Futura: The Typeface

This book is an examination of one of the most popular typefaces ever created, Futura, designed by Paul Renner and released by Bauer in 1927.

Originally developed as a a catalog, a reference source to accompany an exhibition of the same name at the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, the book was edited by the museum’s director, Dr. Annette Ludwig, and two professors of the Mainz University of Applied Sciences, Dr. Isabel Naegele and Dr. Petra Eisele. It was published in November 2016 in German as Futura: Die Schrift by Hermann Schmidt Mainz and in October 2017 in an English translation (by Phyllis Elago) as Futura: The Typeface by Laurence King Publishers. This post shows images from both editions.

The design of the 520-pages tome in light mint green is by Stephanie Kaplan and Isabel Naegele. It won prestigious international awards: Gold at the European Design Awards as well as an Award for Typographic Excellence at the 63rd Type Directors Club Contest in New York.

The digital fonts used in the book are from the Futura ND typeface family, part of the Neufville Digital and Bauer Types typeface collection. As the owner of the Bauer foundry assets, Neufville has the most accurate digital reproduction of the original Futura drawings. Futura ND is supported by Architype Renner by The Foundry Types (not visible in the images shown here). The numerous illustrations include drawings, processs material, specimens, and in-use samples of Futura with Futura Condensed as well as of other members of the greater Futura series, including Futura licht, Futura Black, Futura Display, and Steile Futura.