“In the world of type the name of Berthold has been synonymous with the word quality for over 135 years. The company’s first slogan, in the 1860s, was ‹As Bold as Berthold’s Brass›. Especially during the period from the development of the company’s first phototypesetting device in 1952, to the commercially fraught transition to digital systems in the 1980s, the precision of their types has earned an international following. One man has done more than any other to ensure that this technological progress was matched by high aesthetic standards — Gunter Gerhard Lange.”
Reg White & Mike Daines
Günter Gerhard Lange worked more than 40 years for H. Berthold AG, 30 years as their Art Director. During the first post-war years he worked tirelessly to rebuild the company and establish its position in the international market. After Berthold AG succeeded, in 1958, to initiate the development of modern photosetting systems with its “diatype”, Günter Gerhard Lange created not only around 100 original fonts with reference character, e.g. Concorde, the Akzidenz Grotesk Buch and the Imago, but also a series of photoset-compatible, later digitalised adaptations and new interpretations of historic font styles like Garamond, Walbaum-Antiqua, Caslon or Bodoni Old Face.
On six pages, the authors Reg White and Mike Daines show highlights of Günter Gerhard Lange’s work during his four decades with H. Berthold AG.