1930s Fonts & Typography: Art Deco & Beyond

1930s Fonts & Typography: Art Deco & Beyond

It was a decade of enormous change, from society and politics to design. 

This was an era in which typography witnessed development over an entire range. 

From the fonts to the styles, the typography that stood out during the 1930s has influenced designers to date, thus making it an exciting topic for historians and modern creatives.

The Roaring Twenties Hangover

First, take a little look at what came before it. 

The Roaring Twenties were all about excess, weren't they? 

Jazz and flappers and typography screaming, ‘Look at me!' But the world was nursing a hangover when the calendar flipped to 1930.

The Great Depression had hit, and suddenly, all that extravagance seemed a bit, well, excessive. 

This shift in mood and economics would profoundly impact how designers approached typography in the 1930s.

The Birth of Modernism in Typography

With the dawn of the 1930s, designers were ready for something new. The ornate decorative styles of the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements were beginning to feel old. Enter Modernism, stage left.

Modernist typography was the ultimate stripping down to the essence of things—no frills or fuss, but pure and functional design. 

It's as if Marie Kondo came early and told people to keep only typefaces that sparked joy and legibility. Bauhaus Influence

You can't talk about 1930s fonts and typography without Bauhaus. 

This German art school was only founded in 1919, but by the early '30s, it was hitting its stride. Their philosophy? 

Form follows function. 

What does that mean for typography? It means clean lines and geometric shapes, with a focus on readability.

Some essential Bauhaus-inspired typefaces of the 1930s:

• Futura, by Paul Renner, 1927; widely adopted during the '30s
• Kabel-Rudolf Koch, 1927
• Nobel by Sjoerd Henrik de Roos, 1929 This was typography's little black dress: plain, unnamed, always correct.

Sans-Serif Takes Centre Stage

Sans-serif fonts were the hipsters of the 1930s if you will. Designers, in particular, had a thing for grotesque sans serifs. 

These fonts have been used since the 19th century but reached new heights.

Some popular grotesque fonts from the 1930s:

• Monotype Grotesque (released in various weights throughout the 1920s and '30s)
• Stephenson Blake Grotesque (various cuts released in the 1930s)
• Gill Sans (Eric Gill, 1928-1930)

Gill Sans, in particular, became the archetypal British typeface: the typographic stiff upper, lip-clean, proper, yet with just that hint of character.

Geometric Sans-Serifs: The New Kid On The Block

While grotesques were having their heyday, another sans-serif style began to emerge: the geometric sans. In such fonts, the underlying structure comprises basic geometric shapes, most of all the circle.

Major geometric sans-serifs of the 1930s:

• Futura [as above]
• Erbar-JJakob Erbar, 1922-1930
• Kabel – as above

These fonts captured the essence of Art Deco into letterform—sleek, modern, and oh-so-stylish.

Serif Fonts: Not Dead Yet

While sans-serifs were the belles of the ball, serif fonts weren't about to go quietly into the night. With their organic, calligraphic feel, old-style serifs evolved to fit the modernist ethos.

Some notable old-style serifs from the 1930s:

• Times New Roman· Stanley Morison · 1931
• Perpetua · Eric Gill · 1928-1932
• Bembo· revival by Monotype· 1929

Times New Roman was, for the newspaper in London, designed to appease the typographic equivalent of something like a well-tailored suit: classic, versatile, and correct under almost any circumstance.

Slab Serifs: The Bold and the Beautiful

Slab serifs—with their thick, squared-off serifs—discovered their uses within advertising and displayed typography throughout the 1930s. They were like typographic equivalents of a bold statement necklace: attention-grabbing and unapologetic.

Some of the new slab serifs that made waves in the thirties:

• Memphis (Rudolf Wolf, 1929-1938)
• Rockwell (Monotype, 1934)
• Beton (Heinrich Jost, 1931-1936)

The Impact of Technology on 1930s Typography

The Linotype, invented in the late 19th century, really saw its dawn in the 1930s. This hot metal typesetting system enabled faster and more efficient printing, influencing typeface design.

Fonts for linotype needed to be robust and legible, even on low-quality paper, when it came to printing speed. This prompted some exciting design actions: increased x-height for better readability and sturdier serifs to endure printing.

Typography was going to the gym—typefaces were getting more vital in resisting mass production's high demands.

Photo-Typesetting: A Sneak Peek

Although photo-typesetting applications didn't become common until after World War II, photography-based typesetting technology emerged during the 1930s. This process utilised photography to set type, thus eliminating the need for metal type in a design context. 

Still, in its infancy, phototyping was a herald of the digital revolution. It was as if one had seen the first mobile phone: clumsy and limited, full of potential.

Typography in Advertising: Selling the American Dream

The 1930s saw increased advertising, despite or because of the economic downturn. Typography played a massive role in catching the consumer's eye and selling products.

Advertisers preferred bold, striking typefaces:

• Cooper Black Oswald Bruce Cooper, 1922, but widely used in the '30s
• Peignot A.M. Cassandre, 1937
• Bank Gothic Morris Fuller Benton, 1930-1933

These fonts were the carnival barkers of typography—loud, distinctive, and impossible to ignore.

Art Deco's Last Hurrah

While Modernism was rising, Art Deco had stayed in the building. The Art Deco-inspired typography continued to shine in the 1930s, especially in advertising and poster design.

Characteristics of Art Deco typography:

• Geometric shapes
• Stylised, elongated letterforms
• Decorative elements that reference machinery and speed

It was the typographic equivalent of a flapper dress: glamorous, a bit too much, yet impossible not to stare at.

Political typography: Propaganda and protest

The 1930s were a politically tumultuous time, and of course, with politics comes messaging. Typography played a significant role in the political climate. In Germany, the Nazi party favoured blackletter faces as being traditionally German.

Ironically, they later abandoned the black letter, declaring it “Jewish” in 1941. It just goes to show that even typography can fall victim to the whims of dictators.

Protest and Revolution: The Typography of Dissent

Left-wing movements were on the other side of the political camp, also promulgating their messages with typography. Avant-garde constructivist-inspired designs in the Soviet Union found their way into protest posters and pamphlets worldwide.

Characteristics of protest typography in the 1930s:

• Bold, sans-serif typefaces
• High contrast layouts
• Integration of photography and illustration

Typography had joined a union—strong, united, ready to fight for its ideology.

Magazine and Newspaper Design: The New Typography in Action

The decade of the 1930s saw a revolution in the design of magazines and newspapers with strong influences from the principles of New Typography. The likes of Jan Tschichold championed asymmetric composition, sans-serif type, and photography.

Publications such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar ran with these new design principles and constructed an aesthetic that holds up today. Magazines had shrugged off the corset, thrown it away, and replaced it with Coco Chanel—nothing was less than effortlessly chic.

The Grid System: Order from Chaos

The 1930s also fostered the creation of grid systems within layout design. To be even more defined later in the 1950s and '60s, the concept helped organise page layouts.

• Benefits of the Grid System
• Improved readability
• Consistency between multiple pages
• Easier integration of text and image

It was like giving typography a map—suddenly, every element knew precisely where it went.

Book Design: From Tradition to Innovation

While magazines moved into modernism, book design in the 1930s refocused on classic typography. Designers turned to the inspiration of the Renaissance in creating layouts where harmony and proportion reigned.

Characteristics of the 1930s book design:

• Classic serif typefaces
• Generous margins
• Typographic details such as leading and kerning

It was as if the books decided to do their Sunday best: elegant, refined, timeless.

Paperbacks: Typography for the masses

The 1930s also saw the advent of the mass-market paperback. Publishers such as Penguin revolutionised the book's look through standardised forms and an innovative exploitation of typography.

The now-iconic Penguin design, created by Edward Young in 1935, consisted of:

• A plain three-panel cover
• Strong use of colour
• Legible sans-serif typography

Typography had found fast fashion, suddenly an excellent design for the masses.

Typeface Designers of the 1930s: The Unsung Heroes

Eric Gill: The Controversial Genius

Eric Gill, designer of Gill Sans and Perpetua, was one of the most potent type designers of the 1930s. His work brought together modernist principles with a deep knowledge of classical proportion.

Fun fact: Gill was also a sculptor, and his sense of form in three dimensions informed his type design. It was as if his letters were carved rather than drawn.

Stanley Morison: The Typographic Consultant

Stanley Morison, who designed Times New Roman, was not a type designer himself but a typographic consultant for Monotype. And his influence extended far beyond those few faces that he created.

Morison's philosophy:

• The type should be invisible.
• Good typography draws attention to the content, not itself.
• Tradition and innovation should be balanced.

It was as if Morison was the typographic equivalent of a good butler—always there, always helpful, but never drawing attention to himself.

Rudolf Koch: The Calligrapher-Turned Type Designer

Rudolf Koch brought a calligrapher's sensibility to type design. His typefaces, like Kabel, combined geometric modernism with a hint of handcrafted charm.

Koch's approach was to:

• Emphasise spiritual features of letterforms.
• Combine traditional calligraphy with modern design principles.
• He designed typefaces that sounded modern yet timeless.

It was as if Koch had discovered how to instruct machines in the appearance of a human hand's soul.

The Legacy of 1930s Typography

The typography of the 1930s set the stage for the mid-century modern movement of the 1950s and '60s. In this era, clean lines, geometric forms, and respect for functionality flowed into the post-war era.

Reinterpretation and Digital Revival

This digital age has revived countless examples of typefaces from the 1930s. Fonts such as Futura and Gill Sans will undoubtedly be virtually ubiquitous among modern designers for many more years to come.

Digital re-creations of the fonts from the 1930s often include the following: extended character sets, weight, style, optimisations for screen display, and so on. In many ways, this breathes new life into these fonts—the same classic style now enriched with everything modern technology can bring to bear. 

Timeless Appeal of 1930s Style

There is just something about the typography from the 1930s that continues to charm designers and readers alike. It could be due to an ideal balance of form and function or the tint of past times.

Whatever the reason may be, it seems the influence of 1930s typography is everywhere to be seen, from:

• Logo design
• Web typography
• Print advertising
• Film and television title sequences

It's almost like the 1930s left a time capsule, and we are still unpacking the goodies today.

Conclusion: The Decade That Shaped Modern Typography

The 1930s were a decade of contrasts: economic hardship versus technological advance, political turbulence pitted against the birth of artistic innovation. That tension—working out between tradition and modernism, decoration and functionality—also played itself out in typography.

These typefaces and design tenets formulated in this crucible continue to shape our visual world today—from the cleanliness of sans-serif fonts to the grid systems at the heart of modern layouts, we see the influence of 1930s typography around us.

Reflecting on this pivotal decade, we're reminded that great design can come from any circumstance. Designers of the 1930s, working within the confines of economic constraint and technological change, rose to the challenge while leaving behind a typographic legacy that stood the test of time.

The next time you're reading some sleek sans-serif font or a perfectly balanced page layout, just doff your hat to those pioneering typographers from the 1930s—they may not have known it then. Still, they were fixing the face of the future of visual communication, one letterform at a time.

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