ASK ME ANYTHING’ PROJECT - AKZIDENZ-GROTESK QUESTIONS
(WEDNESDAY 6TH MAY - THURSDAY 7TH MAY 2020)
I prepared five questions in relation to my topic - Akzidenz-Grotesk - in preparation for a discussion in Wednesday’s tutorial. I created five questions, some of which I really liked, and others which were subject to change after peer review.
As of Wednesday’s class, these were my selected five questions:
Question 1: Where do your origins lie?
I chose to use the word ‘origin’ because I think it makes that question more open. There is still a lot of confusion regarding the creator and the exact location where the typeface was designed, and therefore, this wording would enable me to explore multiple locations more easily.
Question 2: Your family is arguably H. Berthold’s most celebrated family. Why?
Akzidenz-Grotesk is widely regarded as H. Berthold’s most celebrated typeface family, but there is no definitive and singular answer to why. I will be personifying the typeface in my zine, and while it could be interesting to hear how they respond, I haven’t figured out how I will exactly answer this question.
Question 3: Where were you after the war? Dead or alive?
I really like this question. Although it is slightly grim in the way that it pairs its growth in the design world to soldiers at war, I think it highlights its evolution, that largely stemmed from a post-war world.
Question 4: What are the hallmarks of the International Typographic Style? ***
I initially starred this question because I wasn’t sure if it related enough to the topic, even though the typeface saw a peak in popularity during the movement. After class review, I would still be able to feature this question, but I would need to try and link it back to the typeface.
Question 5: Why are there so many variation of your typeface?
There are many variations of the typeface, extending beyond the physical form of the letters, and excluding bold and italicised versions. This relates to the origin question, as the foundries produced different versions of typeface. I think this question is weaker than the others as it wouldn’t necessarily portray enough information of the topic.
During discussion, it was suggested that I create a new question about the foundries in Germany at the time, or tie in this information with the first question relating to origins.
After the class discussion, I decided to do more research to see if I could develop or change some of my questions. Ernst Keller’s name had come up in my searches previously, but never in depth.
Ernst Keller’s is widely regarded as the “Father of Swiss Design”. His teachings at the Swiss art school, Kunstgewerbeschule, from 1918, were shown to mark the beginning of grid systems and his belief that design should place a larger focus and importance on the use of typefaces. Some of his students would become leading designers in the International Typographic Style movement:
Armin Hofmann and Emil Ruder
Müller-Brockmann, featured the grid system and the Akzidenz-Grotesk typeface heavily throughout his work. He took over Keller’s teaching position at Kunstgewerbeschule, but later opened his own design firm, helping to spread the Swiss Design aesthetic beyond European borders by establishing the Neue Grafik (New Graphic Design) journal. This journal was a trillingual magazine that was co-edited by Franco Vivarelli, Hans Neuberg and Richard Paul Lohse.
I have decided that I may alter my original set of questions. I could feature the Berthold’s question/answer as part of the origins question, and create a question that centre more around a designer, such as Josef Müller-Brockmann, who was popular during the Swiss Design period/International Typographic Style, and heavily used Akzidenz-Grotesk.
[The included images have been individually referenced. They are visible when the images are viewed in presentation mode]
