shit to hot metal in the beginning of the twentieth century lead to inancial problems that could only be overcome because of an extremely strong economy. he development of Univers in its full extent and the international distribution that followed could not have been achieved without Monotype. So the strategy of creative leadership alone does not guarantee economic success. A fast adaption to a technology that was not fully developed like the Lumitype at that point bears a very high risk – at the same time, the chance of securing a great part of a market volume that is about to expand, is given as well. In contrast, Stempel which might have been in a inancially more secure position through their ailiation with Linotype could have taken greater creative risks regarding their type development. On the other hand it is not clear to what extent the company was actually able to act autonomous, since Linotype was the major stockholder and the lexibility of an organisation generally decreases, the more hierarchical levels are involved. Nebiolo followed the concept of adapting to current trends, not by imitation but by carefully developing own typographic expressions that channel contemporary aesthetics. Microgramma and the later Eurostile are an example of that, although the former actually anticipated the trend towards functionalism. Egizio (1955) was released two years ater Haas’ Clarendon (1953). Ritmo (1955) was critically acclaimed by John Dreyfus, in his comparison to Jacno and Banco (both 1951). Recta (1958) is widely regarded as the italian answer to Helvetica and Univers (both 1957). Taking into account that Nebiolo was presumably operating with a smaller workforce, the impact the foundry had on international typography is quite remarkable, although the business did inally not make the transition into the phototype era. If the strategic orientation of these three companies is reduced to one or two denominators it would be 66 In an interview, conducted by the author, with Robin Nicholas he mentioned that even at a company like Monotype that was on the forefront of the shit from mechanical to phototypeseting it was not really foreseeable that hot metal would become obsolete so rapidly. See Fig. 37 67 An exception in this regard is Forma, designed by a commitee under Novarese in 1966. he specimen explicitly credits Pino Tovaglia, Luigi Oriani, Till Neuburg, Ilio Negri, Bruno Munari, Giancarlo Iliprandi and Franco Grignani. 68 M. Miklavčič, Neo-grotesque sans serifs of the 1950s and 1960s, p. 59 69 According to Polano and Veta, Recta was later on extended to 29 weights 70 S. Polano, P. Veta, op.cit., p. 33 43 creative leadership in the case of Deberny & Peignot, mergers & acquisitions, paired with a high focus on marketing at Stempel and a fast adaption to trends at Nebiolo. Everyone of these strategies ofers potential for a type foundry of today as well, the factors that must be additionally taken into account are the ones that are diicult to have an inluence on. Today we are in an new transitional phase with an unpredictable outcome. Newspapers and magazines are available as a physical product, as well as an online version. Typefaces which used to be primarily stored on a physical device are now available as web-fonts. his means in some cases, that even this (already) virtual information is now just virtually available. Adapting to this new requirements represents a challenge for designers and publishers of digital type. A strategy for a type design studio of today that is not directly involved in the development of modern formats (such as EOT or WOFF)71 has therefore to consider the adaption to these standards in time. As the market for typefaces is now more international than ever, approaching emerging markets could also mean to develop typefaces for diferent scripts, as language support becomes more and more important in a globally connected world. While technology changes permanently the paterns of this change tend to repeat themselves. herefore, a close look at history can provide a perspective for future directions. 71 Both are standards for webfonts that are used today. Note on specimen material All of the type specimens shown in this dissertation are scans taken from the Mycrot collection of the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication at the University of Reading, unless otherwise stated. Acknowledgements Writing a dissertation - like publishing a typeface - is almost never possible without the help of others. At this point, I would like to thank the following people for giving me guidance and support: Julián Moncada and James Mosley for pointing me to quality sources, Dan Rhatigan and Robin Nicholas for granting me access to the Monotype archives and answering my questions, Gerry Leonidas for making me ask the right questions, Francesco Antoniol from the Tipoteca Italiana for providing me with material about Nebiolo, Elena Papassissa, Alessia Mazzarella, Francesca Romano, Davide Romualdi and Stéphane Passerat for helping me with translations, Jürgen Schulz-Anker for biographical information about his father, Lisa Timpe for additional pictures, Sebastian Losch for proof-reading and his opinion, my parents Christiane and Michael for their love and support and of course my beloved Ambar for all things InDesign. Bibliography Works cited: Ambrosius, Gerold & William Hubbard. A Social and Economic History of Twentieth-Century Europe, Harvard University Press, 2013 AG, Stempel. Chronik Der Schritgiesserei D. Stempel Ag Frankfurt A.M. Sechzig Jahre Im Dienste Der Letern, D. Stempel AG, 1955 AG, Stempel. Die Hauptprobe Der Schritgiesserei Und Messinglinienfabrik D.Stempel, 1925 AG, Stempel. D. Stempel AG - vom Anfang und Ende einer Schritgießerei, Verein Stempel-Rentner e.V., 1995 Bigelow, Charles & Paul Hayden Duensing. Fine Print on Type, Lund Humphries, 1989 Brüning, Ute. Das A Und O Des Bauhauses, Peter Lang, 1995 Burke, Christopher. Active Literature: Jan Tschichold and New Typography, Hyphen, 2007 Burke, Christopher. Paul Renner: he Art of Typography, Hyphen, 2007 Carter, Sebastian. Twentieth Century Type Designers. Norton, New York, 1995 Carter, Sebastian. he Morison years and beyond, Cinamon, Gerald. Rudolf Koch: Leterer, Type Designer, Teacher, Oak Knoll Press, London, 2000 Colapinto, John. Famous Names, he New Yorker, 2011, Accessed October 3, htp://www.newyorker.com/ reporting/2011/10/03/111003fa_fact_colapinto. Dickinson, Ken. A decade of typeface design, he Penrose Annual 1969, vol. 62, Lund Humphries, London, 1968 Dreyfus, John. Type Specimens in a Century of Typographical Change in: he Art of the Type Specimen in the Twentieth Century: An Exhibition Held at ITC Center, 1 March-21 May 1993. New York: Typophiles, 1993 Dreyfus, John. Into Print: Selected Writings on Printing History, Typography and Book Production, British Library, 1994 Dreyfus, John & Stanley Morison. Type specimen facsimiles, Bowes and Bowes puis he Bodley head, London, 1963 Fishenden, R. B. (ed). he Penrose Annual 1954 (Volume XLVIII), Lund Humphries, London, 1954 Fonderies Deberny & Peignot. Spécimen général des Fonderies Deberny & Peignot, Deberny & Peignot, Paris, 1926 Fowles, Jib. Advertising and Popular Culture, Sage Publications, 1996 Frutiger, Adrian, Heidrun Osterer, Philipp Stamm & Swiss Foundation Type and Typography. Adrian Frutiger - Typefaces: the Complete Works, Birkhäuser, 2008 Heller, Steven & Philip B. Meggs. Texts on Type : Critical Writings on Typography, Allworth Press, 2001 Heller, Steven. Charles Peignot: Man Behind the Faces, Print, 1986 51 Hugill-Fontanel, Amelia. History of the Deberny et Peignot, Rochester Institute of Technology, htp:// amgweb.rit.edu/dphist1.htm, Accessed on 15/08/2013 Jubert, Roxane. Typography and Graphic Design: From Antiquity to the Present, Flammarion, Paris, 2006 Kinross, Robin. Modern Typography: An Essay in Critical History, Hyphen Press, London, 2004 Lopes, Teresa da Silva & Paul Duguid. Trademarks, Brands, and Competitiveness, Routledge, 2010 Malsy, Victor, Lars Müller, Axel Langer & Indra Kupferschmid. Helvetica Forever : Story of a Typeface, Victor Malsy and Lars Müller, 2009 Meggs, Philip B. Meggs’ history of graphic design, Wiley, Hoboken, 2012 Meynell, Francis & Herbert Simon. Fleuron Anthology, E. Benn, London, 1973 Meyer, JJ. de L. Advertising for a type foundry, he Penrose Annual 1968, vol. 61, Lund Humphries,London, 1968 Middendorp, Jan. Dutch Type, 010 Publishers, Roterdam, 2004 Morison, Stanley. he Fleuron No. 5 A Journal Of Typography, he University Press, Cambridge, 1926 Morlighem, Sébastien. Mr. Mistral, Eye No. 79 vol. 20, 2011 Novarese, Aldo. Il Segno alfabetico, Progresso graico, Turin, 1971 Novarese, Aldo. Eurostile: An Expression of Our Times, Print vol. XIV, no. V, Kaye-Cadel Publishing, New York, 1962 Ovink, Gerrit, Kurt Weidemann & Georg Trump. Festrede. Laudatio / Kurt Weidemann, TGM, München, 1982 Pankow, David. he Twentieth Century Type Specimen in: he Art of the Type Specimen in the Twentieth Century: An Exhibition Held at ITC Center, 1 March-21 May 1993, Typophiles, New York, 1993 Schulz-Anker, Erich. Beständigkeit und Wandel von Schritformen Anmerkungen zum Erscheinen der neuen Linotype-Clarendon, Linotype Post 61: 17– 19, 1964 Polano, Sergio & Pierpaolo Veta. Aldo Novarese: Leters Are hings, Emigre 26: 30 – 37, 1993 Siebert, Jürgen. Wie Helvetica Zu Ihrem Namen Kam, FontBlog, htp://www.fontblog.de/wie-helvetica-zuihrem-namen-kam, 2006 Tiesler, Hans Georg, Peter Schürmann & Christoph Petersen. Die Schrit als Mitlerin zwischen Angebot und Nachrage: Eine Informationsbroschüre, D. Stempel AG, Frankfurt am Main, 1970 Tracy, Walter. Leters of Credit: a View of Type Design, D.R. Godine, Boston, 1986 Tschichold, Jan, Ruari McLean & Robin Kinross. he New Typography : a Handbook for Modern Designers, University of California Press, 1995 Works consulted: Schauer, Georg Kurt. Schriten Nach Schweizer Art, Linotype Post 64: 12– 13., 1965 Smeijers, Fred. Counterpunch, 2nd Edition: Making Type in the Sixteenth Century Designing Typefaces Now, Hyphen Press, London, 2011 Willberg, Hans Peter & Paul Renner. Schrit im Bauhaus: die Futura von Paul Renner, Verlag Wolfgang Tuessen, 1969 Zapf, Hermann, John Dreyfus & Knut Erichson. Abc-Xyzapf: Fity Years In Alphabet Design. Professional And Personal Contributions Selected For Hermann Zapf,he Wynkyn De Worde Society & Bund Deutscher Buchkunstler, 1989 53 Appendix: Nicholas, Robin. Marketing at Monotype in the 1950s and 60s, Interview conducted by the author 02/08/2013 Schulz-Anker, Jürgen. Erich Schulz-Anker, Interview conducted by the author via E-mail 03/09/2013 Total word count: 10151 words