100types.com.90itcflora

Date: 1989

Designer:
Gerard Unger

Foundry:
Linotype Hell / ITC

Location:
New York, USA

Current equivalent:
ITC Flora

See also:
Praxis, by the same designer

Technologies:
Photosetting
Postscript

Famous for:
First sans serif typeface to incorporate a chancery italic.

Applications: Book Publishing & General Purpose Text Setting

Ubiquity:
Average use

Category:
Sans Serif Neo Grotesque

Stress: Angled
Serifs: Sans Serif

Design history:
ITC Flora is described as the first sans serif italic to follow a true chancery style, and was designed to work with Unger’s accompanying types – the sans serif Praxis, and the serif Demos. This means that the forms of the italic are not simply an oblique version of the roman but are separate designs. However the nearly vertical aspect of ITC Flora means that it is often used by itself to avoid confusion with the upright roman. The idea for Flora originated with Unger’s experiments with a felt tip pen as a lettering implement, and an inclined sans serif script (Bauer Graphik) done in 1934 by F. H. E. Schneidler.

profile 90

picture: Gerard Unger website