Hermann is one of our most readable typefaces so far. Since last year, the W Design team had been examining closely the possibility of developing a text font. Thus, we dug into concepts within some of our favorite novels, such as The Steppenwolf and Brave New World, written by Hermann Hesse and Aldous Huxley respectively. Ideas like duality, surrealism, and wildness mainly appeared. With these concepts in mind, we analyzed carefully the typefaces used in both Hesse’s and Huxley’s creations; Sabon and Garamond showed up catching our attention and, of course, awakening our admiration. Consequently, the challenge was to combine the key features of these fonts with the concepts already identified. At first, we made a text font which was suitable to compose long texts. However, we realized that we needed to refine some characteristics to convey all the ideas. A full set of capital discretionary ligatures was designed, which convert Hermann in a display font when is required. We also designed swashes (from A-Z) and final forms (in letters h, k, m, n, r and x in romans, and in letters a, d, e, h, i, l, m, n, r, t, u, x and z in italics), conveying more dynamism and versatility when it comes to composing visually. Hermann was designed not only to be accurate in terms of legibility but also to be wild and bold. That is why we took a big leap and designed from the beginning a font that is inspired by the world of 20th-century novels, using the name of one of its greatest exponents, Hermann Hesse.

Michelangelo was designed by Hermann Zapf in 1950.

Drawn by master German calligrapher Hermann Zapf in the 1970s, Noris Script captures the magic of the irregularities of pen strokes. The idea behind Noris Script was to bring the spontaneity of a quick handwritten script using a broad-edged pen into the modern typesetting environment. Noris is the Latin name for the German city of Nuremberg, where Hermann Zapf was born and raised. Nuremberg has something special about it, aside from Hermann Zapf, it has a great tradition of writing masters, such as Johann Neudörffer (1497-1563), Wolfgang Fugger (1515-1568), and Rudolf Koch (1876-1934).

Graphique-AR is a digital version of a type designed by Hermann Eidenbenz and issued by the Haas foundry in 1946.

Virtuosa Classicis the 21st century OpenType re-release of a classic Hermann Zapf design, his very first script typeface, Virtuosa. Based on the same sketches that would inspire Zapfino 50 years later, Hermann Zapf developed Virtuosa in 1948-49. It was originally released in metal in 1952. Virtuosa nova is an English copperplate script with character. The font includes two form variants for each capital letter, and there are a number of lowercase alternates and ligatures, too.

Hermann Zapf’s Melior exhibits a robust character through classic and objective forms. Versatile and extremely legible, it can be used for a variety of texts and point sizes.

Born in 1831, Hermann Berthold was the son of a calico-printer. On completion of his apprenticeship as a precision-instrument maker and after practical experience gained abroad in galvanography, Hermann Berthold founded his "Institute for Galvano Technology" in Berlin in 1858. Very quickly he discovered a method of producing circular lines from brass and not, as customary at that time, from lead or zinc. The soldering normally necessary could also be dispensed with. The lines were elastic and therefore highly durable. They produced outstandingly fine results. Most of German's letterpress printers and many printers abroad placed their orders with Berthold. His products became so popular that the print trade popularized the saying "As precise as Berthold brass". In 1878 Hermann Berthold was commissioned to put an end to the confusion of typographic systems of measurement. With the aid of Professor Foerster he succeeded in devising a basic unit of measurement (1m = 2,660 typographic points). This was the birth of the first generally binding system of typographic measurement. It is still used in the trade. Hermann Berthold served as the head of the Berthold type foundry until 1888.

Schneidler-Initialen (initials) was designed in 1936-37 by Friedrich Hermann Ernst Schneidler (1882-1956). Originally known as Schneidler Mediaeval, the font was revived and released by GroupType in 1994.

The Bitstream version of Melior, a twentieth century modern face commissioned by Stempel and designed by Hermann Zapf in 1952. It is based on Zapf’s thoughts about the squared-off circle known as a super-ellipse. The type was originally intended as a newspaper text face by Linotype. Hermann Zapf’s Melior exhibits a robust character through classic and objective forms. Versatile and extremely legible, it can be used for a variety of texts and point sizes. Cyrillic version was developed by Natalya Vasilyeva and licensed by ParaType in 2002.

Sistina, designed by Hermann Zapf in 1950 was first named Aurelia Titling. It is a heavy supplement to the Michelangelo Titling based on studies of inscriptions in Rome. First release in hotmetal at D. Stempel AG, Frankfurt in 1951. Sistina was originally an all caps font. The digital version from Linotype contains small caps. Hermann Zapf together with Akira Kobayashi, type director from Linotype had made a new revised version of Sistina now named as Palatino Imperial" in the Palatino nova type family, a Platinum Collection product from Linotype."

An original design by Richard Isbell for ATF; in exaggerating the tapered stroke introduced eleven years earlier in Hermann Zapf’s Optima, Isbell created the first flareserif to achieve popularity in the United States.

Venture Script reflects Hermann Zapf's handwriting. It was originally written with a Japanese feltpen. And like with Zapf's typeface Noris Script he wanted to preserve the rough outline of the handwritten form in the final drawings.

Legende was originally designed by Friedrich Hermann Ernst Schneidler. In reminiscence to the good old times, Ralph M. Unger redrew and digitized this font in 2003. His work is based on artwork taken from old font catalogues.

Vario is a bold brush-based design. Created by the renowned type designer and calligrapher, Hermann Zapf, Vario offers superb emphasis for use in headlines and displays. It is availble in both regular and italic styles. Vario was first produced in 1982.

ITC Slimbach font is the work of California calligrapher and type designer Robert Slimbach. Inspired in part by German fonts and the work of Hermann Zapf, Slimbach created a "contemporary text font with a progressive look", combining clean serif shapes with the warmth of calligraphic forms.

ITC Veljovic Script was designed by Jovica Veljovic and displays an obvious calligraphic heritage. The designer was strongly influenced by German designer Hermann Zapf and Israeli designer Henri Friedlander. ITC Veljovic Script exhibits a crisp precision, as if the letters were cut in stone rather than drawn with pen and ink.

Linotype Zapf Essentials is the modernized version of Zapf Dingbats and was also designed by Hermann Zapf himself. Over 372 characters and symbols are included within six fonts and make life a little more communicative, a little more informative, and a lot more interesting. The fonts contain symbols for both professional and everyday uses. With their markers, ornaments and arrows they are informative as well as versatile, timeless and lively. An interesting note to the story of Zapf Essentials: in 1977, Hermann Zapf created about 1000 sketches of signs and symbols. ITC chose those which became known around the world as Zapf Dingbats. For a typesetter, dingbats are the characters in the corner of the type box which can be used for just about anything. The last decade has seen the appearance of new symbols for e-mail, fax, mobile phones and other developments. These are now part of Linotype Zapf Essentials, just as they are now a part of everyday life. For a quick overview of the different Linotype Essentials variations, see the keyboard layout PDF in the Gallery section. It shows the keyboard layout of each font. A helpful hint from Hermann Zapf: Linotype Zapf Essentials should be used sparingly so that the characters retain their emphasis.

The Zapf Renaissance Antiqua type family was designed by Hermann Zapf for the German Scangraphic Dr. Böger GmbH in Hamburg, from 1984–1986. The typefaces were engineered for use in digital CRT phototypesetting. This version was based on Scangraphic SH version (For Display use) and not on the SB version (for text use).

Graphique was originally created by Swiss designer Hermann Edenbenz in 1945, and issued as hot metal font by Haas'sche Schriftgie�erei, Switzerland.German type designer Ralph M. Unger digitally remastered and expanded the typeface for profonts, and the digital OTF Pro version comprises of more than 400 characters including the complete Latin and Cyrillic glyph sets.

Hermann Zapf made his first scetches for Orion in 1963. Zapf's aim was to create a neutral textface which can be ideally used as a newspaper face. Its strokethickness and open letterforms also fits well for book and magazine production. The final two weights of Orion were released in 1974 for the Linofilm photocomposing machine.

Hermann Zapf and Akira Kobayashi redeveloped Palatino for the 21st Century, creating Palatino nova. The Palatino nova family also includes revised versions of Aldus (now called Aldus nova). A bold weight is added into the font family. The character set support is similar to Palatino nova, but Greek and Cyrillic are not available in book weight fonts.

The Heraut is a typical art nouveau advertising display typeface. The design is based on the work of Hermann Hoffmann from 1901. OpenType features: over 580 Glyphs Central European Glyphs Small Capitals Contextual Alternates The ornaments typeface uses several common OpenType features to switch easily between the elements. Have a look into the Heraut specimen PDF.

Alige is a humanist sans serif typefaces made for body text and display. Carried classic roman proportion in higher letterform for better reading experence. Inspired by Optima Nova which designed by Hermann Zaph in early 50's, alige contains 28 cuts which 14 style in text and 14 in display. Kindly visit Alige Playground for more detail presentation.

New Bayreuth is a new and improved version of the original Bayreuth font (Friedrich Hermann Ernst Schneidler, 1932). New Bayreuth was reworked, redesigned, completed and digitally remastered by Ralph M. Unger for URW++, based on specimen taken from old font catalogues. Besides Ganz Grobe Gotisch and Legende, New Bayreuth is the third type design by Schneidler that URW++ brought back to (digital) life.

Gaius is a beautiful script face with a nice relationship between the broad-edged pen and the proportions of the letterforms. It is very flexible and gives a personal touch due to its various alternate fonts with swash beginners, ending and ligature letterforms. Like Zapfino from Hermann Zapf, Gaius offers a great variety and makes the text more personal and readable.

Zapf Chancery font is a work of German designer Hermann Zapf. It was named after a typeface used in Anglo-Saxon lands during the Renaissance as well as inspired by such scripts. This font makes it possible to give printed items an individual character. The handwriting of the designer can be seen in the forms of this classic, elegant font.

From alphabets created for book illustrations in the 1970s to lettering created for a book jacket in the 1990s, the Mentor family of typefaces has developed along its own slow and circuitous path. Always present in its evolution, though, has been the influence of three 20th century design giants: Eric Gill, Reynolds Stone, and Hermann Zapf, as filtered through the meticulous sensibility of Michael Harvey.

ITC Veljovic was designed by Jovica Veljovic and displays an obvious calligraphic heritage. The designer was strongly influenced by German designer Hermann Zapf and Israeli designer Henri Friedlander. ITC Veljovic exhibits a crisp precision, as if the letters were cut in stone rather than drawn with pen and ink. In 2014 Veljovic revised this family and ITC New Veljovic was released with many more weights and styles

Zapf Book font is the work of German designer Hermann Zapf, a blend of the characteristics of Walbaum, Melior and the contrasting weights of Bodoni. It is a typical Zapf font, distinction without eccentricity and superb sensitivity and letterfit, and clearly demonstrates his concern that an alphabet work not just as a collection of single letters, but also have a sense of unity in itself.

Hermann Zehnpfundt’s Enge Journal Antiqua, released by the Emil Gursch Foundry, Berlin, in 1910, revived and redesigned. This font contains also a long s, which can be reached by typing option + b, or turning the round s into the long one by using the OT feature historical forms. It is recommended to also use the OT feature discretionary ligatures to get access to all ligatures in this font.

Zapf International font is the work of German designer Hermann Zapf, formal enough for widespread use yet tempered with calligraphic warmth. Vigor in the italics is achieved more from design than from slant. One of the distinguishing characteristics of Zapf International is its graduation of weights. Light and medium are relatively close and equally eloquent for text. Demi is a full two steps heavier than medium and heavy several steps beyond demi.

Palatino® Nova is Prof. Hermann Zapf's redesign of his own masterpiece, Palatino. The original Palatino was cut in metal by August Rosenberger at D. Stempel AG typefoundry in Frankfurt, and released in 1950. Palatino was later adapted for mechanical composition on the Linotype machine, and became one of the most-used typefaces of the 20th Century. Palatino was designed for legibility, and has open counters and carefully weighted strokes. The type was named after Giambattista Palatino, a master of calligraphy from the time of Leonardo da Vinci. Palatino is a typeface based on classical Italian Renaissance forms. A modern classic in its own right, Palatino is popular among professional graphic designers and amateurs alike, working well for both text and display typography. Hermann Zapf and Akira Kobayashi redeveloped Palatino for the 21st Century, creating Palatino Nova. Released by Linotype in 2005, the Palatino Nova family is part of Linotype's Platinum Collection. Palatino Nova includes several weights (Light, Regular, Medium, and Bold), each with companion italics. Four styles (Regular, Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic) have Greek and Cyrillic glyphs built into their character sets. The Palatino Nova family also includes revised versions of Aldus (now called Aldus Nova), as well as two titling weights. The first titling weight, Palatino Nova Titling, is based on Hermann Zapf's metal typeface Michelangelo, including Greek glyphs from Phidias Greek. The heavier titling weight, Palatino Nova Imperial, is based on Sistina. The fonts in the Palatino Nova family support all 48 Western, Central, and Eastern European languages. Additional features: ligatures and historical ligatures, Small Caps, ornaments, and a range of numerals (proportional & tabular width lining and Old style Figures, fractions, inferiors, and superiors)."

Palatino® Nova is Prof. Hermann Zapf's redesign of his own masterpiece, Palatino. The original Palatino was cut in metal by August Rosenberger at D. Stempel AG typefoundry in Frankfurt, and released in 1950. Palatino was later adapted for mechanical composition on the Linotype machine, and became one of the most-used typefaces of the 20th Century. Palatino was designed for legibility, and has open counters and carefully weighted strokes. The type was named after Giambattista Palatino, a master of calligraphy from the time of Leonardo da Vinci. Palatino is a typeface based on classical Italian Renaissance forms. A modern classic in its own right, Palatino is popular among professional graphic designers and amateurs alike, working well for both text and display typography. Hermann Zapf and Akira Kobayashi redeveloped Palatino for the 21st Century, creating Palatino Nova. Released by Linotype in 2005, the Palatino Nova family is part of Linotype's Platinum Collection. Palatino Nova includes several weights (Light, Regular, Medium, and Bold), each with companion italics. Four styles (Regular, Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic) have Greek and Cyrillic glyphs built into their character sets. The Palatino Nova family also includes revised versions of Aldus (now called Aldus Nova), as well as two titling weights. The first titling weight, Palatino Nova Titling, is based on Hermann Zapf's metal typeface Michelangelo, including Greek glyphs from Phidias Greek. The heavier titling weight, Palatino Nova Imperial, is based on Sistina. The fonts in the Palatino Nova family support all 48 Western, Central, and Eastern European languages. Additional features: ligatures and historical ligatures, Small Caps, ornaments, and a range of numerals (proportional & tabular width lining and Old style Figures, fractions, inferiors, and superiors)."