Avenir

Avenir
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2
Avenir

1
 This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven —If
Text by Elliott Earls

Avenir
Avenir

2 Designer/Editor
the Devil is Six then God is Seven.
Text by Elliott Earls

Avenir
Avenir

67
Daisy Lanier 3
 Table of Contents

5. compares Avenir to similar typefaces

6. showcases oblique variations

7. exhibits small titles

8/9. demonstrates line weight variations

10/11. displays paragraph settings

12. experiments with alignment

13. mimicks a book display

14. illustrates glyphs

15. features extended paragraph settings

16. colophon

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 Avenir Vs. Other Fonts
Avenir 35 Light Frutiger 45 Light Futura Light Helvetica Light

Aa Aa Aa Aa

Bb Bb Bb Bb

Cc Cc Cc Cc

Dd Dd Dd Dd

Ee Ee Ee Ee

Ff Ff Ff Ff

Gg Gg Gg Gg
5
35 Light Oblique
How do you design letterforms?

45 Book Oblique
How do you design letterforms?

55 Roman Oblique How do you design letterforms?

65 Medium Oblique How do you design letterforms?

85 Heavy Oblique How do you design letterforms?

95 Black Oblique
6 How do you design letterforms?
It is in traditional figure drawing
85 Heavy 24 pt.
studio classes that one learns how to
45 Book 18 pt.

lock the
movement of
the retina to
85 Heavy Oblique 26 pt.

the movement of the hand.

35 light 10 pt. 55 Roman 15 pt.
65 Medium Oblique 12 pt.
To be successful in this process, one learns
that the mind must be quieted.

The hand and the retina must move in symbiotic lock step as they both
trace the physical line. It’s through this process that one can learn to trust
not the mind, but the RETINA.
55 Roman 12 pt.
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 35 Light How do you design letterforms?

alabKickditnoldaskool
45 Book
sestyle.
itiroir
uoudDraw
ra them
55 Roman
ehbig,t nwithoapruling
u tpe
,yllacFocus
igaonm
65 Medium
t o n l e e f
the serifs or the termi

oitacDon’t
ilpp
85 Heavy
a s u o r o g
so much understand how
i
artxeexperience
8
lamrhow
95 Black
ofa yletter
levis idra
?

fo noitseuq a ylla
o s t e s l a u d i v i
en and Plaka, and some Pro White.
d n i n
a s p o l e v e d
ination of the character.
e n o t a
h g u o r h
w a letter is drawn:
t t u b , s l o o
u
awn.
l c x e “ m r e t e h t ,y
9
r
I should point out that these women wore heavy blue
eyeshadow, regardless of their complexion or eye color.
Because at that historical moment it was an established
scientific fact that if one wore enough blue eyeshadow, the
eye would look blue!
45 Book 14/17
The clash of color. The slavish
Something adherence to dress code
at the obvious expense of
was horribly personal dignity. The spurious
and questioning folklore or
wrong here! “weird science” underpinning
95 Black Oblique 30/35 it all.
35 Light Oblique 14/20

I often found my
gaze transfixed, nay
locked, upon the
upper eyelid of a
typical brunette with
brown eyes.
95 Black 18/22
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 »It was the 80’s.
95 Black 36 pt.

If we look at Blue Eyeshadow, for

instance, it’s important to first point out
the origin of the name. For to name it
is to claim it. Needless to say, in 1984,
in ohio, we wore mullets withouta hint
of irony. We thought we were tough
and “new wave,” and we thought the
chicks would dig it. Yeah, the chicks.
It was all about the girlies. And let
me assure you, they had an equally
distorted and perverse interpersonal
aesthetic. It was the 80’s. The guys had
mullets or “boy hair,” and the girls
wore tons of foundation, white lipstick,
and blue eyeshadow.
35 Light 12/16
«
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 The gap
between The great artist
language
and or designer
experience is s/he who is
becomes
a gaping
hole as
no longer
one begins
to discuss
constricted
issues of by the rules.
craft. 85 Heavy 33/40 95 Black 48/50
65 Medium 18/24

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 I’m not suggesting that one develops a feel magically,
or through attendance at the finest schools, but through
rigorous application, and through working damn
hard at aquiring a set of very concrete skills, then
45 Book Oblique 18/18 forgetting them.
45 Book 14/18

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35 Light Glyphs

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 I’m an advocate of practice
informed by theory and life. It’s
really a question of priorities and
balance. And I’d like to be clear
When an individual set out upon here. I am not suggesting
the arduous journey of designing
a typeface, I suggest that the
that the type design
generative formal impluse can process necessarily
be located in one of three areas: adheres to a strict
historical revival, vernacular
interpretation, or exclusively
taxonomic progression.
85 Heavy 17/24
formal extrapolation. While
historical revival and vernacular
interpretation are self explanatory,
the term “exclusively formal
extrapolation” may need some
elaboration.
55 Roman 12/18

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Q
Avenir typeface
Z
Designed by Adrian Frutiger

Printed on 60 lb. paper

K
92 brightness

Bound using staples

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