Futura was designed by Paul Renner (August 9, 1878-April 25, 1956) and issued by the Bauer Foundry in Frankfurt. The typeface was designed between 1924 and 1926 and belongs to the Geometric Sans Serif classification.
Geometric typefaces are based on simple geometric forms like the circle, square and equilateral triangle. They were developed in Germany in the 1930s, and embody with the ideals of the Bauhaus movement. They embrace the purity and objectivity of the geometric form and attempt to eliminate traces of humanism or historical associations in type design. Normally there is little to no contrast between thick and thin strokes, and the same curves and lines are repeated throughout the characters reducing letter differentiation.
Other Geometric Sans Serif fonts include:
Germany was going through cultural, political and social turmoil during the interwar period. The country was also struggling to define its design identity, as it attempted to balance its attachment to traditional gothic typefaces with the emerging international roman letterforms. During that time, the Bauhaus movement embraced technological developments and attempted to create unified, universal art by eliminating ornamentation and focusing on simplicity and functionality. Although Renner was not associated with the school, his effort to create a pure geometric typeface reflected the principles of the movement and the hopeful trend towards modernism and New Typography of that period.
Renner first started working on the Futura typeface in the summer of 1924. Jakob Hegner was searching for someone to design a modern printing type, and favored painters with fresh perspectives over script masters who he believed had preconceived notions about type. He commissioned Renner to work on the project after visiting his Munich studio and discovering his landscape paintings. Renner drew a number of versions of the phrase “the typeface of our time,” a phrase Hegner had used to describe the project, and sent them to Hegner and Siegfried Buchenau. They liked the version that eventually became the Futura font, but they failed to respond after Renner sent them the rest of the characters. Renner then sent the typeface to his former student, Heinrich Jost at the Bauer foundry in Frankfurt, and after a lengthy collaboration with foundry owner Georg Hartmann, the typeface was released in late 1927.
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There is some controversy regarding the originality of Renner’s design, since he claims that he naively showed slides of his early 1925 trial versions of Futura during lectures, and similar typefaces were developed and released as he and Hartmann were finalizing the design. Unlike Bauhaus designers, Renner was not a revolutionary, and he arrived at the geometric type design by trying to strike a balance between modernist innovation and the classical models for capital letterforms to give it a timeless quality. The Futura type family was originally published in Light, Medium, Bold, and Bold Oblique fonts in 1928, with Light Oblique, Medium Oblique, Demibold and Demibold Oblique released two years later. The original Futura also included small capitals and old-style figures, but these were dropped with from the typeface’s original metal issue.
Futura was well received when it was first released, since it embodied the modernist trends of the time and the Bauhaus design philosophy that“form follows function.” Although some typographers preferred to use 19th century grotesque types, Futura was widely used and commercially successful, with additional variations being added based on demand. Renner had to adapt the font to suit specifications for advertising text, and in 1932 Futura Buchschrift was added specifically for book setting. Renner attempted to bridge the gap with 19th century sans serifs through Steile Futura, a variation that departs from the geometric model and has rounder letters, as well as italic—and sometimes handwriting—features.
Paul Renner also designed:
In addition to type design, Renner also had strong political views, and he expressed his opposition to the Nazis in his book Cultural Bolshevism?He was arrested by the Nazis in 1933, shortly after Jan Tschichold. His apartment and offices were searched after slides he had prepared for a German exhibit in Milan were considered to have an exceedingly large amount of roman type, but was released the following day after a direct plea to Hitler by Rudolf Hess. Gothic was outlawed by decree in 1941 after it was deemed to interfere with the Nazi plans for world domination, and roman type suddenly became the norm. Following his arrest and dismissal from his teaching post at the Munich printing school, Renner wrote and lectured on design. He is best known for designing the Futura typeface, which continues to inspire new geometric sans-serif typefaces long after its release. Designer Adrian Frutiger acknowledges that his 1988 typeface Avenir was inspired by Futura. Other related typefaces include Tasse, Beteckna and Braggadocio.
Here are some awesome posters that Silvia designed with this lovely font:
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