Friedrich Forssman

Friedrich Forssman

Anyone having experienced “Gutenberg’s Machine Gun” (Erik Spiekermann about GGL, an honorary title that will have stuck by now) on stage or in dialogue, will never again have the courage for typographic small-mindedness, contempt for detail or ignorance: too heavy could GGLs curse come down upon him. Another parallel between GGL and Erik Spiekermann was the readiness (and the courage and the cheek) to spontaneously criticize other people’s work, whether present or absent, at meetings. Always with border-crossing ruthlessness – but borders are there to be crossed. This sort of thing was and still is most entertaining, often instructive – and an incentive to produce something that can’t be put down so easily. For GGL this was never the point (nor for ES), the point was to sharpen the criteria and to relish the open exchange. Blusterers are the best stimulators, because only the praise of someone able to rebuke is truly valuable. So much for the typographer GGL in public. With his new creations and new interpretations this type designer has achieved great things, through his magnificent sense for shape and through his plea for stable fonts (in contrast to the far too sharp new interpretations of Lino- and Monotype).

Friedrich Forssman