M

“Identify a problem –like space saving, bad paper, low resolution, on-screen use – then find typefaces that almost work but could be improved.

Study them.

Note the approaches and failings.

Sleep on it, then start sketching without looking at anything else.”1

META

a modern typeface by

Erik Spiekermann

CONTENTS 1

IN 1984, the German State Post Office, the Budespost, was persuaded by Erik Spiekermann of MetaDesign to commission a new, exclusive font for use on all of the Budespost’s printed material.

Although the font was digitized, tested, and approved in the summer of 1985, the project was canceled. The Bundespost returned to using one of its many previous typefaces, Helvetica, assuming that digital type would not catch on.

In 1989, after design software made creating new fonts more efficient, MetaDesign refined the Bundespost typeface for its own exclusive use, renaming it Meta. Initially, Meta was just used for in-house projects, but soon MetaDesign began to use it in mail-order catalogs for FontShop, a digital type foundry, confounded by Erik Spiekermann. FontShop encouraged the parent company to license the face. Released as FF Meta, it has become one of the most successful typefaces available from FonFont, a subsidiary of FontShop.2

ORIGIN2

The aim of the project was to develop a face that was easy to read in small sizes, available in several weights, unmistakable as an identity, and technologically up-to-date.

a b c d e f g h i

j k l m n o p q r

s t u v w x y z1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

! @ # $ % ^ & * ( )

A B C D E F G H I

J K L M N O P Q R

S T U V W X Y Z

SPIEKERMANN had to create a face that could be printed on postage stamps, meaning the face would still have to remain legible at very small sizes.

In order to combat this issue and also to give Meta an “unmistakable identity“, Spiekermann moved away from the traditional sans serifs of Helvetica and Gill Sans.

TYPEFACE 3

J

GR

g

CHARACTERISTICS4

WAVY TAIL CURVED LEGANGLED FINIAL NO LOOP

UNIQUE TRAITS helped to increase the ledigiblity of Meta and also gave it a distinct personality. Spiekermann broke away from sans serif fonts through the incorporation of aspects such as the lack of spurs and loops and angled finials.

5

OOBLIQUE LEGSINGLE JUNCTIONOPEN BOWL NO SPUR

CHARACTERISTICS6

ANGLED FINIALS

BENT STEM

7

ANGLED FINIALS appear in the top strokes of the E,F,G,S and Z. The descenders of the j,p,q, and y also end in angled finials.

META LOWERCASE letters have particular traits that distinguish the face from other sans serifs. The ascend-ers of the b, k, h, and l are slightly bent at the top, a feature that is carried through the stems of the m, n, p, q, and the spur of the u.

b k h lm n p q u r

E F G S Zj p q y

ANGLED FINIALS

BENT STEM

7

COMPARISONS8

OOO

MET

AH

ELVE

TICA

GIL

L SA

NS

META IS MORE CONDENSED than Gill Sans and Helvectica, although they have very similar x and cap heights. Spiekermann created Meta to be condensed in order to be printed in small point size, which is where Gill Sans and Helvetica Neue struggled.

LARGE APERTURES are of the results of having angled finials. On f, r, c, k, e the counter spaces are much more open than Gill and Helvectica.

OPEN COUNTER SPACES happen also in a unique spot in the lowercase g. The open bowl is unique for a sans serif and seems to be a fusion of the Helvetica and Gill Sans g’s.

C C C

g g gMETA HELVETICA NEUE Gill Sans

The C of the Meta Family has a much wider aperature when compared to other fonts.

9

COMPARISONS10

frecklefreckle

freckleMET

AH

ELVE

TICA

GIL

L SA

NS

11

frecklefreckle

ALTHOUGH CONDENSED the large apertures allow for more space to come between the individual letters in Meta than in Helvetica or Gill Sans. The contrast of the black and the white to brings the focus back on individual letters to help legibility. The slanted finials help to break up the top of the lower case letters, especially in areas like the r,e,c to the left, making the forms more distinguishable at a smaller size.

freckle

CREATOR12

ERIK SPIEKERMANN, born in 1947, calls himself an information architect. He is equally comfortable and prolific as a writer, graphic and typeface designer, but type is always at the epicenter of this communication dynamo. Even as a child, Spiekermann was drawn to the typographic arts. “I had a little printing press and taught myself to set type when I was twelve,” he recalls. “Years later, when I went to university to study art history, I made a living as a letterpress printer and hot metal typesetter.”

In 1988, Spiekermann started FontShop, a digital typeface foundry and distributor of fonts. Spiekermann currently holds a professorship at the Academy of Arts in Bremen, is vice president of the German Design council, president of the International Institute of Information Design, president of the International Society of Typographic Designers and a board member of ATypI. His book, Stop Stealing Sheep, first published in 1993, has sold over 150,000 copies and is currently in its second edition. He withdrew from the management of MetaDesign in 2000 to work on a new project: The United Designers Network, a collaboration of many designers he has worked with over the years.

REFERENCES

1 Fonts.com, Available at http://www.fonts.com/AboutFonts/DesignerProfiles/ErikSpiekermann.htm Accessed November 1, 2005

2 Leland M. Hill. Revival of the Fittest: Digital Versions of Classic Typefaces (New York: RC Publications), 142-143.

3 Ibid., 143, 144.

4 Ibid., 145.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sweet, Fay. MetaDesign: Design from the Word up. New York: Watson-Guptil Publications, 1999.(A&A: VNC999.6.G4 M48 1999 and Vault)

Spiekermann, Erik and Ginger, E.M. Stop Steal-ing Sheep & Find out how Type Works. USA: Hayden, 1993.(Vault)

Revival of the Fittest: Digital Versions of Classic Typefaces/essays by Carolyn Annand ... [et al.]; edited by Philip B. Meggs and Roy McKelvey, New York: RC Publications, c2000.(A&A: Z250 .R45 2000)

COLOPHON

This book was created by Paul Roth in November 2011in the Type I Studio at Washington University in St. Louis