Univers (pronounced "oo-nih-VAIR", French: "Universe") is the name of a realist sans-serif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1956. Both Univers and Helvetica, with which it is sometimes confused, take inspiration from the 1896 typeface Akzidenz Grotesk. These typefaces figure prominently in the Swiss Style of graphic design. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 468 × 553 pixelsFull resolution (468 × 553 pixel, file size: 32 KB, MIME type: image/png) Specimen of the typeface Univers showing Univers 55, Univers 56, and Univers 75. ... For the origin and evolution of fonts, see History of western typography. ... For the origin and evolution of fonts, see History of western typography. ... In typography, serifs are the small features at the end of strokes within letters. ... A type designer is a person who designs typefaces. ... Adrian Frutiger (born March 24, 1928) is the designer of some of the best known typefaces of the 20th century. ... A type foundry is a company that designs and/or distributes typefaces. ... Deberny & Peignot was a French type foundry, created by the 1923 merger of Peignot foundry and the Laurent & Deberny foundry. ... The Linotype typesetting machine 1896 Mergenthaler Linotype stock certificate. ... For the origin and evolution of fonts, see History of western typography. ... Universe may refer to: Look up universe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In typography, serifs are the small features at the end of strokes within letters. ... For the origin and evolution of fonts, see History of western typography. ... Adrian Frutiger (born March 24, 1928) is the designer of some of the best known typefaces of the 20th century. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the typeface Helvetica. ... Differences between Helvetica and Akzidenz. ... Akzidenz Grotesk designed in 1896 for the H. Berthold AG type foundry. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Different weights and variations within the type family are designated by the use of numbers rather than names, a system since adopted by Frutiger for other type designs. Frutiger envisioned a large family with multiple widths and weights that maintained a unified design idiom.

The Univers type family consists of 14 weights plus 14 corresponding Oblique weights plus 16 variants with central european and cyrillic character set.

In 1997 Frutiger reworked the whole Univers family in cooperation with Linotype, thus creating the Linotype Univers, which consists of 63 weights. By reworking the Univers more "extreme" weights as Ultra Light or Extended Heavy were added as well as some monospaced typefaces. The numbering system as explained below was extended to three digits to reflect the larger number of variations in the family. The Linotype typesetting machine 1896 Mergenthaler Linotype stock certificate. ...

The Frutiger numbering system

Adrian Frutiger designed his unique classification system to eliminate naming and specifying confusion. It was first used with Univers, and is also seen in Frutiger, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, and others. New Swiss road signs use the typeface Frutiger. ... Avenir is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1988, and released by Mergenthaler Linotype Company. ... Helvetica is a typeface developed by Max Miedinger in 1957 for the Haas’sche Schriftgießerei type foundry of Switzerland. ...

Due to some typeface manufacturers’ failure to understand and implement the system correctly, however, things have actually become more confusing (some Helvetica Neue fonts are numbered, for example, and some are not).

The system, as simply stated as possible, consists of a prefix (the first numeral) which defines weight, and a suffix (the second numeral) which defines width and orientation as to roman or italic. The prefix indicates the weight, beginning with "2", as in Univers 25 (ultra light), and progressing up to "9", as in Univers 95 (black). Very infrequently, the weight will go up to "10".

The suffix indicates the width and/or angle (even numbers are always italic, odd numbers are always upright; numerals less than 5 indicate extended, and numerals greater than 6 are always condensed) of the font.

Prefixes

2. Ultra Light
3. Thin
4. Light
5. Normal, Roman, or Regular
6. Medium
7. Bold
8. Heavy
9. Black
10. Ultra or Extra Black

Suffixes

1. Ultra Extended
2. Ultra Extended Oblique (Italic)
3. Extended
4. Extended Oblique (Italic)
5. Normal
6. Oblique (Italic)
7. Condensed
8. Condensed Oblique (Italic)
9. Ultra Condensed

Usage

Keycaps featuring Univers from a PowerBook G3.

Univers enjoyed great popularity in the 1960s and 1970s. It is used in a modified version by the new Swiss International Air Lines (previously, Swissair used the typeface Futura), Deutsche Bank and for signage all over the world. General Electric used the font from 1986 to 2004 before switching to GE Inspira ^[1]. Apple Inc. previously used this typeface as well as its condensed oblique variant for the keycaps on many of its keyboards, before switching to VAG Rounded in August 2007 with the introduction of new keyboards and the new iMac. Univers is known for its clear lines and legibility at great distances. Six keys detached from a PowerBook G4 keyboard. ... Six keys detached from a PowerBook G4 keyboard. ... Keycaps are the actual physical keys that you strike with your fingers when typing. ... The PowerBook G3 was a professional line of laptop Macintosh computers made by Apple between 1997 to 2000. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ... Swiss International Air Lines (short: Swiss) is the principal airline of Switzerland operating scheduled services in Europe and to North America, South America, Africa and Asia. ... Swissair (Swiss Air Transport Company Limited) is the former national airline of Switzerland. ... Promotional poster which uses the first edition of typeface Futura-late 1927. ... Deutsche Bank AG (ISIN: DE0005140008, NYSE: DB) (English: ) is a bank operating worldwide and employing more than 67,400 people (January, 2007). ... This article is about the American company. ... GE Inspira is a typeface that is used solely for the General Electric Co. ... Apple Inc. ... VAG Rundschrift or VAG Rounded (rundschrift is German for round writing) is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed in 1979 as a corporate typographic voice for the Volkswagen AG motor manufacturer. ... Look up legibility in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The Montreal Metro, San Francisco BART ^[2], Frankfurt airport and the Walt Disney World road system also make extensive use of this typeface. Some but not all London boroughs use Univers Bold Condensed for street signs [1][2]. The Royal Air Force adopted the font for all merchandising material in 2006 to complement its new corporate logo. Ordnance Survey also adapted Univers for use on their maps (added tails on the lowercase l and t, and other small changes to help distinguish the type from the map details) of which they own all rights to. In 2006, the Office of Fair Trading adopted Univers as its corporate typographic voice in size 12-point so that visually impaired people can more easily read its publications. One of the entrances to the Square-Victoria metro station looks like a Paris Métro station. ... A westbound BART train with aerodynamic design A car in downtown San Francisco. ... Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport (IATA: FRA, ICAO: EDDF), known in German as Rhein-Main-Flughafen or Flughafen Frankfurt am Main, is located near Frankfurt am Main, Germany. ... Cinderella Castle, at the center of the Magic Kingdom, is Walt Disney World Resorts most recognizable icon Introduction Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company, the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, USA is home to four theme parks, two water parks, several resort hotels and golf courses... The administrative area of Greater London contains thirty-two London boroughs. ... The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ... Part of an Ordnance Survey map at 1 inch to the mile scale from 1945 Ordnance Survey (OS) is an executive agency of the United Kingdom government. ... The Office of Fair Trading or OFT is a UK statutory body established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforces both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the UKs economic regulator. ...

Rand McNally once used Univers on their maps and atlases from the 1970s to 2004 when they adopted use of Frutiger. New Swiss road signs use the typeface Frutiger. ...

Univers is embedded in the HP LaserJet 1100 Printer. Installing a LaserJet 1100 on a Windows system will also add several new fonts to the list, with a printer icon near their names. This icon means that the selected font is a printer font (processed by the printer), instead of a system font (processed and rasterized by the system, such as a TrueType or OpenType typeface). Image:1984 HP Laserjet. ... Rasterization or rasterisation is the task of taking an image described in a vector graphics format (shapes) and converting it into a raster image (pixels or dots) for output on a video display or printer. ... TrueType is an outline font standard originally developed by Apple Computer in the late 1980s as a competitor to Adobes Type 1 fonts used in PostScript. ... OpenType is a scalable computer font format initially developed by Microsoft, later joined by Adobe Systems. ...

Univers Light Ultra Condensed was also used in the Star Wars opening crawl for the titles of the films. An example of the famous Star Wars roll-up. ...

External Links

• Typowiki: Univers
• Linotype.com