Studio Brief 2 - Josef Muller-Brockmann typefaces

Josef Muller-Brockmann was a Swiss designer whose work was heavily influenced by ideas from the Bauhaus, Suprematism, Constructivism and many other art movements. He is one of the most recognisable names among Swiss designers and became an influential figure, most notably for his designs of the Zurich Town Hall theatre posters. He also wrote books that would provide in-depth analysis of his study, and inform new designers about the 'ins and outs' of the practice. These included 'Grid Systems in Graphic Design' and 'The Graphic Artist and His Problems'.

Josef Muller-Brockmann typefaces

Helvetica
Helvetica is one of the worlds most successful typefaces which was founded in 1957 at the Haas type foundry in Munchenstein, Switzerland. The typeface was originally called "Neue Haas Grotesk" but was later changed to Helvetica, meaning Switzerland in Latin. Helvetica was created by Swiss designers Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann. When looking at the alphabet in Helvetica we can immediately see that all the letters run uniform to one another in a fixed, neutral sequence. What makes this typeface so special is the fact that it can be so widely used for different scenarios and it communicates an array of different approaches when used by companies. When thinking about keeping your designs simple yet effective, Helvetica would be the go to typeface to use, especially to make your ideas and intentions known to the audience in an approachable way.

Caslon
Caslon was created by William Caslon originally in 1725, then again by Carol Twombly in 1990. Originally created in the old-style serif letter design, Caslon displays striking serif text with subtle manipulations such as the indentation at the top left corner of the 'A'. These subtle changes in Caslon are what make the text look varied and disruptive in its sequence. Because of this, my initial impressions of this typeface are that it is quite menacing and serious.

Baskerville
Baskerville was created by John Baskerville in 1757 and cut by John Handy at the Mergenthaler Linotype Company. This is a stylish, serif typeface that stands out among many as one of the most influential.

Univers
Univers is a sans-serif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1953, which was later commisioned and manufactured in 1957 by Deberny and Peignot. This was one of the first typefaces to form a family of similar designs in a consistent sequence, making it one of the most influential typefaces to date. Instead of geometric forms, Univers displays optically even stroke weights and is often large in X-height making it a bold, stand out typeface. In this way, the typeface works well for both large text and small text as it is easily legible.

Berthold
Herman Berthold founded The H. Berthold type foundry in 1858 in Berlin. After world war II, Berthold developed typesetting equipment in the 1950s, then phototypesetting machines in the 1960s and the Diatronic, a keyboard-controlled phototypesetter for mass production after that. The Berthold typeface itself, has similar characteristics to that of Univers in the way that it also a sans-serif typeface and has similar sized letters, particularly through the uppercase alphabet. Some of the subtle differences in the two typefaces are; the extended height of the tittle on the 'i' and the 'j' in Berthold, the counter space is slightly rounder in Berthold and the curved descender on the lower case 'y' in Berthold.

Garamond
This typeface originates from 1495, when it was created by Claude Garamond and initially used in punch cutting. Christoph Plantin obtained the Garamond punches after the death of Garamond in 1561. In 1621, french printer Jean Jannon produced a specimen of typefaces that show similar characteristics to designs created by Garamond 60 years prior. These designs then disappeared from use for about 200 years until they were rediscovered in the French National Printing Office in 1825. During the early 1900s the types made by Jannon were used to produce a history of printing in France. This wide range is is what brought exposure to the french typographic style and the Garamond types. Italics for Garamond have sometimes been based on those cut by Robert Granjon.

Clarendon
Created by Robert Beasley in 1845, this popular slab-serif typeface was made for the Fann Street Foundry. This 19th century typeface showcases a significant development from the then popular slab-serif Antiques and Egyptian. It is also known as one of the first typefaces to emphasise bold text within writing.

Times
Supervised by Stanley Morison, a new type design was created for The Times Of London in 1931, to replace the old type design used for the body copy of the paper. As Times was to be an updated version of 'Plantin' typeface, it was to be used by Morison during the design stages as a starting point when creating it. To this day, Times is a very popular typeface that can be used in a wide range of contexts, which includes, magazines, newspapers, books and websites. As a serif typeface, Times is probably the most used typeface of all time and is most recognisable because of this.

Bodoni
Bodoni is a serif typeface developed from the ideas of designer John Baskerville. Its an easily recognisable Romantic typeface with vertical stress and slightly bracketed serifs and a popular typeface among fashion labels for its formal look. e.g. Armani Exchange, Calvin Klein, Elizabeth Arden. It is also frequently used in fashion magazines and websites.