The History puretype

Although Berlin Sans is a new, modern and digital

face, it is a re-imagining of a much earlier design,
Negro, by a German emigré to New York, Lucian
Bernhard. As a form of shorthand, and to reflect the
modern availability of Berlin Sans, this article will run
rough-shod over typographic history by describing
the biographical details of Negro’s designer, as the
progenitor of the modern font, whose details will in
turn be discussed.

It is after all, due to Lucian Bernhard that the

font ever came about. It will also refer to both
fonts as Berlin Sans as the glyph shapes are so
A Typeface for the Modern Age
Available Fonts
alike. Once again, this is due to the fact that to
purchase the font for digital use, you would be
seeking Berlin Sans. • Berlin Sans Regular Berlin Sans
by David Berlow
Equally so, in discussing Lucian Bernhard, The
Inquisition does not mean to belittle David Ber-
• Berlin Sans Demi Bold and Matthew Butterick
low’s work on this beautiful font. Simply put, the
genus for this lettering can be traced back to • Berlin Sans Bold
Bernhard’s design output and its lettering forms.
That is the story to be told.t

“It is after As exciting as

all, due the City!
“Berlin Sans
to Lucian is a new,
Bernhard
that the font modern and
ever came digital face.”
about.”

Falzprospekt_v1.indd 1 10.02.2018 14:42:21

 The Typeface Details subtle curves at every part. Forms that are often
more curved are conversely straightened, such as
Berlin Sans is a wonderful and unorthodox typeface ‘y’. The traditional ‘c’ and ‘r’ for copyright and
designed in 1994 by David Berlow and assisted by registered trademarks are not encapsulated
Matthew Butterick. It is very distinctive, has a storied
history and is widely available. It was designed as
within circles, but vertically elongated ellipses.
a multi-purpose, catch-all that has passed the test of
time and the changing of fashions. What’s not to like?

T he light weights are quintessentially Europe-

an – they might have been scratched runes
made in a birch’s bark by wandering saxons,
www.puretype.de
facebook.com/puretype
while the bolder weights could be squeezed from twitter.com/puretype
any modern toothpaste tube, anywhere in the
globalised world. Two of the most noticeable and unusual char-
acters are the lower-case ‘a’ and ‘g’. These are
puretype
single-storey glyphs, but as shown in the image puretype Typeface Design
there are alternates available within the fonts
Alexanderplatz 10-12
complete range of characters. The lowercase ‘a’
has one more detail worth noting; its spine has 10178 Berlin
an elegant curve. This spine adds a dynamism, Germany
as if it were a spring, coiled and ready to fire the
letter into space.

The jobbing nature means that the letterforms

are built for resilience. The corners curve ele-
gantly and joins mould
together in curves also.
Traditionally angular
forms such as the ‘k’ in
both upper- and lower-
case are rounded, with “The jobbing nature means
striking closed loops. The that the letterforms are
uppercase ‘N’, which is
more usually perfectly straight
built for resilience.”
and direct, here h a s

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