Adrian Frutiger Dies at 87; His Type Designs Show You the Way

[cpzilliacus]

N.Y. Times: Adrian Frutiger Dies at 87; His Type Designs Show You the Way

For more than 50 years, Adrian Frutiger made the world legible.

A type designer who died on Sept. 10 at 87 in his native Switzerland, Mr. Frutiger created some of the most widely used fonts of the 20th century, seen daily in airports, on street signs and in subway stations around the world.

Mr. Frutiger, whose career spanned the era of hot lead and the age of silicon, created some 40 fonts, a vast number for one lifetime. Praised for an elegant readability that belied their rigorous engineering, his typefaces over the years have graced signs in the Paris Métro and many international airports, and on Swiss highways and some London streets.

His best-known fonts include Univers, employed throughout the design of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, and Frutiger, ubiquitous on airport signage, including that of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

"Frutiger is basically the best signage type in the world because there's not too much "˜noise' in it, so it doesn't call attention to itself,"  Erik Spiekermann, a prominent German type designer and friend of Mr. Frutiger, said by telephone on Wednesday. "It makes itself invisible, but physically it's actually incredibly legible."

[Chris]

Frutiger is in fact the typeface of motorway signage in Switzerland.

With possibly the worst signage gantry in the entire country here:

IMG_5268 by European Roads, on Flickr


IMG_5160 by European Roads, on Flickr


ch 320 by European Roads, on Flickr


ch 291 by European Roads, on Flickr

[CtrlAltDel]

"Frutiger is basically the best signage type in the world because there's not too much "˜noise' in it, so it doesn't call attention to itself,"  Erik Spiekermann, a prominent German type designer and friend of Mr. Frutiger, said by telephone on Wednesday. "It makes itself invisible, but physically it's actually incredibly legible."

I can't say that I agree with this. One of the very first things I noticed when I arrived at the Paris airport was the font on the signs. It's understated, but it definitely calls attention to itself.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Chris, I think that the typeface in your first and third pictures is actually SNV, what Switzerland was using prior to Frutiger.