TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Thu Nov 28 19:02:24 EST 2024

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ABOUT

Hermann Hoffmann

German type designer, b. 1856, Hildesheim, d. 1926, Berlin. He settled in the 1890s in Berlin and founded Maschinenfabrik Heidenheim & Hoffmann. In 1895 he became head of H Berthold AG in Berlin. His designs:

• Bloc (Berthold, 1908). Digitization and Cyrillization by Tafir Safayev, 1997 as Bloc (Paratype). See also Bloc Berthold at BertholdTypes, and FB Hermes (1995, Matthew Butterick at Font Bureau). FB Hermes was extended by Butterick in 2010. Bloc was similar to Hermes at Schriftguss and Woellmer. Bitstream's Gothic 821 (1990) is based on Bloc. The Softmaker version is called Boulder. Grauna (2018, Gabriel Figueiredo at Typeoca) revives Bloc Heavy, but has smoother outlines.
• Herold Reklameschrift (1901, Berthold (Berlin)). An art nouveau advertising typeface developed until 1907 with schmal, fett and Kontur substyles. Digitizations of this:
  • Vladimir Yefimov at Paratype digitized it in 1993 as Herold and added Cyrillic characters.
  • Berthold's own Herold Reklameschrift BQ.
  • Heraut AS (2003, Andreas Seidel) is based on Herold Reklameschrift.
  • Herold (2008) by Tom Wallace (HiH).
  • Herman (SoftMaker).
  • In 2020, Ricardo Santos (Vanarchiv) released Nouveau LX Expanded, Nouveau LX Stencil and Nouveau LX. This family is based on Hermann Hoffmann's Herold (1913, Berthold), but has a different capital R.
• Kaufhaus-Fraktur (1906, Berthold).

Books: Das Haus Berthold 1858-1921 (1921, Berlin) and Der Schriftgiesser (1927, Leipzig).

FontShop page. Klingspor link. FontShop link.

Oddity: The names Heinz Hoffmann and Hermann Hoffmann are used by two subcommunities. MyFonts, Font Bureau, etc. use Heinz, while Erik Spiekermann, Klingspor, and the German media use Hermann.

EXTERNAL LINKS
Hermann Hoffmann
 [Designer info]
Monotype link
Klingspor Museum page
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INTERNAL LINKS
Cyrillic type design ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ German type scene ⦿ Art Nouveau typefaces ⦿ Blackletter fonts ⦿ Books on type design ⦿