2. 3. Gerard Unger was born in Arnhem, Netherlands, 1942 and is still alive today. He designed Swift in 1985. He even has a web site: http://www.gerardunger.com/
4. Swift is categorized as a transitional serif font.
5. (below)
In the last decade of the 17th century, the first conscious revision of old style occurred in France, with the creation of the font for the Imprimerie Royale. This departure from old style greatly influenced designers of printing types during the 18th century, the best known of these was John Baskerville. Baskerville was an English amateur printer and typefounder, who is credited with the creation of one of the earliest transitional types…..
Advances in ink and paper-making and printing technology, all made by Baskerville himself, enabled hi to rationalize the design of his typeface whilst subtly retaining distinctive aspects of hand-written form. ……..
“About Face: Reviving the Rules of Typography” by David Jury
6. Baskerville, Julek, and Antiqua are also transitional serif fonts
7. At the beginning of the eighties there were only a handful of types that were suitable for newsprint, and most newspapers were using either Times or Excelsior “ both of which dated way back to 1932. At the same time, papers were less carefully produced than now. This is why Swift has such a robust appearance, large serifs and pronounced character: it is designed to be a survivor. Today, Swift is used more outside newspapers than in them, especially for corporate identities and as a text type for periodicals.
8. Unger also designed Swift Amerigo BT (1986), Oranda (1987), Argo (1991), Gulliver (1993), Capitolium (1998), Paradox (1999), Coranto (1999), and Vesta (2001).
9. Gerard Unger is a graphic designer, typographer and type designer. He studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. He has been freelance since 1972. Board member of the Association Typographique Internationale and member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale. Part time professor at the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication of The University of Reading, UK, and part time teacher at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam.Since 1974 he has been involved in digital type design. Some of his type designs are: (1984), Swift (1996), Amerigo BT (1986), Oranda (1987), Argo (1991), Gulliver (1993), Capitolium (1998), Paradox (1999), Coranto (1999), and Vesta (2001). Of these, both Swift and Gulliver are used internationally in newspapers, magazines and other printed matter. He has designed the typeface for the new Dutch roads signs, commissioned by the anwb and in cooperation with npk industrial design, Leiden.He has also designed corporate identities, magazines, newspapers and books. He writes regularly about his profession and has often lectured abroad. In 1997 his book about reading Terwijl je leest has been published (in Dutch). In 1998 he designed, heading a group of six designers, and again in cooperation with npk industrial design, Leiden, the orientation and information system for Rome in 2000, with at its core the type design Capitolium. This type design continues the 2000 year old and unique Roman tradition of public lettering.He was awarded the Dutch national H.N. Werkmanprize in 1984 for the way he reconciled type design and technological changes, and in 1991 the Maurits Enschedé-Prize for all his type designs.
http://www.identifont.com/show?13N
“Many of my type designs have been the result of my own initiative,* particularly my newsfaces. The first of these was Swift, later produced by the Hell company. At the beginning of the eighties there were only a handful of types that were suitable for newsprint, and most newspapers were using either Times or Excelsior “ both of which dated way back to 1932. At the same time, papers were less carefully produced than now. This is why Swift has such a robust appearance, large serifs and pronounced character: it is designed to be a survivor. Today, Swift is used more outside newspapers than in them, especially for corporate identities and as a text type for periodicals.•
http://typedia.com/explore/typeface/swift/
Swift (1985) has proved its worth in corporate identities, magazines and newspapers and occasionally in books — it is a versatile type and can be used in a wide range of circumstances. It is a striking type, with large serifs, large counters and letters that produce a particularly strong horizontal impression. This means that words and lines in Swift are easily distinguished, even where there are large spaces between words, as can occur in newsprint. Swift’s large, robust counters were designed to improve legibility particularly in newspapers. It was designed in the early eighties, when papers were less well printed than they are today, and its special features help it survive on grey, rough paper printed on fast rotary presses. Today it is used more often outside newspapers than in. The current Swift (1995) is an improved version with technical and aesthetic enhancements, and has been expanded into a family of twenty-four variants.
http://www.gerardunger.com/fontstore/store-swift.html
Gerard Unger developed this newspaper font between 1984 and 1987 for Dr.-Ing. Rudolf Hell GmbH, Kiel. He was mainly influenced by William A. Dwiggins (1880-1956), the typographic consultant of Mergenthaler Linotype, who started to develop more legible, alternative fonts for newspaper printing as early as 1930. More…
Swift was named after the fast flying bird. Austere and concise, firm and original, Swift is suited for almost any purpose. Swift has been specially developed to sustain a maximum of quality and readability when used in unfavorable print and display processes, e.g. newspapers, laser printing and low resolution screens. Its robust, yet elegant serifs and its large x-height provide an undeniable distinction to the typeface, making it suitable for corporate ID and advertising purposes as well.
Swift 2.0 family was designed in 1995. It’s an improved version with technical and aesthetic enhancements and new family members. The Cyrillic version was developed for ParaType in 2003 by Tagir Safayev.
http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/paratype/swift/
10. “Swift (1985) has proved its worth in corporate identities, magazines and newspapers and occasionally in books.”
“Its robust, yet elegant serifs and its large x-height provide an undeniable distinction to the typeface, making it suitable for corporate ID and advertising purposes as well.”
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