Affichen-Schriften FSL

The nineteenth century plays a central role in the formal genesis of the poster, from the book to the posted bill to its emergence as a genre in its own right. It was then that, in addition to the use of larger formats, colored paper, colored inks, and lithography, a new design language was established on the level of typography. While poster designs previously only used enlarged text typefaces new original poster typefaces conceived explicitly for the medium were increasingly prevalent from the early nineteenth century on.
Based on extensive research in archives and special collections the “Affichen-Schriften” series is a digitally reconstructed set of 4 distinctive display typefaces from that era. “Doppel-Mittel Egyptienne FSL” and “Schmale Egyptienne No.12 FSL” are both based on types issued by Eduard Haenel (Magdeburg/Berlin), who was one of the first to introduce new display type designs to the German printing trade in the 1830s. The selection is complemented by “Antiques FSL”, an early sans-serif adaption by Tarbé & Cie. (Paris) that hints at the splendor and exprimental sans-serif forms found in French poster typefaces at the time; and “Breite-Fette Antiqua FSL”, a wide fat face that embodies the formal developments that occurred in the German Confederation around the late 1840s.
The historical shapes were translated into digital fonts for contemporary use by greatly extending the language support and adding various font-specific OpenType features.