This refers to the “post-Unger” or “Unger” descriptors I saw type people online using when describing a typeface. I’ve done some digging but did not find any clear definition of how a typeface is “Unger”-ish.
Does this simply mean the modern Dutch style, i.e. resembling Noordzij’s broad-nib? Or the economical italics that are almost upright?
Or has Gerard Unger been such an influential figure in Dutch type design that many of his own typefaces indicate an underlying style for successors to emulate?
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People commenting Unger’s own Alverata as also “Ungerish /e”
Erik Spiekermann describing Fred Smeijers’s Arnhem as “too Ungerish”
And then, in addition to stylistic descriptor, Unger is now even a chronological stamp –
Gerry Leonidas describing Nicole Dotin’s Elena as in a “post-Unger genre”: My eight
I don’t read Dutch, unfortunately (maybe I should start learning). But from the Internet and your description, it seems to be an approach of enlarging the counter through vertical gain while horizontally compressing for economy? This seems to produce a lot of vertical stress axises, which are common to Unger’s own designs (Swift, Gulliver, for example).
Exactly this “contemporariness”, very large x-height, very large counters, the shoulders, the often chunky simplified serifs, are what make his typefaces typically Unger to me.
Did Erik *really* say that? Where? Because the link you provide leads to a Kris Sowersby's text.
IIRC, Gerard himself considered Arnhem too Paradoxish when it was released by Fred.
In most typefaces this becomes problematic and quite visible below ca. 99.4% character width, but some typefaces endure more of that than others. That might be what Unger eluded to when saying that. Not 20% squishing, just a tiny bit to get that one word into the column when setting a newspaper in a hurry.
Once you have the whole page set neatly, it’s extremely hard to notice which one is squished, and completely unnoticeable to a regular reader. And in return you get more beautifully ragged or justified text – and you’re much faster than if you had to rewrite the copy. This is critical and I imagine often done in newspaper, magazine, and book production.
It seems that Unger does have his own underlying styles. But Gerry Leonidas’s “Post-Unger” as a chronological distinction? Does he resemble or start an era in type design?
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Then Mr. Blokland,
Can you elaborate more on what that “rigidness” and “pattern” is? I am seeing common qualities in a lot of Unger’s designs, but still not sure what you had meant.