Type Specimen

abcdefgh

ijklm

nopqrstuv

wxy

z

Futurais a geometric sans-serif typeface

designed in 1927

by Paul renner

aa

Kk

Qq

rr Ss tt uu

Yy ZzXxWw

Vv

Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp

Ff

Gg Hh Ii Jj

Bb Cc Dd Ee

Light

Light Oblique

Book

Book Oblique

medium

Medium Oblique

Heavy

Heavy Oblique

Bold

Bold Oblique

Extra Bold

Extra Bold Oblique

Following the Bauhaus design philosophy, German type de-signer Paul Renner first created Futura between 1924 and 1926. Although Renner was not a member of the Bauhaus, he shared many of its views, believing that a modern type-face should express modern models rather than be a rivial of a previous design. Futura was commercially released in 1927, commissioned by the Bauer type foundry.

Inspired by

the Bauhaus

MODERNMODERN

Futura has an appearance of efficiency and forwardness. the typeface is derived from simple geometric forms (near-perfect circles, triangles and squares) and is based on strokes of near-even weight, which are low in contrast. this is most visible in the almost perfectly round stroke of the o, which is nonetheless slightly ovoid.

a G E

aGE

0123456789!@#$%^&*()+

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In designing Futura, Renner avoided the decorative, eliminating non-essential ele-ments. The lowercase has tall ascenders, which rise above the cap line. The up-percase characters present proportions similar to those of classical Roman capitals.

Sans-serifFutura Book 97pt

Futura Book 100pt

Futura Book 180pt

Trajan pro regular 100pt

Trajan pro regular 180pt

G

aG

A

tall ascenders

Futura Light Oblique

Futura Light

abcdeFghijkLmnOpqrstuvwxyz

ABcdeFGhIjkLmnoPqRsTuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

0123456789

0123456789

Futura Light Condensed Futura Light Condensed Oblique

abCDEFghijkLMNOpqRstuvwxyz abCdeFghijkLmnOpqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

0123456789 0123456789

Futura Book

Futura Book Oblique

aBCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQrStuVWXYZ

aBcdeFghijklmnOpqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

0123456789

0123456789

futura medium

Futura Medium Oblique

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

abcdeFghijklMnOpqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

0123456789

0123456789

Futura Medium Condensed Futura Medium Condensed Oblique

abCdeFghijklMnopqrstuvwxyz abCdeFghijklMnOpqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

0123456789 0123456789

Futura Heavy

Futura Heavy Oblique

aBcdeFgHIjklmnopqrstuvwxyz

abcdeFgHijklmnOpqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

0123456789

0123456789

Futura Bold

Futura Bold Oblique

aBcdeFghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

aBcdeFghijklmnOpqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

0123456789

0123456789

Futura Bold Condensed Futura Bold Condensed Oblique

aBCdeFghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz aBCdeFghijklmnOpqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

0123456789 0123456789

Futura Extra Bold

Futura Extra Bold Oblique

aBcdEFghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

aBcdEFghijklmnOpqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

0123456789

0123456789

Futura Extra Bold Condensed Futura Extra Bold Condensed Oblique

aBCdEFghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz aBCdEFghijklmnOpqrstuvwxyz

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

0123456789 0123456789

The success of Futura coincided with the creation of many new geometric sans-serif faces by competing foundries including kabel, metro, vogue, erbar and spartan, Twentieth cen-tury, and century Gothic among others. some were near identical copies as in spartan and vogue, but others, were uniquely different including nobel and kabel.

influence on

Twentieth CenturyTwentieth Century Regular 48pt

futura medium 45pt

futura light 53pt

Century Gothic Regular 45pt

twentieth century

Century Gothic

century Gothic

Typeface designer Adrian Frutiger acknowledges Futura as one of his inspirations for his 1988 typeface Avenir. more recently Futura has been the basis of Ikea sans and opel sans, fonts designed (for Ikea and opel, respectively) by Robin nicholas.

other typefaces

Futura (and its variants) have become an extremely popular typeface for countless corporate logos, commercial products, films and advertisements for years. In fact, so popular that certain art directors had be-gan boycotting its use in with art Directors against Futura Extra Bold Condensed, pub-lished in 1992’s tDC typography 13.

regardless, Futura remains one of the most used (and loved) sans-serif fonts today with no signs of slowing down.

popularity today

Futura was one of the most popular fonts in use in the 20th century, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, and is in use in the corporate design of volkswagen until this day.

American conceptual artist Barbara kruger uses Futura Bold oblique on black and white photographs in much of her language based art work.

Futura Light

Futura extra Bold condensed

Futura extra Bold condensed

Futura heavy

Futura extra Bold oblique

Futura Bold

Futura extra Bold

express strength

elegance Clarity