Publisher: Agfa Compugraphic GmbH
Publication: 1989, First Edition
Binding: Softcover, saddle-stitch
Pages: 24
Size: 210 x 297
Text: German, French. English
'Aicher has been designing a typeface, which will get its first extended application in these volumes. The motivation behind the typeface, to be called "Rotis", is the attempt to resolve a dichotomy of form and readability. Classical, serif forms may be readable, but do not provide adequate resources for contemporary requirements and are not "of this age"; with sanserit, the reverse is the case. How to make a sanserif that can be read comfortably in a full-length book? Make it more flowing, like hand-writing. The German sanserifs of the 1920s and 1930s, such as Futura, now seem to crudely geometric. Aicher wants an "in-telligent technics"- here is the Rotis philosophy -and, for com-parison, gives the example of a pair of scissors moulded asm-metrically to the shape of the hands. The grips of unintelligent (post modern?) scissors would be two semi-circles, rather like back-to-back Futura "P"s. So the "Rotis Semi-Grotesk" has some awkward, ungeometrical characters, notably the lowercase "c" and "e". While the overall stress of the letters is vertical, achieving the desired "coulour" of text, there is also, through these characters, a sense of flow. The unusual forms are like beer, Aicher suggests: at first you don't like it, but then it comes to seem natural. As a partner to this essentially sanserif type-face, there will be a serif version: a "Semi-Antiqua". Robin Kinross in der Zeitschrift, Blueprint, Nr. 50, Oktober 1988
Condition: Very Good. All titles are used and show shelf ware consistent with age. Light rubbing and tanning to cover. Light tanning to outer edges of interior pages.
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