Akzidenz-Grotesk

Infobox font
name = Akzidenz-Grotesk


style = Sans-serif
date = 1896
foundry = H. Berthold AG

Akzidenz-Grotesk is a realist sans-serif typeface originally released by the H. Berthold AG type foundry in 1896 under the title "Accidenz-Grotesk". [ [http://www.microsoft.com/typography/links/news.aspx?NID=5786 Akzidenz-Grotesk Goes Greek and Cyrillic] ] It was the first sans serif typeface to be widely used and influenced many later neo-grotesque typefaces. Max Miedinger at the Haas Foundry used it as a model for the typeface Neue Haas Grotesk released in 1957, and renamed Helvetica in 1960. Miedinger sought to refine the typeface making it more even and unified. Two other releases from 1957, Adrian Frutiger's Univers and Bauer and Baum's Folio, take inspiration from Akzidenz-Grotesk.

History

The design of Akzidenz-Grotesk was theorized to be derived from Walbaum or Didot, as demonstrated by the similar font metrics when the serifs are removed. [ [http://www.typotheque.com/articles/my_type_design_philosophy.html My Type Design Philosophy by Martin Majoor] ] However, the font family also included fonts made by other foundries, such as the c. 1880 typeface Royal Grotesk Light from the Berlin foundry Ferdinand Theinhardt Schriftgiesserei [ [http://www.typophile.com/node/4567 Akzidenz Grotesk roots] ] , designed by Ferdinand Theinhardt for the scientific publications of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin. FTS also supplied the regular, medium and bold weights of the typeface. In 1908, Hermann Berthold took over Theinhardt's Berlin foundry. Since then, Royal Grotesk had not been published until 1918, after the fall of the Prussian monarchy, when it was made part of the Akzidenz-Grotesk font family and renamed Akzidenz-Grotesk Condensed. [page 21, Sans Serif: The ultimate sourcebook of classic and contemporary sans serif typography, Thames & Hudson, Cees W. de Jong, 2006]

Contemporary versions of Akzidenz-Grotesk descend from a late-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 1898 face. Under the direction of Günter Gerhard Lange, he had designed 33 font styles to the Akzidenz-Grotesk family, including AG Extra (1958), AG Extra Bold (1966) and AG Super (1968), AG Super Italic (2001) and Extra Bold italic (2001). [page 23, Sans Serif: The ultimate sourcebook of classic and contemporary sans serif typography, Thames & Hudson, Cees W. de Jong, 2006]

In May 2006, Berthold announced the release of Akzidenz-Grotesk in OpenType format, under the name Akzidenz-Grotesk Pro. The Pro family offers extended language support for Central European, Baltic and Turkish as well as Welsh, archaic Danish and Esperanto and is available in CFF PostScript OpenType. Berthold also released Akzidenz-Grotesk Standard, which includes glyphs of Western European character set, in both PostScript and TrueType flavored OpenType. [ [http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/24218.html Berthold Announces the Release of Akzidenz-Grotesk in OpenType Format] ]

In May 2007 Berthold announced the release of Akzidenz-Grotesk Pro+, which includes Cyrillic and Greek characters. [ [http://www.microsoft.com/typography/links/news.aspx?NID=5786 AG goes Greek and Cyrillic] ]

Akzidenz-Grotesk Book

It is a variant designed by Günter Gerhard Lange between 1969 and 1973. It incorporates some features found in Helvetica, such as strike-through tail in Q, horizontal and vertical cut stroke terminators. However, cedilla is replaced with comma.

In 2006, the font family was updated with OpenType feature, and was expanded to 3 widths with 5 weights (4 weights in condensed and extended fonts) each, and includes complementry italic fonts.

In 2007-9, OpenType Pro version of the fonts were released.

In 2008-1, medium and bold outline, medium stencil fonts were released.

Akzidenz-Grotesk Book Rounded

It is a variant designed by Günter Gerhard Lange in 1980. It features rounded stroke terminators on AG Book design.

In 2007-9, OpenType Pro version of the fonts were released.

Akzidenz-Grotesk Schoolbook

It is a variant designed by Günter Gerhard Lange in 1983. Based on Akzidenz-Grotesk Book, it uses single-storey a. Each font weight has 2 fonts featuring alternative designs.

In 2008-1, OpenType Pro version of the fonts were released.

Akzidenz-Grotesk Old Face

It is a variant designed by Günter Gerhard Lange in 1984. It is based on the original Akzidenz-Grotesk. Euro sign was changed to diagonal cut. It also incorporates quirks, such as comma-styled cedilla on medium and bold weights, inward hook in regular-weighted ß, shortened horizontal serif in regular-weighted "1", which are absent in the original font family.

Regular, medium, bold, ouline, bold outline, shaded fonts have been made for the family, but no italic fonts.

In 2008-1, shaded font was released.

Akzidenz-Grotesk Next

In December 2006, Berthold announced the release of Akzidenz-Grotesk Next. [ [http://www.microsoft.com/typography/links/news.aspx?NID=5711 Berthold Releases Akzidenz-Grotesk Next] ] Designed by Bernd Möllenstädt and Dieter Hofrichter, this typeface family features readjusted x-heights and weights throughout the family, giving a more consistent type design. The family consists of 14 variants with 7 weights in roman and italic, in a single width.

imilarities to other typefaces

Akzidenz-Grotesk is sometimes at first glance mistaken for the Helvetica or Univers typefaces. The similarities of Helvetica and Akzidenz-Grotesk 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-Grotesk 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-Grotesk maintains circular counters and bowls. Both Helvetica and Univers are more regular and have a greater consistency of stroke weight.

Some new weights, condensed and extended widths were released under the title Standard.

Linotype sells a version of Akzidenz-Grotesk under the name "Basic Commercial." This is based on Linotype's digitization of the typeface, which is also sold under the Akzidenz-Grotesk name by various foundries; Linotype uses a different name to avoid trademark infringement. [ [http://www.typophile.com/node/9579/61260 Thread on Typophile] containing Linotype's official explanation of the origin of Basic Commercial, in response to an accusation of forgery.] However, as of 2008, Linotype's online store also sells Akzidenz-Grotesk and other Berthold variants under the original names.

References

; Sources consulted
* Bringhurst, Robert. "The Elements of Typographic Style." Hartley & Marks: 1992. ISBN 0-88179-033-8.
* Fellici, James. "The Complete Manual of Typography." Adobe Press: 2002. ISBN 978-0321127303.
* 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.
* Kane, John. "A type primer." Prentice Hall: 2002. ISBN 013099071X.
* Macmillan, Neil. "An A–Z of Type Designers." Yale University Press: 2006. ISBN 0-300-11151-7.
*cite web|url=http://www.bertholdtypes.com|title=Berthold Fonts

; Endnotes

External links

* [http://www.bertholdtypes.com/bq_library/790030.html Berthold AG web page for Akzidenz-Grotesk Pro+]
* [http://www.fonts.com/FindFonts/RecentReleases/2007/Akzidenz-Grotesk+Next.htm Akzidenz-Grotesk Next]
* [http://typophile.com/wiki/akzidenz_grotesk Typowiki: Akzidenz-Grotesk]