Dick Dooijes

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Dick Dooijes Dutch typeface designer, b. Amsterdam, 1909, d. Baarn, 1998. Trained and worked at the Lettergieterij in Amsterdam under S.H. de Roos, starting in 1926. He worked with de Roos on the design of the typefaces Nobel and Egmont. Dooijes studied at the Amsterdam College of Arts and Crafts and at the Academy of Art. In 1940, Dooijes succeeded de Roos as artistic director of Lettergieterij Amsterdam. He was director of the Gerrit Rietveld Acedemie from 1968 until 1975. Author of Mijn leven met letters, and Wegbereiders van de moderne boektypografie in Nederland (Amsterdam, De Buitenkant, 1988). His typefaces: The art deco triplet, Bristol, Carlton (1929, an engraved version) and Savoy (1936, a deluxe version). These beauties were published by Plantin. Images: 1932 1932. A \| B \| C \| D \| E \| F \| G \| H \| I \| J \| K \| L \| M. In 2010, Nick Curtis turned the three typefaces into digital fonts: Dooijes Deco NF, Dooijes Deco Engraved NF, Dooijes Deco Deluxe NF. Curtis muses that Dooijes made these fonts as a reaction to the huge success of Broadway (Morris Fuller Benton) in the United States a few years earlier. Rondo (with Stephan Schlesinger, 1948). Well, "with" Schlesinger is a bit of an overstatement. Hans van Maanen made a digital face, Minuet (2007, Canada Type), that revives Rondo. He writes: Minuet, an informal script with crossover deco elements giving it an unmistakable 1940s flavor, is a revival and expansion of the Rondo family, the last typeface drawn by Stefan Schlesinger before his death. This family was initially supposed to be a typeface based on the strong, flowing script Schlesinger liked to use in the ads he designed, particularly the ones he did for Van Houten's cocoa products. But for technical reasons the Lettergieterij Amsterdam mandated the typeface to be made from unattached letters, rather than the original connected script. Schlesinger and Dooijes finished the lowercase and the first drawings of the uppercase just before Schlesinger was sent to a prison camp in 1942. Dooijes completed the design on his own, and drew the bold according to Schlesigner's instructions. The typeface family was finished in February of 1944, and Schlesinger was killed in October of that same year. Though he did see and approve the final proofs, he never actually saw his letters in use. It took almost four more years for the Lettergieterij Amsterdam to produce the fonts. The typeface was officially announced in November of 1948, and immediately became a bestseller. By 1966, according to a memo from the foundry, the typeface had become almost too popular. This digital version of Schlesigner's and Dooijes's work greatly expands on the metal fonts. Mercator (1958): a sans family at Lettergieterij Amsterdam. It was considered at the time as a Dutch version of Helvetica, and referred to as the Dutch Helvetica. See here. Laurenz Brunner did an interpretation of Mercator for the wayfinding at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. Ken Meier's interpretation is Mercator Vet (2006). Daniella Spinat's is Mercator Roman (2007). Charles Mazé's is just Mercator (2009). Atlas Grotesk (2012, by Kai Bernau, Susan Carvalho and Christian Schwartz, Commercial Type) is a revival of Mercator, which Henk Gianotten chacterizes as being too American, influenced by the American gothics. In 2018, Philip Cronerud released his digitization and expansion, Dooijes Sans at Truly Type. In 2015, Bauke van der Laan and Theo van Beurden set out to make another revival of Mercator in their Mercator project [it will possibly be published by Monotype]. Contura (1965-1966): an outline font in garalde style. Flambard (1954, Lettergieterij). A bold version of Adolf Overbeek's Studio from 1946. The 1963 Tetterode specimen book points to Overbeek as Flambard's designer, and mentions in addition the date 1953. Flambard is called Studio Bold. Canada Type's revival in 2008 by Hans van Maanen is Adams. Mecanorma also has a version. Finally, there is a pirated version from 1998, called Studio Bold. See also OPTI Bold (by Castcraft). Lectura (1962-1966, Lettergieterij; 1969, Intertype; acquired by Stephenson Blake): Lectura is a very legible garalde family, ideal for books. It was Dooijes's final typeface. Digitized by DTP Types Limited as Leiden DT (1992).	EXTERNAL LINKS Dick Dooijes [Designer info] Klingspor Museum page MyFonts search Monotype search Fontspring search Google search INTERNAL LINKS Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Dutch type design ⦿ Art deco typefaces ⦿ Nick Curtis ⦿ Books on type design ⦿ Photo and film type era ⦿