Bernhard Gothic is a family of geometric
sans serif
In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif (), gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than ...
typeface designed by
Lucian Bernhard in 1929 for the
American Type Founders (ATF). Five variations by Bernhard were introduced over two years:
* ''Bernhard Gothic Medium'' (1929)
* ''Bernhard Gothic Light'' (1930)
* ''Bernhard Gothic Light Italic'' (1930)
* ''Bernhard Gothic Medium Italic'' (1930)
* ''Bernhard Gothic Heavy'' (1930)
* ''Bernhard Gothic Extra Heavy'' (1931)
A final member of the family, ''Bernhard Gothic Medium Condensed,'' was introduced by ATF in 1936, but it is unclear as to who the designer was.
Bernhard Gothic is more organic and less regular than other geometric sans-serif typefaces, including
Futura,
Kabel, and
Twentieth Century, showing influence of Bernhard's earlier more expressionistic faces. It is a "spurless" design, similar to the contemporary
Semplicità
Semplicità is a sans-serif typeface of the Sans-serif#Geometric, geometric style. It was published by the Nebiolo Printech, Nebiolo type foundry of Turin, Italy from around 1928.
Semplicità, named for the Italian for "simplicity", is an exampl ...
and Universal Grotesk and more recently
FF Dax
FF Dax is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Hans Reichel, published by FontFont library. The typeface is popular in advertising and in marketing. It is a "spurless" sans-serif, similar to typefaces like Semplicità and some characters ...
, in which strokes end without terminals.
This gives an effect of modernism, detached from handwriting conventions.
Hot metal copies
Intertype's 1936 copy was called ''Greeting Gothic''.
[ MacGrew, "American Metal Typefaces of the Twentieth Century," p. 33.]
Digital copies
Digital copies are available from
Elsner+Flake,
Font Company,
URW++,
Berthold,
Spiece Graphics,
Monotype Imaging
Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc., founded as Lanston Monotype Machine Company in 1887 in Philadelphia by Tolbert Lanston, is an American (historically Anglo-American) company that specializes in digital typesetting and typeface design for use wit ...
and
FontHaus.
References
External links
Fonts in Use American Type Founders typefaces
Geometric sans-serif typefaces
Typefaces and fonts introduced in 1930
Letterpress typefaces
Digital typefaces
Typefaces designed by Lucian Bernhard
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