I've been trying to learn the old German handwriting called Suetterlin lately, and have stumbled across an interesting bit of history here. Apparently Fraktur was moribund until its revival by the Nazis as a sort of official font:
Antiqua and Latin script were declared “Un-German” and “non-Aryan.” Only Fraktur and Gothic typefaces were to be considered "German."
They ran into problems, however, when nobody in occupied Europe could read anything a German wrote.
In 1941 however, Hitler ordered a complete reversal of existing policy and issued a curious decree, declaring Fraktur and Kurrent to be of “Jewish origin” and therefore taboo.
The nazi propaganda machine was charged with building public support for the decision, but quite apparently it choked on this particular bit of nazi reasoning. No mention of the order is made in the official newspapers for the following six months. At the start of the new school year, a more plausible reason was found, and the Reichsminister for Education touted the new policy as the creation of new standard script, better suited as a base for an individual handwriting.
It seems to me that it would be really hard for a regime to succeed in a historical rewrite like this since every time a German signed his name, Judenlettern came out.
Posted by Ben Brumfield at July 14, 2004 12:36 PMTypefaces are one of those fascinating details of life you never really think about. Yet, despite their seeming insignificance, I for one would find it tremendously disruptive if, say, Microsoft decided only to include sans-serif fonts in their next revision of Word. It never really occurred to me that there are graphic designers, etc., who make entire careers out of designing fonts. Check out this NYT article on the font chosen for the memorial cornerstone in the Freedom Tower for example; the studio that designed the font is at www.typography.com.
And just to forestall the possibility of accusations, no, I'm not trying to imply any connection or comparison between the Nazi font double-think and the 9/11 memorial.
Posted by: Ryan Bates at July 14, 2004 03:32 PMSee also the history of London Underground's font and map, the creations of Frank Pick and Edward Johnston respectively; rightly considered classics of 20th Century design, they were so perfectly conceived that they have remained virtually unchanged since their creation.
Posted by: Alan Allport at July 14, 2004 04:27 PMDoes anyone know why typefaces tend to be produced in a "foundry"? Seems like a strange name for a pack of graphic designers.
Posted by: Ben Brumfield at July 15, 2004 11:39 AMDoes anyone know why typefaces tend to be produced in a "foundry"? Seems like a strange name for a pack of graphic designers.
Why do actors congregate in workshops when few if any of them have any background in light engineering ...?
Posted by: Alan Allport at July 15, 2004 12:52 PMI suspect that "foundry" is held over from the days when typefaces were made by pouring lead into a cast.
Posted by: Alan Hogue at July 15, 2004 02:15 PM