Tag: Nobel

Nobel is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Sjoerd Henrik de Roos (1877–1962) and Dick Dooijes (1909–1998) in the period 1929–1935 for the Amsterdam Type foundry). Capitalizing upon Lettergieterij Amsterdam’s substantial financial interest in the Berlin typefoundry H. Berthold AG, de Roos conceived of a revival of Berthold Grotesk. Begun just two years after the release of Futura, Nobel is a similar exploration of geometric form but allows far more biomorphic shapes and variation.
In its light-weight version, Nobel shares considerable similarities with the purity of Futura, yet in the text and bold weights idiosynchronies emerge, revealing a less strident structure. The a is double-storyed, the g has an open tail, and the t has a distinctive curved terminal.
Neither de Roos or Dooijes considered Nobel to be a great achievement, yet it became one of the best selling sans-serif types of the Lettgieterij Amsterdam, continuing in popularity into the mid-1960s. Some post-war…