The internationally renowned Type Directors Club in New York has awarded the Linotype fonts Elementis and Pirouette for Best Type Design in 2004. Designed by Hans-Jürgen Ellenberger and Ryuichi Tateno respectively, the Type Directors Club jury selected their work out of 165 entries from 24 countries – a distinction reserved to only 19 award-winners. These designers’ fonts are not only both original and fulfill the highest aesthetic standards, they both also have surprising origins.
Hans-Jürgen Ellenberger began his work on Elementis in 1975 with the goal of transforming the rounded forms of an alphabet so all letters would have the same gray value. However, as was typical of the times, his design work would require a number of complicated and cumbersome development steps and had to be postponed. He would not continue until over 20 years later, when wide market penetration of desktop publishing made it possible to digitize his designs for further processing. In one sense, this prize might be considered a tribute to the difficulties all type designers faced in the pre-digital age.
While Ellenberger was busy scanning his designs in 1999, the Japanese designer Ryuichi Tateno was beginning to work on a new shampoo packaging design and logo. The result not only greatly pleased his client, it also inspired him to develop a complete font family. Tateno was surprised at how quickly the first designs flowed from his hand. Yet he sees the source of his inspiration less in his own talent than in his previous hard work. In fact, he had 10 years of typography and calligraphy studies behind him before attempting his first type designs. In his vision for Pirouette he also drew inspiration from the calligraphic work of Prof. Hermann Zapf and his Zapfino font family in particular.
These Type Directors Club awards for Elementis and Pirouette celebrate two highly original designers who have developed extraordinary typefaces each in his own unique way. And it is further proof of the quality and diversity of the Linotype Library, in which excellent typefaces can be found for all purposes.
For anyone curious to get an impression of Elementis and Pirouette, simply drop by:
– https://www.linotype.com/6-23-6-17055/elementis.html
– https://www.linotype.com/6-23-6-17051/pirouette.html
This article was last modified on March 5, 2025
This article was first published on March 3, 2005
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