Job:03171 Title:Typography Referenced (Rockport)
Page: 170
A BCDEFG HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
a bcdefghijklmnopqrst uvwxyz
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170
Typography, Referenced
Text
Job:03171 Title:Typography Referenced (Rockport)
Page: 170
Background
Traits
Akzidenz Grotesk was known as Accidenz-Grotesk, but called
Standard in the United Kingdom and the United States when
fi rst issued by Berlin’s H. Berthold AG () foundry. Its design
originated with Royal Grotesk light by Ferdinand Theinhardt,
who was a royal type cutter. When the Theinhardt foundry
merged with Berthold, the regular, medium, and bold weights
were included. Günter Gerhard Lange, who was Berthold’s art
director, enlarged the typeface family in the s () but kept
the unique properties inherent in the original.
Lange was also instrumental in expanding Akzidenz
Grotesk to include other styles such as medium italic, extra
bold, extra bold condensed, and extra bold condensed
Stroke weight varies slightly across the entire family,
and its large x-height gives it a bigger appearance
than other sans serif fonts. Its G has a spur and its A is
fl at at the top. In the lowercase () set, the a and t
each has what looks like a curved serif on its foot.
Akzidenz Grotesk
YEAR
ORIGINAL DESIGNERS
Berthold Type Foundry
CLASS
Grotesque
A designer’s job will become
even more challenging as
the quantity of information
and noise increases during
the twenty-fi rst century.
Those who possess a broad
typographic understanding will
best meet the communicative
and creative challenge,
especially during a time when
people know the difference
between one font and
another—and which ones read
better or worse with software’s
default 120-percent leading.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
SELECTED AKZIDENZ GROTESK ALPHABETS
Top to bottom: -point Akzidenz Grotesk Pro regular, italic, and bold
EXAMPLE
-point Akzidenz Grotesk Pro
italic. He completed the series in with light italic,
super italic, and light condensed, among others. Finally
in , Berthold released Akzidenz Grotesk Next,
redrawn by Bernd Moellenstaedt and Dieter Hofrich-
ter, as a single family with characteristics of the original.
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