Black Line a.k.a. Blackline was
designed by German graphic artist Wolf Magin (1927–2009). In
1969, he drew
letterforms made from thick and thin parallel lines, and used
it to create 39 serigraphs. This series, titled Experimenta
litera, was first exhibited in 1975 in Ludwigshafen and
published in a catalog. [kunstundkosmos.de]
Adopted by Berthold for phototypesetting, [1971
ad] with alternate narrow ‘S’ [Berthold 1974] and by Mecanorma for
dry-transfer lettering. [1972
ad] Also carried by Hollenstein. [Modern
Publicity 1976]
There are at least four digital versions of
Blackline; the crappy Banderole
(1990–1992) by FontBank, Inc., and DXS Blackline by
Dick Pape (2009, 2010), the very limited Lively Display
Caps (1993, 1996) by Weatherly Systems, Inc. and the nicer
and more mature Linea More…
Black Line a.k.a. Blackline was designed by German graphic artist Wolf Magin (1927–2009). In 1969, he drew letterforms made from thick and thin parallel lines, and used it to create 39 serigraphs. This series, titled Experimenta litera, was first exhibited in 1975 in Ludwigshafen and published in a catalog. [kunstundkosmos.de]
Adopted by Berthold for phototypesetting, [1971 ad] with alternate narrow ‘S’ [Berthold 1974] and by Mecanorma for dry-transfer lettering. [1972 ad] Also carried by Hollenstein. [Modern Publicity 1976]
There are at least four digital versions of Blackline; the crappy Banderole (1990–1992) by FontBank, Inc., and DXS Blackline by Dick Pape (2009, 2010), the very limited Lively Display Caps (1993, 1996) by Weatherly Systems, Inc. and the nicer and more mature Linea Nera NF (2011) by Nick Curtis. Dekal (2011/2023) by Jonathan Hill is a liberal interpretation with fewer lines that adds a lowercase as well as two simplified styles.
See also Glaser and Chwast’s Filmsense.