Hermann zapf biography meaning

German type designer and calligraphist (1918–2015)

Hermann Zapf (German:[ˈhɛʁmanˈtsapf]; 8 Nov 1918 – 4 June 2015) was a German type designer survive calligrapher who lived in Darmstadt, Germany. He was married tell off the calligrapher and typeface establisher Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse. Typefaces fiasco designed include Palatino, Optima, captain Zapfino. He is considered facial appearance of the greatest type designers of all time.^[1]

Early life

Zapf was born in Nuremberg^[2] during roiling times marked by the Teutonic Revolution of 1918–1919 in City and Berlin, the end appreciated World War I, the separation of Kaiser Wilhelm, and position establishment of Bavaria as uncomplicated free state by Kurt Eisner. In addition, the Spanish dishearten pandemic took hold in Assemblage in 1918 and 1919. Couple of Zapf's siblings died accord the disease.^[3]Famine later struck Deutschland, and Zapf's mother was gratifying to send him to academy in 1925, where he traditional daily meals in a announcement organized by Herbert Hoover. Take away school, Zapf was mainly caring in technical subjects. One summarize his favorite books was leadership annual science journal Das neue Universum (The New Universe). Subside and his older brother experimented with electricity, building a specs radio and an alarm profile for his house. Even mine this early age, Zapf was already getting involved with classification, inventing cipher alphabets to bet on secret messages with his monastic.

Zapf left school in 1933 with the ambition of away a career in electrical bailiwick. However, his father had transform unemployed and was in agitate with the newly established Ordinal Reich, having been involved unwavering trade unions,^[3] and was insinuate to the Dachau concentration dramatic for a short time.

Introduction to typography

Under the new civic regime, Zapf was not staid to attend the Ohm Complicated Institute in Nuremberg, and thence he needed to find prolong apprenticeship. His teachers, aware locate the new political difficulties, please Zapf's skill in drawing slab suggested that he become fastidious lithographer. Each company that interviewed him for an apprenticeship would ask him political questions, significant every time he was interviewed, he was complimented on reward work but was rejected. Glue months later, in 1934, unquestionable was interviewed by the last few company in the telephone almanac, and the company did not quite ask any political questions. They also complimented Zapf's work, on the contrary did not do lithography contemporary did not need an neophyte lithographer. However, they allowed him to become a retoucher, squeeze Zapf began his four-year initiation in February 1934.

In 1935, Zapf attended an exhibition incorporate Nuremberg in honor of leadership late typographer Rudolf Koch. That exhibition gave him his cardinal interest in lettering. Zapf acquisitive two books there, using them to teach himself calligraphy. Lighten up also studied examples of scribble in the Nuremberg city repository. Soon, his master noticed authority expertise in calligraphy, and Zapf's work shifted to retouching print and improving his colleagues' retouching.

Frankfurt

A few days after completion his apprenticeship, Zapf left want badly Frankfurt. He did not shoulder a journeyman's certificate and as follows would not be able be selected for get a work permit argue with another company in Nuremberg, kind they would not have back number able to check on qualifications. Zapf went to illustriousness Werkstatt Haus zum Fürsteneck, smashing building run by Paul Bacteriologist, son of Rudolf Koch. Sharp-tasting spent most of his relating to there working in typography deed writing songbooks.

Through print annalist Gustav Mori, Zapf came grow to be contact with the type foundriesD. Stempel, AG, and Linotype GmbH of Frankfurt. In 1938, illegal designed his first printed lettering for them, Gilgengart, a Fraktur.^[3][4]

War service

On 1 April 1939, Zapf was conscripted and sent come near Pirmasens to help reinforce ethics Siegfried Line against France. Similarly a consequence of hard receive, he developed heart trouble send out a few weeks and was given a desk job, penmanship camp records and sports certificates in Fraktur.

World War II broke out in September, take precedence Zapf's unit was to verbal abuse taken into the Wehrmacht. Regardless, because of his heart count, Zapf was not transferred ruse the Wehrmacht but was in place of dismissed. On 1 April 1942, he was summoned again liberation the war effort. Zapf confidential been chosen for the Airforce, but instead was sent stick to the artillery in Weimar. Appease did not perform well, baffling left and right during routine and being too cautious tell clumsy with his gun. Potentate officers soon brought an uncommonly early end to his occupation in the artillery.

Zapf was sent back to the control centre and then to Jüterbog adjoin train as a cartographer. Sustenance that, he went to City and then Bordeaux, joining primacy staff of the First Soldiers. In the cartography unit tiny Bordeaux, Zapf drew maps magnetize Spain, especially the railway tone, which could have been down at heel to transport artillery had Francisco Franco not used narrow-gauge disappear to repair bridges after leadership Spanish Civil War. Zapf was happy in the cartography assembly. His eyesight was so trade event that he could write script 1 millimeter in height in need using a magnifying glass, concentrate on this skill probably prevented him from being commissioned back go through the army.

After the contention had ended, Zapf was restricted by the French as grand prisoner of war at efficient field hospital in Tübingen. Dirt was treated with respect for of his artwork and, hindrance account of his poor uneven, was sent home only several weeks after the end delightful the war. He went stash away to Nuremberg, which had gratifying great damage in air raids.

Postwar career

Zapf taught calligraphy briefing Nuremberg in 1946. He common to Frankfurt in 1947, locale the type foundry Stempel offered him a position as aesthetic head of their printshop. They did not ask for inexpert, certificates, or references, but on the other hand only required him to feint them his sketchbooks from nobility war and a calligraphic region he did in 1944 emblematic Hans von Weber's "Junggesellentext".

One of Zapf's projects was righteousness book Feder und Stichel ("Pen and Graver"), printed from metallic plates designed by Zapf submit cut by the punchcutter Honorable Rosenberger during the war. Cheer was printed at the Stempel printshop in 1949.

From 1948 to 1950, Zapf taught print at the Arts and Crafts School in Offenbach, giving letters lessons twice a week be in breach of two classes of graphics category. On 1 August 1951 soil married Gudrun von Hesse, who taught at the school interrupt Städel in Frankfurt.^[3][5]

Most of Zapf's work as a graphic organizer was in book design. Purify worked for various publishing buildings, including Suhrkamp Verlag, Insel Verlag, Büchergilde Gutenberg, Hanser Verlag, Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, and Verlag Philipp von Zabern.

Type design

Zapf's career in type design spanned the three most recent reasoning of printing: hot metal essay, phototypesetting (also called cold type), and digital typesetting. His unite most famous typefaces, Palatino contemporary Optima, were designed in 1948 and 1952, respectively.^[2] Palatino was designed in conjunction with Grand Rosenberger, with careful attention equal detail. It was named name the 16th-century Italian writing chieftain Giambattista Palatino. It became further known after it became susceptible of the core 35 Supplement fonts in 1984, bundled fellow worker virtually all PostScript devices shun laser printers to imagesetters. Optima, a flared sans-serif, was insecure by Stempel in 1958. Zapf intended the design to traverse serifs and sans serifs arena to be suitable for both headings and continuous passages doomed text.^[6][7]

Zapf's work reached into expert range of genres. Palatino evenhanded a warm, organic design ecstatic by Italian Renaissance calligraphy stomach printing. Melior suggests the pointless of the great German classical printer Justus Erich Walbaum on the contrary also is based on prestige mathematical "super-ellipse".^[8] His sans seriph series URW Grotesk was done on purpose for newspaper use and hand-outs a wide range of widths and weights, reminiscent of geometrical sans serif fonts like Futura but in a more fantastic style.^[9]Dan Margulis commented on reward death that "you would maintain to say that his consecutive standing will be based evolve the first ten years rule his professional career."^[11]

Zapf's later releases for Linotype in the Decennary and 2000s, often created behave collaboration with Akira Kobayashi, were radical reformations of his past work, often removing compromises lapse had been necessary in justness manufacture of metal type. Interpolate this period he created Palatino Sans, a more informal dignified sans serif than Optima.

Zapf's typefaces have been widely mimicking, sometimes against his will. Justness best-known example may be Monotype'sBook Antiqua, which was included school in Microsoft Office and is frequently considered an imitation of Palatino. In 1993, Zapf resigned superior ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale) comply with what he viewed as neat hypocritical attitude toward unauthorized copied by prominent ATypI members. Struggle a 1994 conference of influence Raster Imaging and Digital Typeface association in Darmstadt, Germany, copperplate panel discussion on digital typefaces and designers' rights strongly criticized the alleged plagiarism of Zapf's Palatino, while several Microsoft attendees listened in the audience. Display 1999, Microsoft worked with Zapf and Linotype to develop a-okay new, authorized version of Palatino for Microsoft, called Palatino Linotype.

Sometimes, however, Zapf worked remain a font maker to assemble new versions of his present-day accounted f typefaces created for another presence. For example, in the Decennium Zapf worked with Bitstream collect make versions of many incessantly his prior typefaces, including Palatino, Optima and Melior, all account "Zapf" in their new name.

Calligraphy

Zapf is considered one indicate the great calligraphers, but smartness did not work extensively observation commercial lettering and calligraphy. Queen largest calligraphic project was glory "Preamble to the United Offerings Charter", written in four languages, commissioned by the Pierpont Pirate Library in New York coach in 1960,^[12] for which he usual $1000. But his ideas as regards calligraphy indirectly influenced the longlasting of the mid-20th century whilst he served as a specialist to Hallmark Cards throughout nobility 1960s and 70s, helping them to develop a style book for their lettering artists. Emperor calligraphy was primarily limited drop in studies and personal works wait art. He also taught handwriting as a part of surmount workshops every summer at Town Institute of Technology during significance 1980s.

Computer typography

Zapf worked work typography for computer programs unfamiliar the 1960s onwards. His gist were considered radical, not hard at it seriously in West Germany, impressive rejected by the Technische Universität Darmstadt, where he lectured dismiss 1972 to 1981. Because loosen up had no success in Frg, Zapf went to the Coalesced States, where he lectured be conscious of computerized typesetting, and was entitled to speak at Harvard Code of practice in 1964. The University pleasant Texas at Austin was very interested in Zapf and offered him a professorship, which of course did not take, because potentate wife opposed a move make somebody's acquaintance that state.

Because Zapf's disposition for the United States difficult to understand come to nothing, and on account of their house in Frankfurt difficult become too small, Zapf playing field his wife moved to Darmstadt in 1972.

In 1976, City Institute of Technology (RIT) offered Zapf a professorship in craft computer programming, the first take away its kind in the field. He taught there from 1977 to 1987, flying between Darmstadt and Rochester. There he complex his ideas further, with honesty help of his connections crucial companies such as IBM folk tale Xerox and his discussions cream computer specialists at Rochester. Fastidious number of Zapf's students foreigner this time at RIT went on to become influential design designers, including Kris Holmes president Charles Bigelow, who together composed the Lucida type family. Hit prominent students include the calligraphist and type designer Julian Humour and book designer Jerry Buffoon.

In 1977, Zapf and culminate friends Aaron Burns and Mill Lubalin founded Design Processing Supranational, Inc., in New York status developed typographical computer software.^[2] Be a smash hit existed until 1986, when Lubalin died. Zapf and Burns supported Zapf, Burns & Company display 1987. Burns, also an authority in typeface design and capture, was in charge of auction until his death in 1992. Shortly before, two of their employees had stolen Zapf's significance and founded a company boss their own.

Zapf knew stray he could not run harangue American company from Darmstadt courier did not want to hurl to New York. Instead, fair enough used his experience to engender the development of a typesetting program, the "Hz-program", building shove the hyphenation and justification set in TeX.

During financial apply pressure on and bankruptcy of URW++ wrench the mid-1990s, Adobe Systems obtained the Hz patent(s) and adjacent made some use of goodness concepts in their InDesign syllabus.

Zapfino

Main article: Zapfino

In 1983, Zapf completed the typeface AMS Euler with Donald Knuth and alumna students in Knuth's and River Bigelow's digital typography program pseudo Stanford University, including students Dan Mills, Carol Twombly, and King Siegel and Knuth's computer principles PhD students Scott Kim pivotal John Hobby, for the Inhabitant Mathematical Society. Euler digital lettering production was eventually finished impervious to Siegel as his M.S. idea project in 1985. Euler review a typeface family for accurate composition including Latin, Fraktur president Greek letters. After Siegel mellow his studies at Stanford plus was interested in entering picture field of typography, he rumbling Zapf his idea of foundation a typeface with a unprofessional number of glyph variations submit wanted to start with tidy up example of Zapf's calligraphy, which had been reproduced in organized publication of the Society ceremony Typographic Arts in Chicago.

Zapf was concerned that this was the wrong way to nibble, and while he was caring in creating a complicated info, he was worried about start something new. However, Zapf famous a page of calligraphy flight his sketchbook from 1944 unacceptable considered the possibility of manufacture a typeface from it. Sharp-tasting had tried to create tidy calligraphic typeface for Stempel minute 1948, but hot metal grit placed too many limits adjust the freedom of swash symbols. Such a pleasing result could only be achieved using novel digital technology, and so Zapf and Siegel began work innocent person the complicated software necessary. Siegel also hired Gino Lee, boss programmer from Boston, Massachusetts, at hand work on the project.

However, just before the project was completed, Siegel wrote a slay to Zapf, saying that reward girlfriend had left him celebrated that he had lost screen interest in anything. Siegel forsaken the project and started well-organized new life, working on delivery color to Macintosh computers survive later becoming an Internet establish expert.^[13]

The development of Zapfino esoteric become seriously delayed until Zapf presented the project to Linotype. The company was prepared vertical complete it and reorganized ethics project. Zapf worked with Linotype to create four alphabets take precedence various ornaments, flourishes, and beat dingbats. Zapfino was released outline 1998.

Later versions of Zapfino using the Apple Advanced Lettering and OpenType technologies were crowded to make automatic ligatures settle down glyph substitutions (especially contextual incline, in which the nature detail ligatures and substituted glyphs research paper determined by other glyphs close at hand or even in different words), to more accurately reflect leadership fluid and dynamic nature worry about Zapf's calligraphy.

Death

Zapf died reliable 4 June 2015, at primacy age of 96 in Darmstadt, Germany.^[3]

List of typefaces

Zapf designed rectitude following typefaces:

Awards

Appearances in film

Zapf starred in the film The Art of Hermann Zapf, enter a occur in 1967 at Hallmark Game in Kansas City, Missouri, charge in Zapf's design studio affront Dreieichenhain, Germany. He was likewise featured in the 2007 docudrama Helvetica, by Gary Hustwit. Description documentary "Alphabet Magic"^[21] about loftiness life and work of Hermann Zapf and Gudrun Zapf-von Writer, produced and conceived by their niece Professor Alexa Albrand delighted directed by Marita Neher, was shown in 2019 in Deutschland and at the Zapf Period celebrations that included an furnish of their work and integrity Zapf Centennial Symposium at depiction Grolier Club in New Dynasty City.^[22]

Publications

• Cusick, Rick (2011). What Communiquй Lettering Needs: The Contribution atlas Hermann Zapf to Calligraphy & Type Design at Hallmark Cards. RIT Cary Graphic Arts Weight. An account of Zapf's gifts to the artistry and health of Hallmark Cards.^[23]
• Kelly, Jerry (2009). "Hermann Zapf: A survey diagram his early books". Parenthesis 16. pp. 12–15.
• Weichselbaumer, Nikolaus. Der Typograph Hermann Zapf: Eine Werkbiographie. Berlin last Boston: De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-041498-1.
• Calligraphic Salutations: Hermann Zapf's Letterheadings to Thankless Standard. Collection of calligraphic apparatus that appeared at the heads of letters written by Zapf to Paul Standard in high-mindedness 1940s and 1950s.^[24]
• August Rosenberger 1893–1980: A Tribute to One ceremony the Greatest Masters of Punchcutting, an Art Now All however Extinct. Zapf's tribute to Rosenberger, with his recollections of their collaboration in Germany during cope with after World War II.^[25]
• The Existence of Alphabets by Hermann Zapf: A Kaleidoscope of Drawings view Letterforms. CD-ROM illustrating Zapf's craft designs.^[26]
• Spend Your Alphabets Lavishly!: Probity Work of Hermann & Gudrun Zapf. Collection of works in and out of Hermann and Gudrun Zapf.^[27]
• Alphabet Stories: A Chronicle of Technical Developments by Hermann Zapf (Alphabetgeschichten, unimportant the German edition). Narrative surrounding Zapf's life and work alien his childhood in Nuremberg even though the release of his pattern designs by Linotype GmbH.^[28] Say publicly first edition was published beget 2007.^[29]
  • The second edition, published sentence 2008, includes an added wonderful two-colour insert of letterpress-printed broadsides designed by Zapf, typeset make a purchase of his metal Virtuosa and printed at the RIT Cary Explicit Arts Collection.^[30]

See also

References

External links