Task one

Futura

The typeface Futura was designed by Paul Renner, a german type designer, painter, and educator in 1927. His creation and development are inspired by the typographic experimentation of the Bauhaus school. It is seen as a geometric sans-serif typeface design. Renner shared many of its idioms and believed that a modern typeface should express modern models, rather than be a revival of a previous design. The typeface Futura is well developed for more than 30 years since it was published. It became the most popular Sans of the mid-twentieth century and inspired many Sans types after its release (including Adrian Frutiger’s more humanist Avenir). For instance, 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 by Robin Nicholas. Even the revival of the BBC series, Doctor Who uses Futura for its credits, as did the original series during the early 1970s.

I personally feel that Futura represents the idea of modern very well. Its shape is clean and clear which just like the same expression as the modern lifestyle, everything desires to be simple and easy but fast. The additional weights and styles which were added in later show the powerful feeling and well represent a real modern model. On the other hand, as I see, there is a weakness in the typeface Futura. It seems that the width of the letters as i, j, l is too less than the letters like O,Q,W. This problem makes the typeface Futura might fail in the balance when it is used for a long writing. 

Gill Sans

British designer Eric Gill is the one who designed typeface Gill Sans. He followed Edward Johnston who was the renowned calligrapher designed the typeface used for the London Underground signage. Gill’s Gill Sans was released in a single uppercase weight in 1928, which was influenced a lot by Johnston’s work. It became popular after it was chosen as the standard font for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) system and used for its poster and promotional materials. It is said that Gill Sans is British Helvetica. It already became the significant representation of the visual British tradition.

In my opinion, Gill Sans combines both the characters of classical spirit and modern design. It really shows the views of British gentlemen's graceful attitude and also the modern design’s pithy style. However, there is an argument about whether the Gill Sans really fixed the problems in the typeface of Johnston’s. Especially when Gill Sans became a part of Adobe/Linotype group, it is questioned that it even has a few shortages that the typeface of Johnston’s never has. So far, Gill Sans is not seems to be the perfect design, but it is no doubt that it is a great design.