Beneath the dominant signifier of identity, a surprising dimension of Bodoni is revealed—its core architecture, stripped of the famous high contrast cloak. Further subverting typographic norms, a monoline of even width (in all but the heaviest weights) here describes capitals, lower case, and serifs. And yet a certain quaintness is evident; this is, after all, both deconstruction and historical fiction.

This started out to be a font with an Egyptian hieroglyphic look, but took a detour just beyond the first pyramid. A young lady we know said many of the letters reminded her of the hooks on a bra strap. Whatever.

Futura Display was designed by Paul Renner in 1932. Its original German name was Futura Schlagzeile, which means “headline”, alluding to its suitability for display use. Its forcefulness and robustness have made it a widely used typeface in film posters, advertising, logos, and music covers. Futura is a Trademark of BauerTypes SL

Designed by Paul Renner and published in 1929. It shows an alternative method of giving maximum thickness to a font by being designed to resemble the use of a stencil. It was a very fashionable typeface during the avant-garde period. It is still an excellent typeface for display use. Futura is a Trademark of BauerTypes SL

Sully-Jonquières is Mendoza’s most original calligraphic alphabet. It was commissioned by the French publisher Henri Jonquières. Its characters are based on the shape of cursive letters. Its range of possible usages is very varied: signage, headlines, packaging, etc. It brings personality and elegance to any design. Sully-Jonquières is a trademark of BauerTypes SL

I became interested in designing Bodoni Classic because of a lazy graphic designer at Jacques Damase publishing house. He had to change a single letter on a bookcover about J. B. BODONI. The French call him Jean Baptiste instead of Giambattista! And that unknown graphic designer just took any old “J” from some newly cut Bodoni. All the new Bodoni cuts have square serifs, whereas the originals had rounded serifs and slightly concave feet. The single letter “J” with the squared off serif was for me like a road sign to start redesigning the entire Bodoni family. That’s exactly what I started in 1993 and a dozen years later I am finished. Okay, I am still adding new Bodoni Classics, but those are my personal additions. Yours very retro, Gert Wiescher