Memphis is a
slab-serif typeface designed b
Dr. Rudolf Wolfand released in 1929 by the
Stempel Type Foundry.
Memphis is a "geometric" slab serif, reflecting the style of German
geometric sans-serifs (in particular
Futura) which had attracted considerable attention, and adapting the design to the slab serif structure.
Its structure is strictly monoline, with a "single-storey" 'a' similar to blackletter or handwriting, in an almost-perfect circle. It was released in several weights and with
alternative characters such as
swashes, which digitisations have mostly not included.
Memphis has an
Egyptian name, in reference to the fact that early slab serifs were often called "Egyptians" as an exoticism by nineteenth-century typefounders.
Memphis and other similar designs were popular in printing during the
hot metal typesetting
In printing and typography, hot metal typesetting (also called mechanical typesetting, hot lead typesetting, hot metal, and hot type) is a technology for typesetting text in letterpress printing. This method injects molten type metal into a mol ...
period and several foundries brought out similar designs or direct imitations such as
Karnak
The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construc ...
and Stymie in the United States and Rosmini from Nebiolo in Italy, and (more loosely)
Rockwell from Monotype.
Digital designs in a similar style include
Neutraface Slab
Neutraface is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Christian Schwartz for House Industries, an American digital type foundry. It was influenced by the work of architect Richard Neutra and was developed with the assistance of Neutra's son a ...
and
Archer
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...
.
Memphis itself has been released digitally by Linotype, who licensed it from Stempel, and by Bitstream in a release including condensed weights under the name "Geometric Slabserif 703".
References
{{notelist, 30em
External links
Fonts in UseSample image of Memphisshowing alternative characters
Condensed weightModern revival letterpress typefaces
Geometric slab-serif typefaces
Stempel typefaces
Linotype typefaces