From Metal
to Digital:
A Typographic
Journey
A Century of Typography
Bauhaus & Modernism
Geometry & function redefine typography.
The Bauhaus School in Germany revolutionizes typography by embracing geometric simplicity and functional design. Influenced by Constructivism and De Stijl, designers like Herbert Bayer advocate for sans-serif typefaces, rejecting ornamentation in favor of clarity and readability. This movement paves the way for future typefaces such as Futura (1927, Paul Renner) and Universal Type (Bayer, 1925). The Bauhaus philosophy continues to influence minimalist and grid-based typographic design.
Step Into the Bauhaus Revolution
1925
Helvetica Takes Over
1957
Swiss designers Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann introduce Helvetica (originally Neue Haas Grotesk), which quickly becomes a global standard for corporate branding, signage, and editorial design. Helvetica’s neutral, clean, and versatile appearance aligns with the International Typographic Style (Swiss Style). Companies and governments widely adopt it, making it one of the most recognizable typefaces of all time.
The birth of the world’s most iconic sans-serif.
Experience Helvetica’s Lasting Influence
1957
Phototypesetting
Revolution
Digital Fonts Emerge
1960s
1957
The transition from metal type (letterpress printing) to phototypesetting allows for greater flexibility in typography. This method projects characters onto film or paper using light, freeing designers from physical type blocks. It enables tighter kerning, varied weights, and more fluid layouts, which were difficult to achieve with traditional lead type. Companies like Letraset introduce dry transfer type (rub-on lettering), making custom typography more accessible to designers.
With the invention of bitmap fonts and early computer typography, digital type begins to replace analog methods. The first personal computers, such as the Apple II (1977), lay the foundation for digital typography. In 1981, Adobe is founded by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, eventually leading to the development of PostScript (1984), which allows fonts to be scalable and resolution-independent, marking a pivotal moment for digital type design.
Typography breaks free from metal type.
The shift from print to pixels begins.
See How Type Broke Free
Discover the Dawn of Digital Type
1960s
1977
The Rise of
Desktop Publishing
OpenType Changes
the Game
The Web Needs
New Fonts
Variable Fonts Arrive
1984
2000s
1990s
2010s
Apple releases the Macintosh (1984), featuring a graphical user interface (GUI) and built-in typefaces like Chicago and Geneva. Around the same time, Adobe PostScript and Aldus PageMaker revolutionize desktop publishing (DTP), allowing designers to control typography on personal computers rather than relying on traditional typesetting methods. This era sees a surge in digital fonts, including Times New Roman (1984, Victor Lardent) and Adobe’s digital revival of Garamond and Caslon.
With OpenType becoming the industry standard, designers gain access to expanded character sets, ligatures, stylistic alternates, and script support for multiple languages. Web typography advances with CSS font embedding, and the use of web fonts becomes more widespread with platforms like Google Fonts (2010) and Adobe Fonts (formerly Typekit, 2009). Additionally, independent type foundries thrive, leading to an explosion of custom and experimental typefaces.
The rise of the internet and web design in the 1990s introduces new challenges for typography. Standard print typefaces don’t always translate well to pixel-based screens. As a result, Microsoft commissions Verdana and Georgia (1996, Matthew Carter)—two highly readable fonts optimized for low-resolution monitors. The 1990s also see the rise of TrueType (Apple & Microsoft, 1991) and OpenType (Adobe & Microsoft, 1996), which expand typographic possibilities with advanced features like ligatures and multilingual support.
In 2016, variable fonts are introduced as part of the OpenType specification, allowing multiple weights, widths, and styles within a single file. This innovation enhances performance and flexibility, particularly for responsive web design, where typography must adapt to different screen sizes dynamically. Popular variable fonts, such as Inter and Roboto Flex, emerge, shaping the modern web experience. Meanwhile, expressive and hand-drawn lettering trends gain popularity, blending digital and analog techniques.
The Mac makes typography accessible to all.
More flexibility, more features, more creativity.
Screen-friendly typefaces reshape digital design.
One file, endless possibilities for web and print.
Witness the Birth of Digital Design
Unlock the Power of OpenType
Explore Typography’s Online Evolution
Try the Future of Flexible Type
1984
2000s
1957
1977
Type On The Move
2020s
Typography in the 2020s is no longer static—it moves, responds, and adapts. Motion typography becomes a dominant force in branding, social media, and UX/UI design, blurring the line between type and animation. Variable and responsive fonts allow text to shift in real time based on user interaction, accessibility needs, or environmental factors. Meanwhile, AR and VR experiences integrate typography in immersive ways, creating spatial and interactive letterforms. As AI tools generate custom type on demand, designers explore new frontiers of dynamic, hyper-personalized typography.
Responsive, immersive, and dynamic.
2020s
Experience Dynamic Letterforms
Designed to inform, built to inspire—explore the world of typography.
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From metal to motion, typography
has continually adapted to reflect
the times—shaping design, culture,
and technology.
1925