On the one hand I’m always flattered when I see a big German newspaper (Süddeutsche Zeitung in this case) use one of my typefaces. Especially so, when it happens to bring out one of its good characteristics, like being very legible in small sizes on rather coarse paper, as with FF Unit shown here.
On the other hand I am a little surprised that they would have used the alternate cut, the one with the round a and the single-decker g. That may have been deliberate although I don’t think that the round (Futura-)a is particularly legible. I do have my doubts about the designers’ typographic knowledge. When designing a table like this (and a TV programme is just a table) they must have realized that FF Unit both in the Type 1 and the Open Type version not only provides alternate characters but also a few different sets of figures. For a timetable like this it would have been much better to use Tabular Figures, so that all the hours and minutes would be positioned neatly underneath each other. That does not only look neater, it also makes things more comparable and better to understand in a hurry. The tabular figures in FF Unit still have slight Old Style characteristics, and if that would appear too noisy for some applications, there are Lining Figures as well, also all of equal widths.
Hey mate,
“On the other hand I am a little surprised that they would have used the alternate cut, the one with the round a and the single-decker g.”
Well, in the Unit Pro OT files that I have, there is only *one* way to turn on the alternate a,g,i,j, and that is by activating SS01. By the looks of it, this is what they’ve done, judging by the single-storey a,g and serif-less i,j. I notice that the alternates are available as separate fonts (FF Unit Regular Alternate) in the PS versions.
What I’m trying to say is that it has not been made easy, dare I say logical, for the users to turn on the individual alternates as they wish. I agree with you about the alternate ‘a’ being unsuitable for this size, but the ‘g’ is perfect.
Hi Erik,
I noticed today that another newspaper, the Vancouver Sun, has made the same choice with Unit Alt. Strange coincidence that I should come into contact with the newly designed paper just one day after reading your post. Granted, they are using it for headlines rather than body text. If you are interested, I will scan some examples for you to compare with Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Ross
Here In Berlin, the newspaper Neues Deutschland uses FF Unit, mostly with the alternate a. Maybe newspaper people have a certain taste for that shape. I’ll post a scan from that if you send me one from Vancouver.