Discussion Point - Gemma Williams

Max Miedinger (pre digital)

Max Miedinger was born on December 24, 1910 in Zurich, Switzerland. He is best known for his contribution to the typographic field by creating the typeface Helvetica. He also created the typefaces Miedinger. Swiss 921, Monospace 821, and Swiss 721.

Max Miedinger began working in typography at the age of sixteen as an apprentice typesetter in Zurich Switzerland.

From 1936 to 1946 he was a typographer at Globus department store’s advertising studio in Zurich. In 1956 he was commissioned to develop a new sans-serif typeface. This was a revision of the popular 1896 typeface Akzidenz Grotesk. Miedinger’s new design was named Neue Haas-Grotesk. In 1957 the typeface was renamed Helvetica to help sell it internationally.

Since the launch of Helvetica it has become one of the most widely used typefaces in the world. Many large companies use the font as their corporate logos.

Toyota Motor Corporation used the Helvetica typeface exclusively while building a brand from the 1960s through the 1990s. Many governments around the world use the typeface for their street signs because of its ease of legibility. Graphic designers use the typeface as a go to typeface when they want to easily express an idea.

 Matthew Carter (contemporary) 

Matthew Carter is a type designer with experience of typographic technologies ranging from hand-cut punches to computer fonts.

He was a co-founder in 1981 of Bitstream Inc., the digital typefoundry, where he worked for ten years. He is now a principal of Carter & Cone Type Inc. designers and producers of original typefaces.

His type designs include ITC Galliard, Snell Roundhand, and Shelley scripts, Helvetica Compressed, Olympian, Bell Centennial Address and ITC Charter.

Carter pioneered the design of fonts for use on screen, notably Verdana for Microsoft. Unlike most of the typefaces used on screens, which were designed for print and intended to be read on paper, Verdana was designed for use on the computer screen.

It was created from the beginning to be easily readable at small sizes, with simple curves and large, open letterforms. The letterforms are spaced more widely than in a print font so they are legible even when displayed in computer screens. Certain letters are spaced so that they never touch, regardless of combination (an f next to an i, for example), because at small sizes connecting letters can form illegible.

1. www.linotype.com/522/maxmiedinger.html

   
   

   www.maxmiedinger.com/

   
   

   www.identifont.com/show?16O

   
   

   http://designmuseum.org/design/matthew-carter

   
   

   http://www.aiga.org/medalist-matthewcarter/