Günter Gerhard Lange

A sample of fonts designed by LangeGünter Gerhard Lange (12 April 1921, in Frankfurt (Oder) – 2 December 2008, in Großhesselohe near Munich) was a German typographer, teacher and type designer.

He was longtime art director of Berthold Type Foundry and was one of the fathers of font design after 1945.

Günter Gerhard Lange studied calligraphy and type design, typesetting and printing with Georg Belwe at the Staatlichen Akademie für graphische Künste und Buchgewerbe Leipzig, as well as drawing, painting, etching and lithography with Hans Theo Richter. After graduating with distinction he worked in Leipzig from 1945 to 1949 as freelance painter and graphic designer, as well as being assistant to Walter Tiemann. In October 1949 Günter Gerhard Lange moved to West Berlin and continued his academic studies with Prof. Paul Strecker at the Hochschule für bildende Künste (Academy for Fine Arts) in Berlin.

1950 GGL started working for H. Berthold AG a career that was to span four decades: first as freelancer, when he designed lead casting fonts for hand typesetting, among them Derby, Solemnis, Boulevard, Regina, Champion and Arena. As early as 1952 the H. Berthold AG started the gradual transition from lead type to photo typesetting. Günter Gerhard Lange championed the transfer of the type heritage of the lead type era to the new technologies of photosetting, later to digital techniques. In 1960 he became Art Director of Berthold AG, from 1961 in a salaried position.

Typefaces Arena (1951, 1952, 1954, 1959, 1991) Derby (1952) Solemnis (1953) Boulevard (1954) Champion (1957) El Greco (1964) Concorde (1969) Concorde Nova (1975) Imago (1982, 2000) Akzidenz-Grotesk, (forerunner of Helvetica) Franklin-Antiqua (1976) Garamond (re-cut) (1972, 1975) Walbaum (re-cut) (1975, 1976, 1978, 1979) Caslon (re-cut) (1977, 1982) Berthold Script (1977) Baskerville (re-cut) (1980, 1983) Berthold Bodoni Old Face (1983, 2001) Whittingham (2000)