Neue, Next, Nova: Enhanced Typefaces?

Fournier · July 5, 2015

¶ Many reknown typefaces, especially sans serifs, were renewed and enhanced with additional weights and widths.

The first typeface I recalled that featured the 'new' marketing attribute was Helvetica Neue back in 1983.

Were there any other typefaces with the 'new' attribute before that particular date?
I wonder what is the genealogy of these attributes?
When did they launch these Neue, Next and Nova?

¶ Linotype has many Neue, Next, Nova types in their catalogue.

Why the differences in the names?
What does it mean?
Apart from this trio, are there any other names for 'new' in the typeface industry?

Any thoughts?

Thanks for your insights.

Riccardo Sartori · July 5, 2015

“Neue” is the German feminine adjective for “new” (thus the proper name would be “Neue Helvetica”, but it didn’t played well with alphabetical listings, I suppose).

Likewise, “Nova” is the Latin feminine adjective for “new”, used by Mark Simonson for the reworking of his Proxima Sans (Latin for “near” and the name of the nearest star to the Sun). Simonson used “Nuova” (again the feminine adjective for “new”, this time in Italian) for his reworking of Mostra, a typeface inspired by Italian art deco posters.

Another very common addition for enhanced typefaces is of course “pro” (sometimes opposed to "std", but there also are ones that just have “pro” attached to their name from the beginning).

Berthold had (has?) specific acronyms (BE, BQ, etc.) for different features in the font.

Ralf Herrmann · July 6, 2015

So just I understand you correctly: You specifically want to know about fonts which have any type of “new” added for a redesign? It’s not about redesigned typefaces per se, or redesigns which use other names or no special names at all, or fonts which have a “new” in the font name, but aren’t actual redesign of an existing font?

Fournier · July 6, 2015

“Neue” is the German feminine adjective for “new” (thus the proper name would be “Neue Helvetica”, but it didn’t played well with alphabetical listings, I suppose).

Likewise, “Nova” is the Latin feminine adjective for “new”, used by Mark Simonson for the reworking of his Proxima Sans (Latin for “near” and the name of the nearest star to the Sun). Simonson used “Nuova” (again the feminine adjective for “new”, this time in Italian) for his reworking of Mostra, a typeface inspired by Italian art deco posters.

Another very common addition for enhanced typefaces is of course “pro” (sometimes opposed to "std", but there also are ones that just have “pro” attached to their name from the beginning).

Berthold had (has?) specific acronyms (BE, BQ, etc.) for different features in the font.

¶ Thank you for your overview, especially the term "Nuova".

But there are still unanswered questions related to the history of these attributes.

Fournier · July 6, 2015

So just I understand you correctly: You specifically want to know about fonts which have any type of “new” added for a redesign? It’s not about redesigned typefaces per se, or redesigns which use other names or no special names at all, or fonts which have a “new” in the font name, but aren’t actual redesign of an existing font?

¶ I'm aware there is no redesign but a simple addition of weights and widths.

All I'm interested in the story behind these attributes like Neue, Next, Nova inside Linotype.

Do you know a typeface before 1983 that has the "Neue" attribute or does Helvetica Neue the first typeface to be defined as "Neue"?

Ralf Herrmann · July 6, 2015

Do you know a typeface before 1983 that has the "Neue" attribute or does Helvetica Neue the first typeface to be defined as "Neue"?

If it’s only about Linotype faces it shouldn’t be hard to find out. Regarding other typefaces as well, the addition of “Neue” was certainly not invented for such Linotype fonts. It has been used long before for many metal typefaces. Neue Fraktur, Neue Gotisch, Neue Kanzlei, Neue Schwabacher, Neuklassisch … just as there is New Caslon, New Baskerville and so on.

Riccardo Sartori · July 6, 2015

¶ Thank you for your overview,

Do you really needed to re-insert my entire post‽

All I'm interested in the story behind these attributes like Neue, Next, Nova inside Linotype.

It seems I wrongly assumed that the use of “Nova” was popularised by the highly successful Proxima reworking.

Instead, it seems that it originates with the redesign of Optima (feminine Latin for “best”) by Zapf and Kobayashi in 2002.

While in 2000, Frutiger and Linotype had reworked the eponymous typeface as Frutiger Next.

Subsequently, Linotype used either “Nova” or “Next” for various reissues of classic typefaces.

Of note, while one of the main characteristic of Stempel’s Neue Helvetica was the adoption of the numbered style/weight system of Adrian Frutiger’s Univers, in 2009 Frutiger and Kobayashi released Neue Frutiger.

¶ I'm aware there is no redesign but a simple addition of weights and widths.

Not quite so: at least the first ones also feature a complete redrawing of the outlines.

Fournier · July 6, 2015

Judging by the releases of revised sans serifs, two designers (Akira Kobayashi, Toshi Omagari) seem to focus on this particular category.

Geometric Sans
Avenir Next (2003) (Akira Kobayashi)
Eurostile Next (2008) (Akira Kobayashi)
Metro Nova (2012) (Toshi Omagari)

Humanist Sans
Optima Nova (2002) (Akira Kobayashi)
Neue Frutiger (2009) (Akira Kobayashi)

Neogrotesk
Helvetica Neue (1983) (Linotype)
Akzidenz-Grotesk Next (2007) (Berthold)
Univers Next (2010) (Linotype)
Neue Haas Unica (2014) (Toshi Omagari)

Riccardo Sartori · July 6, 2015

Your mention of Neue Haas Unica, reminds me that the original name for Helvetica was Neue Haas Grotesk.

As for the involvement of specific designers, I think it’s more related to their positions within Linotype than any personal focus.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Riccardo Sartori
Added a link to a related forum discussion.

Mark Simonson · July 6, 2015

I first heard of the Nova appellation back in the seventies with Century Nova (1964).

Helvetica Neue may technically be from 1983, but the earliest ad for it I remember is from the May 1985 issue of U&lc. In the ad it is only referred to as "The NEW numbered Helvetica series". I don't remember seeing it called Helvetica Neue until a few years later when it was released for PostScript. Not totally sure about that, though.

Another appellation I've used is Neo, for Changeling Neo. Changeling is a futuristic looking design and I thought Neo sounded futuristic. Neo was also used extensively by Headliners International for their process lettering styles, although in that case it was partly for branding purposes. They were based on existing faces but were new in the sense that they had a much wider range of weights.

I've also used Deluxe with Refrigerator Deluxe. I rather enjoy coming up with these modifiers. I imagine if Coquette ever gets a substantial reworking it will be called Coquette Nouvelle.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Mark Simonson

Fournier · July 7, 2015

I first heard of the Nova appellation back in the seventies with Century Nova (1964).

Thank you for the historical reference. So apart from Neue, New, Next, Nova, you also find now Deluxe, Neo, Nuova, Pro.

I thought Pro was used for extended languages only.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Fournier

Riccardo Sartori · July 7, 2015

I thought Pro was used for extended languages only.

As far as I can tell, “pro” is (was?) mainly used to indicate the presence of OpenType features that integrate options once available only as separate specialised “expert” fonts. Things like small caps, ligatures, fractions, etc.

Ralf Herrmann · July 7, 2015

There is no clear convention what Pro is used for. We and others use it indeed for extended language support, but not to signal extended ligature sets and things like that. So it’s unrelated to the “New” discussion. However, a redesign might of course have extended glyph and/or language support and then come with the “pro” term.

Fournier · July 7, 2015

¶ Apart from sans serif typefaces, some old style serifs have been renewed.

Sabin Next (2002) (Jean-François Porchez)

Berling Nova (2004) (Örjan Nordling)

Palatino Nova (2005) (Akira Kobayashi)

Aldus Nova (2005) (Akira Kobayashi)

¶ Now what do you make of Garamond Premier, I mean the term Premier?

Kathrinvdm · July 7, 2015

ITC New Veljovic Pro (2015) (Originally designed in 1984, both versions by Jovica Veljovic)

Ralf Herrmann · July 7, 2015

On 7 July 2015 at 1:40 PM, Fournier said:

¶ Now what do you make of Garamond Premier, I mean the term Premier?

Well, you tell us.

You brought up the subject and you make the rules of what is covered by your research question. I haven’t figured out completely what you are after.

Fournier · July 7, 2015

On 7 July 2015 at 4:48 PM, Ralf Herrmann said:

Well, you tell us.

You brought up the subject and you make the rules of what is covered by your research question. I haven’t figured out completely what you are after.

Garamond Premier features additional weights and also four optical sizes and the design is different from Adobe Garamond.

It appear as a New.

I wonder how does Robert Slimbach select the word Premier and how does he define it?

Ralf Herrmann · July 8, 2015

Garamond Premier features additional weights and also four optical sizes and the design is different from Adobe Garamond.

It appear as a New.

Garamond Premier is not a redesign/extension of Adobe Garamond. It was a separate project.

Mark Simonson · July 8, 2015

Not sure, but I think the Premier in Garamond Premier has to do with it being modeled more closely on the original or premier Garamond.

Riccardo Sartori · July 18, 2015

A font identification request made me remember a couple of things related to this topic:

One of the most widely known use of “New” in the name of a typeface is of course Times New Roman (1931), although in this instance it doesn’t denote a reworking of an existing typeface, rather something properly “new” (Linotype’s Times [Roman] is, in fact, a subsequent version).
When URW++ published its version of Neue Helvetica, it called it Nimbus Sans Novus (Latin masculine adjective for “new”, correctly and not just apparently agreeing with nimbus, which could be roughly translated as “stormy cloud”).

Thomas Kunz · July 26, 2015

Concorde Nova by Günter Gerhard Lange (Berthold) and Sina Nova by Dieter Hofrichter (Hoftype) are narrower forms of Concorde respectively Sina. I would have named them Concorde Condensed and Sina Condensed.