Authentic Cloning

Sevag Barkhudaryan

Now, Sony has it's own personalized Frutiger: www.sony.net/SonyInfo/design/works/projects/sst-font/

Nick Shinn

It’s sad that Sony didn’t want something with a bit more of a unique personality. In this kind of situation, I would put the responsibility on middle management not wanting to rock the boat.

That’s based on personal experience where I have presented interesting prototypes for custom corporate faces, but those in charge of the project have their hearts set on something that looks like an established typeface they already like. My theory is that they feel more comfortable presenting a clone to senior management than something different. Either that or my concept was crap, or perhaps not yet polished enough.

There seems to be more leeway for originality in Europe than North America.

As for Frutiger, well, he created a typeface which, many years ago, became a genre in which subtlety is paramount, so it’s a bit late now to bemoan this kind of cloning. I was going to say plagiarism, but the derivation is candidly ascribed in the link above.