Gerard Unger, life in letters

Long awaited, richly illustrated book on the body of work of the Dutch type designer Gerard Unger, presenting a case study in the development of modern type design, unfolding alongside the rapid technological changes that have transformed typesetting and publishing during the last fifty years. Unger pioneered digital type design, and over the time Unger developed interest in space-saving newspaper typefaces and created his distinctive style, marked by tensive curves and dynamic rhythm. He was inspired by typefaces of the past but was not a traditionalist, declaring himself only capable of renewing historical models and not of reviving them. The book is designed by his former student Hansje van Halem, and written by Christopher Burke who documents Unger’s career in type design, but also examines his writing on the subject, which reflected a lifelong quest for the root of convention in reading and in type-forms.