Adrian Frutiger was a world-renowned Swiss typographer who revolutionized type in the 20th and 21st 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.
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