FF Meta is a humanist sans-serif typeface family designed by Erik Spiekermann. It was originally developed in 1984 as a commission for a corporate typeface for the Deutsche Bundespost (German Federal Post), but was never adopted for use. Meta was designed to be a readable, sturdy, basic sans serif typeface, working on the postage stamp scale, but also as livery for post boxes and Deutsche Bundespost vehicles. Attention was paid to creating a face that was easily readable from an angle, and in smaller point sizes. In 1989 it was digitised again using Fontographer in the Macintosh, and three styles were made by Just van Rossum. In the period 1991 to 1998 a larger typeface family was developed, adding small capitals. A serif companion, entitled FF Meta Serif, was completed in 2007. (Hat Tip: Wikepedia [sorry!])Here's a little movie of the designer of FF Meta speaking about his relationship to the Mac, and the way it changed his trade. You will need to have some knowledge of the German language to fully appreciate it however. Speaking of which... I'm off to Germany on Saturday!
No comments:
Post a Comment