Hans Eduard Meier is to modern day typography what Gabriel Garcia Marquez is to the literature of our times. Like writers of today built on Marquez's magic realism, Syntax has to be that epic font which brought about noticeable change.
I used to
always try and find at font which inspired and changed the way type was looked
at in our generation. It was when I discovered Spiekermann's Meta (1991)
that I started formulating this personal theory; a gradual genealogy – from
hand fabricated type to harsh geometry to humanist and finally to a
distinctly angular approach and largely European tinge that is avant
garde today. Bil'ak's Fedra confirms this theory.
These were
rebels that did not build from but were more of an anti-thesis to earlier
typefaces. While Meta in intent opposed Helvetica, Fedra was
designed to ‘de-protestantize Univers.' And then came Scala Sans
(1993) and Martin Majoor's philosophy of combining typefaces and why
serif and san serifs must be designed with a clear intent of combining them
harmoniously.For me the buck stopped at Scala Sans. Originally
drawn to compliment Scala* (1990) – humble beginnings of super
families as we know them today.
*Majoor
contradicts himself here. In his design philosophy he points out the similarity
in the skeletal structure of Scala and Scala Sans whereas in an interview
with Peter Bil'ak he refutes it.
I can't say
much about Syntax which I discovered much later. Hans Eduard
Meier, designed it in 1968. Meier described Syntax as being a
sans-serif face modeled on the Renaissance serif typeface, similar to Bembo.
But you have
to look closer and beyond the two storeys of 'a' and 'g' to see the
visionary approach it endows.
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