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  1. Eli RoussoJun 17 2009 10:59 AM

    I think it\'s perfect. Right next to Helvetica.

  2. Larry LegendJun 17 2009 11:16 AM

    Love it!Thanks for the article.

  3. Jonathan PattersonJun 17 2009 7:04 PM

    Very pithy overview! Futura is a great typeface.

  4. Robert HustonJun 19 2009 10:11 AM

    I think I may be the only one that absolutely hates this face. The characters that force-feed this attitude in me, is the \"N\" and of course the question mark. How can you enjoy that has such a question mark?

    Oh well, good to know its history and how not to repeat such a face again! :)

  5. LindsayJun 20 2009 9:00 PM

    Nice article keep up the good work. \'Volkswagon\' is spelled \'Volkswagen\'.

  6. SkylarJun 22 2009 12:18 AM

    Thanks Lindsay

  7. SnapHookJun 29 2009 9:47 PM

    I believe J.J. Abrams is also a big fan...

  8. kensolivaJul 11 2009 10:56 AM

    I just discovered idsgn and love what I see. Thanks for the great post.

    On another note, the LIVESTRONG identity actually uses a combination of CgGothicNo2 and CgGothicNo3. These typefaces were designed by Monotype and are very similar in character to Futura.

  9. Ryan ToyotaJul 17 2009 12:27 AM

    Thanks kensoliva, I thought it looked off, and now I realize it\'s the uppercase N. (The G looks a little different as well but it\'s hard to see from the angle in the photo.)

    That aside, thanks Skylar for this article, I much enjoyed reading it and learning about the history of this great typeface.

  10. SkylarJul 17 2009 2:07 AM

    Thanks Ken, I have updated the examples accordingly.

  11. Crazy Williams StarseekerJul 23 2009 5:51 PM

    interesting my favorite is Futura BK which is bundle shipping with MS Office

  12. David KurtzAug 5 2009 5:40 PM

    The 1st edition hardback Advanced Dungeons and Dragons rulebooks -- Dungeon Master\'s Guide, Player\'s Handbook, Monster Manual -- were all set in Futura. That\'s my earliest memory of it.

    I love the lower-case j.

  13. DamianAug 26 2009 11:28 AM

    Don\'t forget FUTURA was used for nazi propaganda, giving it very bad connotations, so designers tended to avoid it after WW2

  14. Bogdan PopescuAug 26 2009 12:18 PM

    Futura is the kind of typeface that goes well in almost any circumstance. Too bad IKEA gave up to it\'s strong identity created through this typeface.
    And like Helvetica, it easy to spot anywhere.

  15. MattAug 29 2009 1:33 PM

    Futura for tumblr, http://www.tumblr.com/theme/1312

  16. Pat JenningsSep 6 2009 8:26 AM

    I\'m not a knee-jerk liberal. Acutally I\'m a person who was interested enough to read this article. But it\'s amazing to me that so many people can get so riled up over something so trivial (to me) when there are real problems to be solved in this world. Who the bleep cares what font IKEA uses? Obviously quite a few fontaholics do.

    I shall leave you now to go solve some of the world\'s real problems.

  17. AlexanderSep 14 2009 5:32 PM

    Futura is my favourite font. Very nice blog, just discovered it. Thanks, great post.

  18. PacoNov 26 2009 1:33 PM

    Iv\'e seen futura in Animax-asia

  19. MauraDec 1 2009 3:16 AM

    I like the simple shapes of the lowercase letters in Futura, but one thing Helvetica has over it is a larger height for these letters, compared with the uppercase,and thus more ample openings. Caps in Futura are very \"loud.\" I find Helvetica more readable.

  20. LaurensDec 28 2009 4:26 AM

    Nice overview, admittedly much better that my own at http://www.prepressure.com/fonts/interesting/futura - so I linked back.

  21. CJJan 10 2010 6:18 PM

    Best Buy does NOT use Futura, they use Knockout from H&FJ.

  22. SkylarJan 10 2010 7:46 PM

    Hi CJ, you might want to take a look at Best Buy\'s Brand Identity Sheet:

    http://bit.ly/7OU12x (Note: PDF link)

  23. ThinkZincJan 20 2010 7:31 AM

    Was Futura based on Erbar-Grotesk, or Erbar-Grotesk on Futura?

  24. SkylarJan 20 2010 8:46 AM

    @ThinkZinc,

    Futura was designed between 1924 and 1926, but it did not become commercially available until 1927. In that time, many similar fonts (including Erbar-Grotesk, Neuzit-Grotesk, Elegant-Grotesk, and Kabel) started to appear, some even making it to the market before Futura. Erbar-Grotesk was released in 1926.

    Paul Renner explains: “Erbar and Kabel stem from Futura, although they came on the market earlier. Futura was the type that, already in 1925, had to be applied to everything in Frankfurt am Main, by order of the City Planning Office. The imitations of Futura prove that I found the type to fit the style of the time.”

    Of course, Jakob Erbar claims to have begun his font in 1913.

    For further reading, check out the book ‘Paul Renner: The Art of Typography’:

    http://bit.ly/4w28Ot

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