TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Wed Nov 20 11:44:55 EST 2024

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ABOUT

François Rappo

Swiss designer (b. 1955) located at Lake Geneva. Recipient of the 2012 Jan Tschichold prize. He is Head of the Master in Art Direction at ECAL/University of Art & Design Lausanne. His typefaces:

• The gorgeous revival family Didot Elder (published at Optimo, 2004), which is based on work by Pierre Didot from 1819.
• The stylish typewriter family CEO (2005, Optimo).
• At B&P Foundry, the serif family LaPolice BP (2007-2008).
• The Theinhardt family (2009, Optimo), which was named after the (generally accepted) designer of the first sans. It covers Latin, Greek and Cyrillic. An update was issed in 2018.
• At B&P Swiss Typefaces, he published New Fournier (2011) based on the typography of Pierre-Simon Fournier. It comes in 24 styles.
• Genath (2011, Optimo). Erik Spiekermann twitters: Best Caslon alternative yet. The typeface is based on a baroque type from the Genath foundry in Basel, and is based on a specimen from 1720 that is most likely Johann Wilhelm Haas's first design in Basel.
• Clarendon Graphic (2015, Optimo). Comprehensive, perfect, all-encompassing, a new standard for Clarendon. It has 26 styles including some stencil cuts.
• Plain (2014), Apax (2016) and Rand (2019), a trilogy of grotesque typefaces. Rappo writes: As Plain investigated the rational simplicity of modernism and Apax re-evaluated the visual grammar of constructivism, Rand explores the shapes that brought a certain spirit and warmth to the rigidity of modern design---emerging notably from The New York School. While some glyphs like the a inherit the clarity of Swiss rationalism, other glyphs borrow from design icons such as the from the Westinghouse logo by Paul Rand. Rand also features a nice Rand Mono subfamily.
• Practice (2016). A typeface family for magazines.
• JJannon (2019). A revival of Jean Jannon's type from 1641. This 16-style family is crisp and sharp-edged.

Swiss Type Design link. Pointypo piece on him.

EXTERNAL LINKS
François Rappo
Klingspor Museum page
MyFonts search
Monotype search
Fontspring search
Google search

INTERNAL LINKS
Type design in Switzerland ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Typewriter fonts ⦿ Modern style [Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum, Thorowgood, Computer Modern, etc.] ⦿ Caslon ⦿ Fournier ⦿ Stencil fonts ⦿ Clarendon ⦿ Greek/Coptic ⦿ Cyrillic type design ⦿ Monospaced fonts ⦿ Garalde or Garamond typefaces ⦿