Neuland is a German
typeface
A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font.
There are thousands o ...
that was designed in 1923 by
Rudolf Koch
Rudolf Koch (20 November 1876 – 9 April 1934) was a German type designer, professor, and a master of lettering, calligraphy, typography and illustration. Commonly known for his typefaces created for the Klingspor Type Foundry, his most widely ...
for the
Klingspor Type Foundry
The Klingspor Type Foundry was a German moveable type, hot metal type foundry established in 1892 when Carl Klingspor bought out the Rudhard’sche Foundry of Offenbach. His sons, Karl and younger brother Wilhelm, took on the business in 1904, ren ...
.
Koch designed it by directly carving the type into metal. The original typeface thus had a great deal of variance between the sizes, something not followed in digital versions where the same font serves for every print size.
While originally intended as a form of modern
blackletter, Neuland has come instead to be used as a signifier of the “exotic” or “primitive”, such as in the logos for
Trader Vic's
Trader Vic's is a restaurant and tiki bar chain headquartered in Emeryville, California, United States. Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. (December 10, 1902 in San Francisco – October 11, 1984 in Hillsborough, California) founded a chain of Polyn ...
,
Natural American Spirit
Natural American Spirit (often referred to as American Spirit) is an American brand of cigarettes and other tobacco products, currently owned by Reynolds American and manufactured by the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company.
History
The company wa ...
cigarettes, promotional materials for
The Lion King
''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...
, and the ''
Jurassic Park'' films (which use the inline variant); controversially, this has included an association with African or African-American themes.
A common variant of Neuland (perhaps more common than the standard variety) is Neuland Inline.
Monotype
Monotyping is a type of printmaking made by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface. The surface, or matrix, was historically a copper etching plate, but in contemporary work it can vary from zinc or glass to acrylic glass. The ...
licensed the design under the name of 'Othello' (released 1928) with the agreement that it would not be sold in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.
Phospor, by
Jakob Erbar, was a contemporary and more regular competitor.
Phosphate, an unofficial revival created by Red Rooster Fonts, is bundled with OS X.
Nick Curtis designed the JungleFever typeface, which based on the Neuland typeface.
References
External links
A collection of digital Neuland varieties
Display typefaces
Letterpress typefaces
Photocomposition typefaces
Typefaces and fonts introduced in 1923
Digital typefaces
Typefaces designed by Rudolf Koch
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