hamburgefontsiv
Indices : Terminology : hamburgefontsiv
Hamburgevons; Where Did It Come From?
Hamburgefontsiv, OHamburgefontsiv, Hamburgefons, or even just Hamburg is a common test string for judging a typeface's design or a design's progress.
Several foundries have used this word to help assess submissions from independent designers, including ITC during (at least) the 1980s.
The stringmay have first been created at the D. Stempel AG foundry sometime before the Second World War. Its "author" there would have been Dr. Rudolf Wolf, who among other things was the designer of the Memphis type family. August Rosenberger may have been involved. He cut several of Memphis' weights, and would later cut designs of Hermann Zapf's, including Palatino.
Before the digital-era, this was by no means a universal string. Several American foundries began typeface design testing with the letters Hono.
