Typophile - Univers - The cool alternative? - Comments

Like Helvetica there seem to

Jackie T — Sun, 18 May 2008 03:55:10 -0700

Like Helvetica there seem to be so many rip offs of Univers - that we haven’t seen a good version in years. I hated it when Adobe released their version - and used a “common” ampersand, instead of the distinguished ampersand Univers was known for.

I’ve heard over ad over

innovati — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:33:36 -0700

I’ve heard over ad over from designers in my area that their default body copy choice is Univers. Their reason for choosing such is that they consider Helvetica totally clean and neutral, but Univers is *almost* helvetica, but not quite.

I think it’s that tiny bit of cayenne pepper in the pot of spaghetti sauce that gives it a slight kick - it’s not much but it doesn’t have that skeleton feel helvetica can often have.

Maybe that’s what he meant…

“Helvetica is the jeans,

eliason — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:20:46 -0700

“Helvetica is the jeans, and Univers is the dinner jacket.” —Adrian Frutiger

Honestly, the Frutiger DVD

David R — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:18:50 -0700

Honestly, the Frutiger DVD is terrible. Very boring and uninteresting. When you have seen a documentary like Helvetica, then what is possible to do with such an artist, it’s a pity. As of the biography, It actually exist in french language, the title is “Adrian Frutiger; une vie dediee a l’ecriture typographique”, and it is a great, 128 pages book. I suggest some of you convince an american publisher to get the translation rights from Atelier Perrousseaux.

http://www.adverbum.fr/index.php?&moid=12&oid=T001:273ff8d398d29b21f7788...

When googling an issue that

aluminum — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:23:26 -0700

When googling an issue that is several years old it’s surprising to find some kind soul was nice enough to update it with more relevant information. Kudos to Tiffany’s librarian instincts. ;o)

I just can’t see Univers

canderson — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:22:18 -0700

I just can’t see Univers being characterized as “cool”... more of a bread-and-butter, nuts-and-bolts kind of thing, right? As in not very glamorous or sexy. I’m mean, we’re talking about the typeface on the “Yes, we’re open!” signs here.

Oops! I was thinking of Frutiger when I posted the pic of the Concorde, but I think the idea (and shape) stands. Frutiger is French-ish, to use an absolutely awful expression that I may have just made up. Univers is not some old German clunker, it’s sleek, new, sexy, and yes, cool...in a late 60’s French-sort-of-way. It’s power was in what it replaced, which is hard to know about today.

I could also make the jab that Univers is to Segoe as Concorde is to Boeing 787. Some Boeing fans might interpret that comparison favorably, although I mean it ambiguously. Newer is sometimes better, but not always.

No backstory. I just became,

Miss Tiffany — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:13:20 -0700

No backstory. I just became, perhaps, a little too enthusiastic. I’ll try to keep it under control. O:^)

(No subject)

canderson — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:38:47 -0700

:) If there’s anyone to

beejay — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:23:58 -0700

If there’s anyone to Trust in Type, it’s Tiff. (I wrote that last night, but didn’t post it b/c it’s corny. But true.)

I just found myself curious to know if there was some backstory.

cheers

Miss Tiffany is not on the

silas — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:07:40 -0700

Miss Tiffany is not on the TypeTrust payroll, but we always appreciate her enthusiasm.

Alright. Alright. It was

Miss Tiffany — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:22:10 -0700

Alright. Alright. It was late. I was tired. I thought it would be nice to promote the new typeface. No need to be suspicious. It is me, after all, not some random person selling yarn made from dog fur. :^P When I come across a typeface that reminds me of an old thread I’ll usually go back and add my suggestion. It just happens that this time I did it quite a few times. And besides, who cares if an old thread is revived? Did it cause a ripple in your life today? :^P

James, Linotype has a DVD

verbosus — Wed, 14 May 2008 07:46:30 -0700

James, Linotype has a DVD called The Man of Black and White - Adrian Frutiger that is quite interesting in that it touches other aspects of Frutiger’s life apart from type design. It’s not too long (about 40 minutes) and I quite enjoyed it. As far as I know this is as close as it gets to a biography, but keep also in mind that the man wrote a lot of books: I recommend you try to find a copy of Type Sign Symbol through some library, it’s impossible to find one to actually buy. Mark Simonson also posted some pictures from the book in his recent Frutiger talk.

Wonderful idea — we can

dux — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:33:48 -0700

Wonderful idea — we can all follow Univers and Herr Spiekermann will then recommend Helvetica as the cool alternative.

That article is indeed good.

James Puckett — Wed, 14 May 2008 05:41:34 -0700

That article is indeed good. Nothing like Akira writing about Frutiger.

Does Frutiger have an autobiography among his books? If not, I hope someone is getting his story down; his fifty years in the industry would make an interesting, if nerdy, read.

Yesterday I got the Linotype

verbosus — Wed, 14 May 2008 03:03:38 -0700

Yesterday I got the Linotype newsletter celebrating Adrian Frutiger’s 80th birthday. Amongst other things, there’s an article by Akira Kobayashi on Univers vs. Helvetica. You’ll see how Univers’ spacing is much wider than Helvetica, which supposedly makes it more fit for text settings. More open counterforms and finer details give it that sharp look, which may be perceived by some people as overly “cold” – but not to me.

(As a side note: Linotype’s Web site is terrible, I tried finding that article and could not figure for the life of me where they put it. I ended up going back to the newsletter, in frustration).

Univers - The cool alternative?

henry_fool — Tue, 8 Aug 2006 05:50:26 -0700

In the book ’Stop Stealing Sheep...’ Erik Spiekermann describes Univers as the cool alternative to Helvetica. Why is this?