History of Typography Is Celebrated in Pentagram-Designed 2007 Classic Calendar

The new 2007 Calendar edition by pentagram, designed by Kit Hinrichs.

An extraordinary history of typeface development, reflecting prevailing limitations or technological advances, lies behind apparently ordinary letters or numbers found on familiar objects. Very few of us are aware of the rich cultural history behind what we read. The 2007 Pentagram Classic Typographic Calendar, designed by Kit Hinrichs, partner of the legendary international multi-disciplinary design consultancy Pentagram, captures the essence of typeface development.

Each calendar month is distinguished by a unique typeface selected by Hinrichs, which is accompanied by a short synopsis of its genesis. His selections include popular and obscure typefaces, whose origins span contemporary (created digitally) to 15th century roots (created using hand-drawn characters) by some of the industry’s acclaimed typographers, as well as those lesser-known. All characters and digits appearing in the calendar have been redrawn digitally.

For instance, “Whitney” (July), designed by Tobias Frere-Jones for the Whitney Museum in New York, was created for the institution in a multitude of applications. The result is a typeface, which successfully tackles the often-conflicting demands across multiple forms of media, from catalogs, directory listings to signage.

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