Linotype Launches a New Typeface System with Gothic Appeal

Linotype introduces a new type system with a familiar feel and diverse possibilities to combine and unify. Inspired by the simplicity of American gothic types, Generis™ incorporates a revolutionary synthesis of four distinct styles sharing a uniform skeleton. The consistent and harmonious proportions allow the styles to merge and re-emerge, creating new combinations, while never altering the original layout. The “generic” style of the letters also conveys a simplicity, which is widely acceptable to readers and highly legible, so the information can easily rise up through the text. Perhaps most of all, Generis is generous – competitively priced and allowing for the purchase of individual weights.
The new Generis type system from Linotype is built up as a unified whole while maintaining a refreshing variety of representations. The four basic Generis styles are “Serif”, which has a touch of traditional elegance; “Slab”, with a more stable and technical look; the pared-down, clear American Gothic “Sans” and the invigoratingly contemporary and minimalistic “Simple”, which is basically a sans serif with no hint of serifs at all. The underlying character of Generis spans across all four styles creating the impression of one cohesive alphabet with interchanging facets.
Thanks to the system’s varying range of weights, elements can be combined to diversify, or enhance and highlight blocks of text or headlines. Each style is available in at least 4 different weights – light, regular, medium and bold. Additional weights, special caps, old style figures and italics round out the system, where design applications are most likely to be needed. Accented characters enable the implementation of 48 different Latin-based languages. All styles retain uniformly regulated proportions and, therefore, can be switched and interchanged without shifting the body of the text – the beauty of a type system.
The construction of the Generis letters and numbers has been carefully conceived. The inspiration for designer Erik Faulhaber came from seeing different typefaces mixed together in business districts in the USA. He envisioned a new type system with interrelated forms reduced to their essence. Therefore, the narrow width of the letters in Generis allows for more text to fit into a space. Elimination of descenders on capitals also permits closer spacing. Clear shapes and large interior counter-forms help achieve a greater readability.
The numbers have unmistakable forms and the mathematical symbols, with their systematic, numeric character width, help ensure error free recognition, simplifying typesetting of tables. So Generis’ inconspicuous forms and conservative use of body area facilitate a smooth transfer of information in all sizes and areas of communication.
Since the Generis styles and their varying weights can be purchased as a package, but also individually, the system fuses aesthetic, technical and economic advantages, representing a type system for a new generation. Generis returns a fresh and formal language to everyday print media, covering the whole range of corporate communication needs. For more information and details on this highly useable type system, go to www.linotype.com.
Linotype GmbH, based in Bad Homburg, Germany and a wholly owned subsidiary of Monotype Imaging Inc., looks back onto a history of 120 years. Building on its strong heritage, Linotype develops state-of-the-art font technology and offers more than 6,700 original typefaces, covering the whole typographic spectrum from antique to modern, from east to west, and from classical to experimental. All typefaces (in PostScript™ and TrueType™ format as well as more than 2,500 fonts in OpenTypeTM) are now also available for instant download at www.linotype.com. In addition to supplying digital fonts, Linotype also offers comprehensive and individual consultation and support services for font applications in worldwide (corporate) communication.

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