Paul, The Creator Of Futura!

Futura Research

I've been looking into the history of the Futura Typeface and so far, I've found a lot of information. Futura is actually one of the most commonly used typefaces today and like the previous typeface I researched, Gill Sans, it is also a Sans Serif. 

According to my research, the designer for this typeface is known as Paul Renner. He was inspired by Bauhaus to create this modern typeface. "Following the Bauhaus design philosophy, German type designer Paul Renner first created Futura between 1924 and 1926. Although Renner was not a member of the Bauhaus, he shared many of its views, believing that a modern typeface should express modern models rather than be a rivial of a previous design." 

After some further research I found out that Renner's typeface design was actually a more developed version of the design by Jakob Erbar. You can see that in the image below. 
"In 1922, German professor Jakob Erbar created the first ever geometric sans-serif typeface (above). In accordance with the hugely influential Bauhaus school of design, the typeface aimed for a pure functionality, with no ornamentation or individual characteristics. It is based on the circle — the most fundamental of all typographic components — and is supremely easy to read, which is a typeface’s basic function after all."

Seeing as I don't know much about Bauhaus, I went ahead and did some brief research on them and found they were simply an art school but have significant influence on today's modern designs. Here's an image of the typeface family created by Bauhaus:

Here are some images I found of the family of Futura Typeface designs by Paul Renner:

"While designing Futura, Renner avoided creating any non-essential elements, making use of basic geometric proportions with no serifs or frills. Futura's crisp, clean forms reflect the appearance of efficiency and forwardness even today". What I've gathered from this quote is that Renner was eager to create something that looked modern and almost timeless. I'm yet to  understand fully what Serifs and San Serifs are because knowing these key words might be useful to me when creating my own typeface. 

Renner conducted a wide range of experiments before finally settling with one design for his typeface. "Renner's initial design experimented with several geometrically constructed character alternatives and old-style figures" Here's a copy of one of his earliest designs:

Futura has been modified by many companies into various versions. 

"The success of Futura spawned a range of new geometric sans-serif typefaces, such as Kabel and Century Gothic, among others. Now over 80 years since its creation, many foundries have released variations of Futura in the digital form, Adobe being the one of the most commonly used. Several international companies also use their own customized version of Futura, including Volkswagen (visible in their renowned advertising) and IKEA."