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Akzidenz Grotesk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Typeface | Akzidenz Grotesk |
|---|---|
| Category | Sans-serif |
| Foundry | H. Berthold AG |
Akzidenz Grotesk is a realist sans-serif typeface originally released by the H. Berthold AG type foundry in 1896. Contemporary versions of Akzidenz Grotesk descend from an early-1950s project, directed by Günter Gerhard Lange at Berthold, to enlarge the typeface family, adding a larger character set, but retaining all of the idiosyncrasies of the 1896 face. Some new weights, condensed and extended widths were released under the title Standard. While Günter Gerhard Lange sought to academically retain Akzidenz Grotesk's imperfections, Max Miedinger's 1957 Swiss typeface Helvetica, used it as a model but sought to refine the typeface making it more even and unified. Akzidenz Grotesk also influenced Adrian Frutiger's 1958 typeface Univers. Akzidenz Grotesk is the first sans serif typeface to be widely used.
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Akzidenz is sometimes at first glance mistaken for the Helvetica or Univers typefaces. The similarities of Helvetica and Akzidenz are apparent, but the subtle differences include the uppercase and lowercase C, and the uppercase G. J, R., and Q. Aside from the subtle differences in these individual letters, Miedinger's primary change to Akzidenz is Helvetica's higher x-height, the distance from the baseline to the height of the lowercase letter x. The general effect is that Helvetica appears more oblong while Akzidenz maintains circular counters and bowls. Both Helvetica and Univers are more regular and have a greater consistency of stroke weight.
Linotype sells a version of Akzidenz under the name "Basic Commercial". This is based on Linotype's digitization of the typeface, which is also sold under the Akzidenz name by various foundries; Linotype use a different name for trademark reasons.[1]
- ^ Thread on Typophile containing Linotype's official explanation of the origin of Basic Commercial, in response to an accusation of forgery.
- Bringhurst, Robert. The Elements of Typographic Style.
- Fellici, James. The Complete Manual of Typography.
- Berthold Fonts.
- Fiedl, Frederich, Nicholas Ott and Bernard Stein. Typography: An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Through History. Black Dog & Leventhal: 1998. ISBN 1-57912-023-7.
- Macmillan, Neil. An A–Z of Type Designers. Yale University Press: 2006. ISBN 0-300-11151-7.
