TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Fri Sep 11 00:29:50 EDT 2015

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ABOUT

Gerrit Willem Ovink

Dutch typographer and type teacher (b. Amsterdam, 1912, d. 1984), professor at the University of Amsterdam (1956-1982), winner of the Gutenberg prize in 1983. From 1945 until 1977, he was esthetic advisor at Lettergieterij Amsterdam (voorheen Tetterode). It is thanks to Ovink that the Tetterode Collection was accepted in the Bijzondere Collecties van de University of Amsterdam. He wrote an unbelievably detailed book in which he compares various typefaces in statistical tests to determine various aspects of legibility and impact: Legibility, Atmosphere-Value and Forms of Printing Types (A.W. Sijthoff's Uitgervsmij N.V., Leiden, 1938). The bibliography in this text is pretty complete up to 1938. It was his graduation thesis at the University of Utrecht. Also recommended is a 40-page short historical review of the modern printing type, which comes with a fresh look on things.

Quote by him: Bodoni would be an admirable letter for a death notice! Obituary. His typefaces include Lectura (1969, with Dick Dooijes) and Mercator (1959, Amsterdam Type Foundry, a typeface designed with Dick Dooijes and known as the "Dutch Helvetica").

Reference: The picture by Ovink below courtesy of Henk Gianotten.

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