| Block | |
| Style: | Sans-serif |
| Creator: | Hermann Hoffmann |
| Creationdate: | 1908 |
| Foundry: | H. Berthold |
Berthold Block is a sans-serif typeface released by the H. Berthold foundry in the early twentieth century and intended for display use.[1] Block has a chunky design suitable for headings, with short descenders allowing tight linespacing and rounded corners.[2] It is sometimes simply called "Block". Font design expert Stephen Coles describes it as "a soft but substantial display face with compact dimensions and an organic appearance…[it] isn’t meant for body copy."[3] The Klingspor Museum credits it to Hermann Hoffmann, who managed type design for Berthold.[4] [5]
The original metal type release of Block was intentionally "distressed" in style, matching the effect of worn type; some re-releases have a cleaner design. Ferdinand Ulrich suggests that this was to match the organic feel of advertising lettering of the time, including the work of Lucian Bernhard.[6] Block was one of Berthold's most popular typefaces, and was released in a wide range of versions, including lighter weights and type in wood (for large sizes).[7] Metal type versions had stylistic alternate characters such as a more compact 'S' to allow fine-tuning of appearance of type and fit the desired number of characters into a line.[8]
Berthold Block was released in 1908; Berthold later added additional weights and styles, also releasing phototypesetting versions.[9] [10] Berthold also used the name "Block" for a number of other typefaces not particularly closely related to it as a brand extension marketing strategy. These included the script font "Block-Signal" and the blackletter Block-Fraktur.
Block continued to be popular in the phototypesetting period; Jens Gehlhaar comments that "with roughened outlines and in bold weights, it was never a candidate for timelessness, but its big x-height and tight fit made it quite popular in 1970s Germany and England."[11] It was often used by Praktiker and by the Whitechapel Art Gallery for branding in the 1970s and 80s.[12] [13] In the late 1970s, Berthold re-released three lighter-weight fonts derived from the Block design as a mini-family named "Berliner Grotesk" for phototypesetting, with the font redraw carried out by Erik Spiekermann.[14]
A variety of digitisations of Block exist, including by Berthold and successor companies and by Bitstream (the condensed weight only).[15] [16] [17] Paratype of Moscow released an expansion with Cyrillic characters in 1997.[18] Matthew Butterick's Hermes, first released by Font Bureau and later self-released, is a loose adaptation also inspired by other German grotesque typefaces of the period, adding lighter weights and unicase features.[19] [20]