The name may have reflected the 'primitive' feel of sans-serifs, or their roots in archaic Greek and Roman inscriptions, and by the late nineteenth century was commonly used to mean 'sans-serif', without negative implication. It was introduced by the London type-founder William Thorowgood as the name for sans-serifs in the specimen books of his Fann Street Foundry around 1830. Grotesque (German: Grotesk) was a standard term that had become popular in the first half of the nineteenth century for sans-serifs. The origin of the word is Latin accidentia, defined by Lewis and Short as 'that which happens, a casual event, a chance'. A modern German-language dictionary describes it as work such as advertisements and forms. Both words were everyday, descriptive terms for typefaces of the time in the German language.Īkzidenz means some occasion or event (in the sense of 'something that happens', not in the sense of a high-class social event or occasion) and was therefore used as a term for trade printing Akzidenzschrift was by the 1870s a generic term meaning typefaces intended for these uses. It has sometimes been sold as Standard or Basic Commercial in English-speaking countries, and a variety of digital versions have been released by Berthold and other companies.Īkzidenz-Grotesk is often translated into English as 'jobbing sans-serif', 'jobbing' in the sense of 'used for jobs'. Its simple, neutral design has also influenced many later typefaces. Relatively little-known for a half-century after its introduction, it achieved iconic status in the post-war period as the preferred typeface of many Swiss graphic designers in what became called the 'International' or 'Swiss' design style which became popular across the Western world in the 1950s and 1960s. Originating during the late nineteenth century, Akzidenz-Grotesk belongs to a tradition of general-purpose, unadorned sans-serif types that had become dominant in German printing during the nineteenth century. 'Akzidenz' indicates its intended use as a typeface for commercial print runs such as publicity, tickets and forms, as opposed to fine printing, and 'grotesque' was a standard name for sans-serif typefaces at the time. Futura though the oldest font but still a popular font for design.Sans-serif typeface family by the Berthold Type Foundry of BerlinĪkzidenz-Grotesk is a sans-serif typeface family originally released by the Berthold Type Foundry of Berlin. Akzidenz Grotesk FontĪkzidenz Grotesk is the famous typeface in 19th century and it has been the inspiration of the today’s so many popular fonts like Proxima Nova and Futura. 1880 typeface Royal Grotesk Light from the Berlin foundry Ferdinand Theinhardt Schriftgiesserei, designed by Ferdinand Theinhardt for the scientific publications of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Whatever, Akzidenz-Grotesk’s hot metal type family included fonts made a range of foundries to slightly different designs, such as the c. The design concept of Akzidenz-Grotesk comes from Walbaum or Didot, as demonstrated by the similar font metrics when the serifs are removed. It was sometimes sold as Standard or Basic Commercial in the USA. The word Akzidenz means a ‘trade’ type for commercial use. Akzidenz-Grotesk is one of the first sans-serif typefaces to be widely used, its design influence many later designs, especially many neo-grotesque typefaces released after 1950. Akzidenz-Grotesk BQ Light Italic with OldStyle Figures - Light Italic with OldStyle FiguresĪkzidenz-Grotesk is a grotesque which is earlier named as sans-serif typeface originally released by the Berthold Type Foundry in 1896 under the name Accidenz-Grotesk.

Akzidenz grotesk be bold cn