Bernhard Gothic

Bernhard Gothic

Category	Sans-serif
Classification	Geometric
Designer	Lucian Bernhard
Foundry	American Type Founders
Date released	1929 - 30
Re-issuing foundries	Intertype
Design based on	Futura, Kabel
Also known as	Greeting Gothic
Sample

Bernhard Gothic is a family of geometric sans serif typeface designed by Lucian Bernhard in 1929 for the American Type Founders (ATF). Five variations by Bernhard were introduced over two years:

• Bernhard Gothic Medium (1929)
• Bernhard Gothic Light (1930)
• Bernhard Gothic Light Italic (1930)
• Bernhard Gothic Medium Italic (1930)
• Bernhard Gothic Heavy (1930)
• Bernhard Gothic Extra Heavy (1931)

A final member of the family, Bernhard Gothic Medium Condensed, was introduced by ATF in 1936, but it is unclear as to who the designer was. ^[1]

Bernhard Gothic is more organic and less regular than other geometric sans-serif typefaces, including Futura, Kabel, and Twentieth Century, showing influence of Bernhard's earlier more expressionistic faces. It is a "spurless" design, similar to the contemporary Semplicità and Universal Grotesk and more recently FF Dax, in which strokes end without terminals, with the exception of the lowercase "a", "r", and "u", which still has spurs. ^{[2] [3]} This gives an effect of modernism, detached from handwriting conventions. ^[2]

Hot metal copies

Intertype's 1936 copy was called Greeting Gothic. ^[4]

Digital copies

Digital copies are available from Elsner+Flake, Font Company, URW++, Berthold, Spiece Graphics, Monotype Imaging and FontHaus.

References

1. MacGrew, Mac, "American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century," Oak Knoll Books, New Castle Delaware, 1993, ISBN   0-938768-34-4, pp. 32 - 33.
2. Shaw, Paul. "Overlooked Typefaces". Print magazine. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
3. Biľak, Peter. "Universal Grotesk". i love typography. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
4. MacGrew, "American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century," p. 33.

External links

• Fonts in Use