Who is Adrian Frutiger?

Adrian Frutiger was one of the most important Typographers of the twentieth century. Frutiger was born in Interlaken, Sweden. As a boy, he showed early interest in Typography when he played with inventive handwriting that deviated from the perfect cursive he was taught to write in. Frutiger also showed interest in sculpture, but this hobby was discouraged by his father and his teachers.

In Interlaken, Frutiger spent his teen years working as an apprentice for printer Otto Schaerffli. He later went to Zurich to study under Walter Kach and Alfred Willimann at the School of Applied Arts. At this school, students focused more on calligraphy than constructing letters with drafting tools.

Adrian Frutiger created many typefaces in his lifetime, with the most recognizable being Univers and Frutiger. Frutiger was used for Charles de Gaulle International Airport because its legibility fit the need for "way-finding signage." Univers was part of a group of sans-serif fonts that were released in 1957. Univers is unique because it uses a system of numbers, rather than names, to distinguish different members of the font family. This family consists of 44 numbered faces. The Univers grid serves as a system of organization for the font family. The grid organizes the typefaces in such a way that we can tell how each member was derived from the original Univers typeface.