Master of the Univers
September 14, 2015 3:58 PM   Subscribe

Adrian Frutiger, the Swiss type designer responsible for a number of classic typefaces including Univers, Avenir, OCR-B and the eponymous Frutiger, passed away on Saturday in Bern, aged 87.

In addition to his typefaces, Frutiger wrote many books about the theory and practice of design, and devised a system for specifying the weight and width of a font in two digits, which was also used on other typefaces such as Helvetica Neue.
posted by acb (26 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
I always preferred Univers to Helvetica. Sorry to hear of his passing, but I'm glad he had the time to accomplish so much.
posted by ardgedee at 4:01 PM on September 14, 2015


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posted by ormon nekas at 4:06 PM on September 14, 2015


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posted by drklahn at 4:10 PM on September 14, 2015


<span style="font-family: Frutiger">.</span>
posted by grouse at 4:10 PM on September 14, 2015 [10 favorites]


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posted by a lungful of dragon at 4:16 PM on September 14, 2015


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posted by lmfsilva at 4:20 PM on September 14, 2015


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posted by kandinski at 4:25 PM on September 14, 2015


GREAT title, acb.
posted by twsf at 4:25 PM on September 14, 2015 [5 favorites]


They put her in a lower case.
posted by w0mbat at 4:34 PM on September 14, 2015


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posted by signal at 4:55 PM on September 14, 2015


GREAT title, acb.

It's not mine; I stole it from the linked obituary.
posted by acb at 4:55 PM on September 14, 2015


If you've been any kind of designer in the last fifty years, you know and used his work, and almost certainly profited from it. Definitely deserves remembering.

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posted by rokusan at 5:31 PM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]


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posted by tychotesla at 5:48 PM on September 14, 2015


Mods, this page should be in Frutiger.
posted by 256 at 5:51 PM on September 14, 2015


First Herman, now Adrian. Not a good year.

OCR-B is a difficult one. It has two international standard designs: one for pen plotters and other fixed line width devices, and the other for more traditional type. It's required by law to be on certain types of travel documents, but curiously, the international standard drawings are no longer available. ISO and ANSI used to sell outline sheets, but it seems that someone threw the remaining stock away in the 1990s. Ah, ISO 1073/2 ...
posted by scruss at 5:56 PM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]


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posted by emeiji at 5:59 PM on September 14, 2015


First Herman, now Adrian. Not a good year.

If these things really do come in threes, let's hope that Phil Comicsans kicks the bucket next.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:08 PM on September 14, 2015 [6 favorites]


. 10/12 univers bold FL/RR
posted by Thorzdad at 6:24 PM on September 14, 2015


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posted by pemberkins at 6:32 PM on September 14, 2015


ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890-/:;()$&@,?!',

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posted by hal9k at 6:32 PM on September 14, 2015


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posted by Cash4Lead at 10:35 PM on September 14, 2015


I've gotten a lot of mileage out of Frutiger's typefaces. Avenir in particular is one of my favorites.

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posted by Metroid Baby at 3:40 AM on September 15, 2015


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Count me amongst the Univers fans.
posted by SageLeVoid at 5:27 AM on September 15, 2015


I use Univers almost every day for work, and it's a joy to use.

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posted by jason_steakums at 6:22 AM on September 15, 2015


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posted by Bron at 8:26 AM on September 15, 2015


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posted by klausness at 2:02 PM on September 18, 2015


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