A small Saturday Report on Adrain Frutiger

Univers, Adrian Frutiger, 1954

 

Adrian Frutiger was a world-renowned Swiss typographer who revolutionized type in the 20^th and 21^st centuries.  He is one of the few typographers whose career spanned from hot metal to digital typesetting.   At 16, he became an apprentice for the printer Otto Schlaeffli in Interlaken. He then studied at the School of Applied Arts (Kunstgewerbeschule) in Zurich.  In 1952, he was recruited by Charles Peignot for the world’s leading type foundry, Debery & Peignot.  At the time, the foundry was using a new phototypesetting process with the Lumitype and they wanted Frutiger to adapt typefaces for it as well as develop new ones.  He developed several typefaces for Debery & Peignot including  Président, Méridien, and Ondine, and he started working on his most recognized font family, Univers.  Univers consisted of 21 variations and a new naming system.  Instead of using the typical terms such as condensed, light, bold, or italic, Univers used a numbering system as well as a periodic table. Univers 55 was at the center with a typical “book” weight.  Fonts to the left were expanded, fonts to the right were condensed.  Fonts above 55 (with a lower number) had a lighter weight and fonts below 55 (with a higher number) were heavier.  Even numbered fonts were italics and odd numbered ones were Roman.  In addition to Univers, Frutiger is most well known for the typefaces Frutiger and Avenir.  Frutiger, designed for the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, is perhaps the most internationally widespread of his fonts and can now be seen in airports all over the world.  Adrian Frutiger designed over 40 typefaces and received numerous honros and awards including the 1987 medal of the Type Directors Club.

Sadly, Adrian Frutiger passed away last year at 87.  You can read his obituary from Linotype, which details his life and legacy.

Univers periodic table, Adrian Frutiger, 1954

Frutiger in use at the Charles de Gaulle Airport, photo courtesy of 100besttypefaces

Egyptienne, Univers, Frutiger, and Avenir, Adrian Frutiger

Linotype Didot (contemporary adaptation of Didot), Adrian Frutiger, 1991

Avenir, Adrian Frutiger, 1988

Saving Olympic design history

“When you go through this work, you see the evolution of art and design over 120 years—the different styles, the different techniques.”

In graphic design history news (is that such a thing?): two Canadian designers, Ben Hulse and Greg Durrell, have compiled, digitized, and edited all past Olympic graphics including pictograms, mascots, and logos into a catalogue of brand marks. They and the International Olympic Committee hope to sell the past Olympic brands on clothing and other souvenirs. The Olympic Heritage collection is not for sale yet, but they are currently trying to get it licensed across the IOC’s national territories. Check out Michael McCullough’s article on Canadian Business for details on their process, it’s a great read!

 

A duffle bag with the 1956 Olympic logo

Notebooks with the logos from 1932, 1968, and 1984 Olympics

Hulse and Durrell looked at 25,000 different items to make sure every design was historically correct

 

 

Watch Saul Bass’s Brand Pitch to AT&T

In graphic design history news: In 1969, Saul Bass gave a pitch to Bell Telephone (now AT&T) to completely rebrand the company, and it’s pretty amazing.  The beginning of the video is about how the world was changing in the 60s, so the Bell Telephone needs to keep up.  He goes through different types of logos and compares some of the updated logos from other top companies.  The breakdown of how the Bell logo was created starts at around 11:15, and the attention to detail is fascinating.  His plan for the corporate rebrand included ideas for vans, trucks, uniforms, phone booths, and even jewelry.  Obviously the pitch worked and the Bell logo was used until 1984 when the company became AT&T, whose logo Saul Bass also designed.  The pitch is 27 minutes long, but well worth watching.

The original Bell logo (left) and the redesigned logo, Saul Bass (right)

In Memoriam: Prince’s Custom-Font

Floppy disk containing a custom designed font for Prince.

In 1993, Prince changed his name out of frustration with his record label to a symbol called The Love Symbol. In order for the press to be able to write about him, Warner Bros sent out floppy disks with a custom designed font containing The Love Symbol.

Read more about Prince’s Custom-Font Floppy Disks (which were sadly yellow and not purple) in Brian Feldman’s article on nymag.com.

Photo courtesy of Anil Dash, @anildash

New Graphic Design Documentary Coming Soon

In graphic design history news: There’s a new documentary, Graphic Means: A History of Graphic Design Production, coming out in 2017 that explores graphic design and the huge changes the industry went through from the 50s through the 90s. The film, directed by Briar Levit, features interviews with notable figures of graphic design including Ellen Lupton, Tobias Frere-Jones, Ian Swift, and Adrian Shaughnessy.  It’s a more in depth look at how design was done by hand before design software (similar to the video from Lynda posted a couple weeks ago) and how new technologies changed the design process.

Watch the trailer below and check out the official website for more information and updates.

A mini Monday report on A.M. Cassandre

Normandie, A. M. Cassandre, 1935

A.M. Cassandre (born Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron) was a Ukrainian-French painter, poster artist, and typeface designer.  He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and at the Académie Julian and began his career at age 22 designing posters for a printing firm.  One of his earliest commissions was the poster, Au Bucheron, for a cabinetmaker, which won first prize at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in 1925.  He was known for his combination of Cubism and Purism, which was shown in the innovation in his posters and use of two-dimensionality, geometric forms, broad planes of color, inventive use of type and letterforms, and dramatic imagery. His works often emphasized size and scale with larger than life images.  His most known poster, Normandie, emphasized the size of the ship with art deco lines and perspective as well as using a small French flag and tiny birds to highlight the scale.  He created posters for other companies including the Parisian newspaper L’Intransigeant, railways, ocean liners, and liqueur.  He also created several typefaces: the art deco Bifur, Acier, the new-Roman Peignot, and his last, Cassandre.  In the late 1930s, Cassandre worked for Harper’s Bazaar on the magazine’s covers and continued painting.  His later career involved set and costume design in theatre and the logo for Yves Saint Laurent in 1963, which is still in use today on accessories and cosmetics.

L’Intransigeant, A.M. Cassandre, 1925

Grand-Sport, A.M. Cassandre, 1925

Au Bucheron, A.M. Cassandre, 1923

Dubo Dubon Dubonnet, A. M. Cassandre, 1932

Harper’s Bazaar cover design, A.M. Cassandre, 1939

You can see read more on A.M. Cassandre at his official website, the MoMA Collection,  and the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame.

Peignot typeface, A.M. Cassandre, 1937

Bifur typeface, A.M. Cassandre, 1929

Yves Saint Laurent logo, A.M. Cassandre, 1963

Vintage labels, so adorable

Perth Brewery Half & Half, c.1906-1949

If you like vintage labels, there’s a huge collection of Vintage Beer Labels at Flickr, courtesy of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto. There are some really great ones including one from Stag’s Head with, well, a stag’s head on the label; a great old Budweiser label from the early 1930s (Canadian Budweiser, but it’s ok); and a cheery Perth Brewery label with a cute puppy on the logo (maybe I just like the dog).

 

Stag’s Head Lager Beer, c.1906-1956

Perth Brewery Old Stock Ale, c.1928-1949

Budweiser Brewing Company of Canada Limited, c.1929-1932

Other standouts include Regal with great gold and purple colors and, my favorite, Capital Ale Old Stock.

Regal by Taylor And Bate Limited c.1930-1937

Capital Ale by The Capital Brewing Co. Limited, c.1899-1944

(Does the label for Carling’s White Eagle Lager remind anyone else of the Land O’ Lakes butter label?)  Check out all of the great old labels on Flickr. Thanks, Canada!

Fictional Friday: Art Nouveau in Moulin Rouge!

Nini Pattes de L’Air poster from Moulin Rouge!, Silvana Azzi Heras, 2001

The 2001 film, Moulin Rouge!, is set in 1909, right at the tail end of the art nouveau movement.    The movie, like all of director Baz Luhrmann’s movies, is rich in detail, color, and design.  While the music was made up of mostly contemporary songs, the posters created for the movie were designed to fit in with the art nouveau style.  At least a few of the original posters were made in the style of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (which makes sense since Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Mooonnnfa is a character in the movie).  In fact, Toulouse-Lautrec’s poster, “La Troupe De Mlle Eglantine”, is painted on the side of the Moulin Rouge offices.  The Absinthe Silvana poster looks like an early version of an Alphonse Mucha poster.  See the rest of the original Moulin Rouge! posters, designed by graphic designer Silvana Azzi Heras, below.

 

La Troupe De Mlle Eglantine, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, 1895

Building with La Troupe de Mademoiselle Eglantine painted from Moulin Rogue!, 2001

Diamant Brillant poster from Moulin Rouge!, Silvana Azzi Heras, 2001

Chocolat Au Moulin Rogue poster from Moulin Rouge!, Silvana Azzi Heras, 2001

Absinthe Silvana poster from Moulin Rogue, Silvana Azzi Heras, 2001

Spectaculaire, Spectaculaireposter from Moulin Rogue!, Silvana Azzi Heras, 2001

All MR! images courtesy of the Moulin Rouge! DVD (which is why the quality isn’t the best)

A wee Wednesday report on Jules Chéret

Pantomimes Lumineuses, Jules Chéret, 1896

Jules Chéret  was a French painter and graphic designer and was called “the father of the modern poster.”  He was also influential in transitioning the art world from the Victorian style to the art nouveau style.  He designed his first poster in 1858 at 22 years old for the operetta, Orphée aux Enfers.  His career grew when he opened a printing firm in Paris in 1866.  The firm’s first poster was for a theatrical production La biche au bois, which pioneered the visual poster.  His later posters typically consisted of a center figure surrounded by swirls of color and bold lettering and bright colors (usually primary colors).  The women he created on his posters, called “Chérettes”, greatly influenced the young Frenchwomen who saw them.  In the late Victorian era, women were to be either the proper lady or the prostitute, but the women in his posters were elegant, lively, happy, and self-assured who drank wine, smoked, and danced.  It was freeing for the women in Paris and ushered in a more open environment for women in Paris,  leading some to call him the “father of women’s liberation.”

By the time Jules Chéret retired, he had designed over a thousand posters and ads and his work influenced many other artists, including other art nouveau artists like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Alphonse Mucha.

Poster for Orphée aux Enfers (Orpheus in Hades), Jules Chéret, 1879

Poster for ‘Ball at the Moulin Rouge, Place Blanche’, Jules Chéret, 1889

Poster, “L’aureole du midi, Pétrole de Sureté,“ Jules Chéret, 1893

“Palais de Glace, Champs-Èlysée” (Ice Palace, Champs-Èlysée), Jules Chéret, 1893.

Poster for La biche au bois (The Doe in the Wood), Jules Chéret, 1866

Art Nouveau Week continues

Divan Japonais, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1892-1893

Art Nouveau is a style of art that was popular at the turn of the 19^th century and included all of the design arts: graphics, architecture, furniture, fashion, and product design.  It became the initial period of modernism and created a bridge between the Victorian style and the modern style.  Its main characteristic is curved, organic lines and natural forms. In 1894, an article in a magazine described it as “sudden violent curves generated by the crack of a whip”.  Artists and designers frequently used the organic, fluid line to create motifs such as flowers, vines, birds, and the female form.  Art Nouveau was seen as a reaction to both academic art and overly ornamental 19^th century design, but influences range from Japanese art, to the rococo style, Van Gogh, and more.

The earliest art nouveau artists were Jules Chéret, the father of the modern poster (check back for more information on him) and Eugéne Grasset.  Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Théophile-Alexandre Steinen were younger artists who both made an impact on the art nouveau style.  Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s poster, “La Goulue au Moulin Rouge”, broke new ground in poster design with its flat planes, shapes, silhouettes, shapes and movement. Théophile-Alexandre Steinen’s poster, “Tournée du Chat Noir de Rodolphe Salis”, is widely recognized even today.  Perhaps the most influential artist was Alphonse Mucha, whose work was so prolific and pervasive that his name was frequently interchanged with “art nouveau”.   His main theme was a stylized central female figure surrounded by a stylized motif of flowers, plants, mosaics, or more.

While art nouveau was widely influential and spread internationally, it was a short-lived movement.  It was replaced by the Art Deco style and modernist movement in the early 20^th century, but is considered an important precursor to modernism.

Folies Berger: La Loïe Fuller, Jules Chéret, 1893

Affiche Encre L. Marquet, Eugène Grasset, 1892

La Goulue au Moulin Rouge, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1891

Tournée du Chat Noir de Rodolphe Salis, Théophile Steinlen, 1896

Bières de la Meuse, Alphonse Mucha, 1897

Job Cigarettes, Alphonse Mucha, 1896