TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Wed Nov 20 11:40:44 EST 2024

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ABOUT

Gustav Jensen

Gustav Boerge Jensen was a Danish industrial designer of the art deco era (b. Copenhagen, 1898, d. 1954), artist and letterer. He emigrated to United States, settling in New York City. He began working in the field of industrial design in 1928. His clients included Colophon Quarterly, Covici-friede, United Drug Company and DuPont, for whom he designed book jackets, bindings, and packaging. He was featured in the landmark 1934 article in Fortune magazine about the new profession of industrial design: the article noted that, of the recognized pioneers in the field---including Raymond Loewy, Henry Dreyfuss and Walter Dorwin Teague---Jensen was regarded as the top man from a purely aesthetic point of view. Paul Rand considered Jensen his mentor. After the United States entered World War II, demand for Jensen's brand of aesthetic design flagged, and he faded into obscurity. The date and place of his death is uncertain.

He inspired many typefaces, such as Bodoni Egyptian Pro Thin (2007, Nick Shinn), a mythological Greekish art deco type Jensen first drew in 1931. Nick Curtis made Tasneem NF (2007), after Jensen's 1931 classic, which was drawn for American Alphabets. Jeff Levine added Danish Script Initials JNL (2019) to the collection of revivals.

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Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Nick Curtis ⦿ Art deco typefaces ⦿ The Danish type scene ⦿ Modern style [Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum, Thorowgood, Computer Modern, etc.] ⦿