Rotis

Infobox font
name = rotis


style = Serif Semi-serif Semi-sans Sans-serif
date = 1988
creator = Otl Aicher
variations = rotis serif rotis semi-serif rotis semi-sans rotis sans
shown_here = rotis semi-sans
foundry = Agfa

The rotis typeface was developed in 1988 by Otl Aicher, German graphic designer and typographer. In rotis, Aicher explores an attempt at maximum legibility through a highly unified yet varied typeface family that ranges from full serif, glyphic, and sans-serif. The four basic "rotis" variants are:

* rotis serif (antiqua) — with full serifs
* rotis semi-serif (semi-antiqua) — with hinted serifs
* rotis semi-sans (semi-grotesque) — without serifs but with stroke width variation
* rotis sans (lineale humanist sans-serif) — without serifs and with very minimal variation on stroke width

Naming convention

The name of the typeface comes from the domicile of Rotis, a quarter of the German town of Leutkirch im Allgäu, where Otl Aicher lived. Unlike the domicile's, the font's name is written in minuscules, since Aicher thought of capital letters as a sign of hierarchy and oppression.

Uses

The East Lancashire Institute of Higher Education in Blackburn, Lancashire and the college campus it is affiliated with both use rotis in logos and signage.

The Vrije Universiteit Brussel uses rotis sans as its corporate typeface.

Accenture currently uses rotis in their wordmark and advertising.

Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) also uses rotis on their website and on their publications.

The Finland-based firm Nokia also uses this font in their packaging, user manuals and advertising.

The Australian Commonwealth Services Delivery Agency, Centrelink (the government provider of social security/ welfare), uses this typeface in their logo.

The metro of Bilbao (Metro Bilbao) uses this typeface in its logo and signage.

Auckland City Council used rotis for traffic signage.

Singapore's highway and street signage uses the rotis typeface.

Also based in Auckland, New Zealand's largest architecture firm Jasmax uses rotis in all of its documents.

The rotis family is also used in book publishing, one example being Naomi Klein's No Logo which uses the semi-serif face. Open Source Press uses Rotis Sans Serif for all their books' body text, and Semi Serif for the headers.

The University of Texas at Arlington and University of California, San Diego use the semi-serif face as its primary display type.

ERCO, the german based lighting fixture manufacturer, uses semi-sans for their logo and literature.

The rotis font family is used by the kitchen company bulthaup. [ [http://www.bulthaup.com/ www.bulthaup.com] ]

References

*Blackwell, Lewis. "20th Century Type." Yale University Press: 2004. ISBN 0-300-10073-6.
*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.

External links

* [http://www.linotype.com/1827/rotis.html Linotype webpage for Rotis] (Linotype, the current owners of the typeface, use standard capitalization for its name)
* [http://www.spiekermann.com/iblog/C1109747452/E1829097339/index.html Robin Kinross and Erik Spiekermann on rotis]