Avenir Next Ultra Light

Avenir Next Regular

Avenir Next Medium
Avenir Next Demi Bold
Avenir Next Bold
Avenir Next Heavy
A
2
3
What are the reasons for
designing a new sans ser-
if?
Looking back on more than 40
years of concern with sans serif
typefaces, I felt an obligation
to design a linear style of sans
serif, in the tradition of Erbar,
Futura, and to a lesser
extent Gill Sans. These have
purely constructed characters
from which the element of a
handwriting movement has
been removed. Obviously this
could not be an outstanding
new creation, but I have tried
to make use of the experience
and stylistic developments
of the 20th century in order
to work out an independent
alphabet meeting modern
typographical needs.
Even though Avenir can be
classifed as a constructivist
typeface, it does not have a
purely geometric and linear
drawing. The vertical stroke
lengths have been reduced in
order to make text setting more
legible, on the well-established
grounds that the human eye
takes in horizontals more easily
than verticals and tends to
grasp the meaning of a line in a
horizontal sweep.
How did these principles
infuence the design of
individual characters?
The vertical strokes are thicker
than the horizontals and the o is
not a perfect circle. Absolutely
linear characters are diffcult
to read in continuous text and
purely geometrical letters do
not unite harmoniously to form
the word-images that we read.
Another factor in legibility is the
difference in weight between
up-strokes and down-strokes,
based on the familiarity of
roman typestyles, which in turn
owe much of their form to the
calligraphy of the Middle Ages.
For this reason the up-strokes
of capital A, K, V, W and so on
are noticeably thinner than the
down-strokes.
Unlike such strictly constructivist
faces as Futura, for example,
the junction points of oblique-
line characters such as A, V,
W, Z have been fattened off.
Pointed ends may look well
in display sizes but they have
the effect of shortening the
characters in text sizes.
In the lower-case alphabet, I
have chosen the simple sans
serif form of g but kept to the
roman tradition in the form of
the a, because the rounded
a as used in Futura hinders
the legibility of text through its
similarity to b, d, p and q. Also
for reasons of text legibility, the
letters f, r and t have been kept
relatively broad, allowing more
white space on either side than
is usually the case with a sans
serif.
How have you treated
the bold and italic ver-
sons?
There is no separate italic
design, for the simple reason
that the sloped version of
a constructivist typeface
is produced on purely
mathematical principles.
Modern typesetting equipment
does this for the user by
computer control, which is in any
case essential for the adaption
of the o to an oval form. An
an
interview
with
creator
Adrian Frut ger
4
angle of slope between 11
and 13 is recommended for
the electronic italicisation of
Avenir.
In designing the various
weights, I took due account
of the modern preference for
thinner and fner typefaces.
The four basic weights of
Avenir are Light (35), Book
(45), Roman (55) and Medium
(65). These are all intended for
text setting and it is hoped that
their close gradation will enable
the designer or typographer
to apply greater subtlety of
treatment to the page of text
or advertisement.
There are also Heavy and Black
versions but no Extra-bold or
Ultra-bold, as these could not
be designed in a constructivist
style without making a lot of
unattractive compromises in
letters such as a, e, and s.
How does Avenir meet
the needs of modern ty-
pography?
Since the early 1950s there
have been three waves of
sans serif style. At frst, a
revival of Victorian sans serif or
Grotesque typefaces replaced
the outmoded Bauhaus style.
The 19th century faces were
the most modelled form of
sans and the nearest to roman,
with their varying stroke
thicknesses. Then came the
more or less modelled typeface
families such as Helvetica
and Univers with their many
variations. These have made
sans serif acceptable as a
second text face to roman,
practically everywhere except
in literary books and newspaper
editorial.
Today there is a new
appreciation of the linear style
of sans, in harmony with a
softer and more subtle mode
of expression. With increasing
emphasis on pictures as the
main element and the use of
mixed background tints, the
graphic designer wants a more
refned sans serif typeface with
less color, giving something of
the effect of an inscription. The
general replacement of the
pen-nib by the ballpoint and
the felt pen has also had an
infuence here.
Constructivist typefaces such as
Futura and Gill have therefore
come back into fashion, but
most of the new faces in this
style have been limited to
display uses and are diffcult to
read in long texts.
Avenir is intended to be
nothing more nor less than a
clear and clean representation
of modern typographical
trends, giving the designer
a typeface which is strictly
modern and at the same time
humane, ie suitable refned
and elegant for use in texts of
any length.