Monotype Unveils The Wolpe Collection

Refreshes Both Popular and Unconventional Designs for Use in Modern Era

The Wolpe Collection (Photo: Business Wire).

WOBURN, Mass.--()--Monotype (Nasdaq: TYPE) today took the wraps off its newest typeface revival project: The Wolpe Collection – a modernization of five eye-catching, energetic typefaces from type designer Berthold Wolpe. The new Albertus® Nova, Wolpe Fanfare™, Wolpe Pegasus™, Wolpe Tempest™ and Sachsenwald™ designs were developed under the direction of Toshi Omagari of The Monotype Studio. The Wolpe Collection picks up where Wolpe left off more than a half century ago, untethering the typefaces from the restrictions of the era, adding back serifs, curves and angles that have a more natural and fitting place in today’s modern design landscape.

Monotype’s newest typefaces were modeled around Wolpe’s original Albertus, Fanfare, Pegasus, Tempest and Sachsenwald designs, embracing the collective quirks and deliberate inconsistencies. The Wolpe Collection creates a new spin on each typeface, all of which are close to his original visions. The designs include angles and adornments that were removed, changed or condensed to accommodate the limitations of print typesetting of the 1930s and 1940s – but are now relevant for the digital era. The restored and newly digitized typefaces include lost letterforms as well as new weights, alternate characters and expanded language support.

“The inconsistencies in Wolpe’s designs were freeing in the sense that it taught me to challenge conventional design and rethink how typefaces should be constructed,” said Toshi Omagari, Type Designer at Monotype. “Wolpe made compromises in his designs due to the limitations of typesetting in his time. However, the modern digital environment means that typefaces can be revised to capture his original design vision and applied across a wide range of offline and online media.”

Wolpe’s designs achieved varying levels of popularity when first created, but weren’t meant to be used exclusively in that era. And while the Albertus typeface has been used in some modern applications, the others were never digitized, and as a result, faded from view. Monotype saw the opportunity to revive these designs with contemporary appeal and flair.

Albertus Nova (Classic, Authoritative, Warm)

Albertus Nova is a typeface cut out for modern, global applications – such as video games – and has been expanded to include a set of small capitals and five weights, including Thin, Light, Regular, Bold and Black. Monotype is incorporating original designs including a new capital J and Q and fixing different proportions and lost details of characters. The Albertus Nova typeface also reintroduces a number of alternate capital letters originally created by Wolpe, including an unusual M with a lower apex and a slanted left stroke, a W with crossing center strokes, a 2 with a closed loop, and an open ampersand. Monotype has also added new designs including an A with a top bar, a lunar-shaped lower and upper E and a long-tailed Q and R.

Wolpe Fanfare (Modern, Light, Energetic)

The Wolpe Fanfare typeface feeds on the energetic personality of the original Fanfare design, which was built for Fanfare Press in 1935 and has graced hundreds of book covers – due to its ability to lift letters off the baseline. The sharp resolution of digital media makes the Wolpe Fanfare typeface great for display use, feeling both modern and futuristic with lots of movement. It is available now in six weights including Thin, Light, Regular, Bold, Black and Inline. Monotype also added a condensed version of smaller caps to expand titling options.

Wolpe Pegasus (Unique, Deliberately Inconsistent, Academic)

Building on the original Pegasus typeface commissioned by Monotype in 1937 as the text companion to the Albertus design, the Wolpe Pegasus design takes advantage of its predecessor’s inconsistencies. For example, characters that would conventionally share details, such as b, d, p and q, don’t share them in this set. Additionally, some serifs in the uppercase alphabet of the Pegasus typeface are different. This was a conscious effort by Wolpe to create individual letterforms. With the Wolpe Pegasus typeface, Monotype kept every convention-defying detail of the original character set and added Regular and Bold weights, with italics, and added typographic enhancements to meet modern demand such as small caps and various sets of numerals.

Wolpe Tempest (Curved, Extravagant, Animated)

The Tempest typeface was originally created exclusively for use on book jackets by Fanfare Press and, despite being designed in the mid-1930s, remains modern and contemporary. The revived Wolpe Tempest design continues on its original path to set itself apart from the formal and static sans serif italic typefaces of that era and offers three weights, including Regular, Bold and Black, preserving Tempest’s unmistakable profile and skeleton. It also offers alternates for the A, B, D, E, L, M, N, P, R, X, Y and Z characters which sport flourishes on entry and exit strokes, and are great for adding extra embellishments to book titles, logotypes and headlines.

Sachsenwald (Gothic, Provocative, Geometric)

Monotype has digitized the original Sachsenwald typeface for the first time, adding an alternate X character to the original set to make it more legible. Wolpe first created the Sachsenwald design for a German publisher, who abandoned the order just before World War II. Wolpe then tried to make the Sachsenwald typeface suitable for use in the general public, with the hope that it would ignite the interest of “horizon-scanning advertisers” and create a “passing vogue” for blackletter type. The letterforms are softer and less decorative than traditional blackletter script. However, the use of blackletter type declined in favor of more legible Roman type within Germany and was not popular in other regions of the world – keeping the Sachsenwald typeface from achieving wider adoption at that time. Monotype saw the opportunity to revive and preserve a beautiful design and bring it into the modern era – as blackletter usage becomes more commonplace in areas such as publishing, fashion and album covers.

Pricing and Availability

The Wolpe Collection by Monotype is available now. The Albertus Nova, Wolpe Fanfare and Wolpe Tempest designs are available in Latin, Greek and Cyrillic. The Wolpe Pegasus and Sachsenwald designs are available in Latin, only. The Wolpe Collection of typefaces is available for purchase in sets on Fonts.com or as individual fonts on MyFonts.com including:

The typefaces in The Wolpe Collection are available at a discounted price of 50 percent off through November 7, 2017 on MyFonts.com and Fonts.com. The typefaces are also available now through the Monotype Library Subscription (MLS), which provides unlimited access to more than 10,000 fonts. Enterprise customers may also choose a variety of licensing options through Monotype’s enterprise sales team.

The Wolpe Exhibition

The Wolpe Exhibition is open exclusively to the press on September 26 and then to the general public beginning September 29 through October 30, 2017 at the Type Archive in London. It includes both the new Wolpe Collection and Wolpe-related archive materials like sketches, notes and book jacket designs, on display. Those interested in attending can reserve space here.

Facebook Live Stream of Wolpe Panel

To kick off the Wolpe Exhibition, Monotype will host a panel of design experts to discuss both Wolpe’s typeface legacy and the inspiration behind the new typefaces. Moderated by John Walters, editor of Eye Magazine, the panel will include: Monotype Type Designer Toshi Omagari; Ian Chilvers, partner at design agency Atelier Works; acclaimed book cover designer Alistair Hall of We Made This; and illustrator, type and logo designer Rian Hughes of Device. Monotype will stream this panel live on Facebook at 1:30 p.m. EDT on September 26. Interested parties can view it here: https://www.facebook.com/ByMonotype/videos/1504727796285113/

About Monotype

Monotype provides the design assets, technology and expertise that help create beautiful, authentic and impactful brands that customers will engage with and value, wherever they experience the brand, now and in the future. Further information is available at www.monotype.com. Follow Monotype on TwitterInstagram and LinkedIn.

Monotype is a trademark of Monotype Imaging Inc. registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Albertus is a trademark of The Monotype Corporation registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Wolpe Fanfare, Wolpe Pegasus, Wolpe Tempest and Sachsenwald are trademarks of Monotype Imaging Inc. and may be registered in certain other jurisdictions. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. ©2017 Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc. All rights reserved.

Contacts

Monotype
Amy Aylward
amy.aylward@monotype.com

Release Summary

Monotype Revives Wolpe Typefaces - Introduces New Wolpe Collection

Contacts

Monotype
Amy Aylward
amy.aylward@monotype.com