| Category | Sans-serif |
|---|---|
| Classification | Grotesque sans-serif |
| Designer(s) | Günter Gerhard Lange |
| Foundry | H. Berthold AG |
| Date released | 1896 |
Akzidenz-Grotesk is a grotesque (early sans-serif) typeface originally released by the Berthold Type Foundry in 1896 under the name Accidenz-Grotesk.[1] It was the first sans serif typeface to be widely used and influenced many later neo-grotesque typefaces after 1950.
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The design of Akzidenz-Grotesk was theorized to be derived from Walbaum or Didot, as demonstrated by the similar font metrics when the serifs are removed.[2] However, the font family also included fonts made by other foundries, such as the c. 1880 typeface Royal Grotesk Light from the Berlin foundry Ferdinand Theinhardt Schriftgiesserei,[3] designed by Ferdinand Theinhardt for the scientific publications of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin. FTS also supplied the regular, medium and bold weights of the typeface. While Hermann Berthold took over Theinhardt's Berlin foundry in 1908, it wasn't until the fall of the Prussian monarchy in 1918 that Royal Grotesk was published as part of the Akzidenz-Grotesk font family and renamed Akzidenz-Grotesk Condensed.[4]
Contemporary versions of Akzidenz-Grotesk descend from a late-1950s project, directed by Günter Gerhard Lange at Berthold, to enlarge the typeface family, adding a larger character set, but retaining all of the idiosyncrasies of the 1898 face. Under the direction of Günter Gerhard Lange, he had designed 33 font styles to the Akzidenz-Grotesk family, including AG Extra (1958), AG Extra Bold (1966) and AG Super (1968), AG Super Italic (2001) and Extra Bold italic (2001).[5]
In May 2006, Berthold announced the release of Akzidenz-Grotesk in OpenType format, under the name Akzidenz-Grotesk Pro. The Pro family offers extended language support for Central European, Baltic and Turkish as well as Welsh, archaic Danish and Esperanto and is available in CFF PostScript OpenType. Berthold also released Akzidenz-Grotesk Standard, which includes glyphs of Western European character set, in both PostScript and TrueType flavored OpenType.[6]
In May 2007 Berthold announced the release of Akzidenz-Grotesk Pro+, which includes Cyrillic and Greek characters.[7]
Akzidenz-Grotesk and Georgia are the official fonts of the American Red Cross. Akzidenz-Grotesk is used on the national logo and national guidelines require the font to be used on all chapter logos. All American Red Cross publications must be printed in Akzidenz-Grotesk or Georgia fonts.[8]
Characteristics of this typeface are:
lower case: square dot over the letter i. double storey a.
upper case: dropped horizontal element on A.
figures:
Several other type designers modeled typefaces from this popular typeface. Max Miedinger at the Haas Foundry used it as a model for the typeface Neue Haas Grotesk, released in 1957 and renamed Helvetica in 1960. Miedinger sought to refine the typeface making it more even and unified. Two other releases from 1957, Adrian Frutiger's Univers and Bauer and Baum's Folio, take inspiration from Akzidenz-Grotesk.
Akzidenz-Grotesk Book is a variant designed by Günter Gerhard Lange between 1969 and 1973. It incorporates some features found in Helvetica, such as strike-through tail in Q, horizontal and vertical cut stroke terminators. However, the cedilla is replaced with a comma.
In 2006, the font family was updated with OpenType feature, and was expanded to 3 widths with 5 weights (4 weights in condensed and extended fonts) each, and includes complementary italic fonts. In 2007, OpenType Pro versions of the fonts were released. In 2008, medium outline, bold outline, and medium stencil fonts were released.
Akzidenz-Grotesk Book Rounded is a variant designed by Günter Gerhard Lange in 1980. It features rounded stroke terminators on AG Book design (hax). In 2007, OpenType Pro versions of the fonts were released.
Akzidenz-Grotesk Schoolbook is a variant designed by Günter Gerhard Lange in 1983. Based on Akzidenz-Grotesk Book, it uses single-storey a. Each font weight has 2 fonts featuring alternative designs. In 2008, OpenType Pro versions of the fonts were released.
Akzidenz-Grotesk Old Face is a variant designed by Günter Gerhard Lange in 1984. It is based on the original Akzidenz-Grotesk. Euro sign was changed to diagonal cut. It also incorporates quirks, such as comma-styled cedilla on medium and bold weights, inward hook in regular-weighted ß, shortened horizontal serif in regular-weighted 1, which are absent in the original font family.
Regular, medium, bold, outline, bold outline, shaded fonts have been made for the family, but no italic fonts. In 2008, a shaded font was released.
In December 2006, Berthold announced the release of Akzidenz-Grotesk Next.[9] Designed by Bernd Möllenstädt and Dieter Hofrichter, this typeface family features readjusted x-heights and weights throughout the family, giving a more consistent type design. The family consists of 14 variants with 7 weights in roman and italic, in a single width.
Akzidenz-Grotesk is sometimes at first glance mistaken for the Helvetica or Univers typefaces. The similarities of Helvetica and Akzidenz-Grotesk are apparent, but the subtle differences include the uppercase and lowercase C and the uppercase G, J, R and Q. Aside from the subtle differences in these individual letters, Miedinger's primary change to Akzidenz-Grotesk is Helvetica's higher x-height, the distance from the baseline to the height of the lowercase letter x. The general effect is that Helvetica appears more oblong while Akzidenz-Grotesk maintains circular counters and bowls. Both Helvetica and Univers are more regular and have a greater consistency of stroke weight.
Some new weights, condensed and extended widths were released under the title Standard.
Linotype sells a version of Akzidenz-Grotesk under the name Basic Commercial. This is based on Linotype's digitization of the typeface, which is also sold under the Akzidenz-Grotesk name by various foundries; Linotype uses a different name to avoid trademark infringement.[10] However, as of 2008[update], Linotype's online store also sells Akzidenz-Grotesk and other Berthold variants under the original names.