Adrian Frutiger, 1928 – 2015
Adrian Frutiger. Portrait by Henk Gianotten
Last week the type world mourned the loss of another type legend – only a few months after learning the sad news of Hermann Zapf’s passing. Adrian Frutiger died on September 10th at the age of 87.
The contemporary Swiss typographer, typeface designer, graphic designer and writer has left his legacy of well known landmark typefaces which can be found globally from London street signs, to Charles de Gaulle airport to Disney World. He is best known for designing the sans serif typeface families Univers, Frutiger and Avenir. He was one of only a few typographers whose career spanned hot metal, photographic and digital typesetting eras and he embraced the new technologies every time.
The TDC was deeply saddened to hear of his passing. Frutiger has been intertwined with the TDC for many years. He became one of the club’s two Honorary Members (alongside Donald Jackson) – a highly prestigious honor made only to those who have made the most significant contributions to the fields of type and typography. In 1987 he was awarded the TDC Medal and in 2006 he was awarded a Certificate of Excellence in Type Design in the TDC2 competition for his entry ‘Frutiger Next Greek’ – a variant of Frutiger Next designed with Eva Masoura for Linotype.
