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AG Book or Helvetica — AmericanAirlines and Lufthansa
Posted by RG in
6 Feb 2011 — 10:09am
6 Feb 2011 — 10:09am
Hello!
They always say that the AmericanAirlines and the Lufthansa logo use Helvetica. However, the "a" or the "r" don't look like any version of Helvetica, but are very similar to AG Book.
So, do they use (some version of) Helvetica or AG Book? (Please see samples attached.)
Thanks,
RG
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| AmericanAirlines.png | 27.7 KB |
| Lufthansa.jpg | 69.87 KB |
| Luft and AA in AG Book.gif | 11.55 KB |
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6 Feb 2011 — 10:18am
Look at the e in American, and the s in Lufthansa...
6 Feb 2011 — 10:18am
Look at the terminals of a, c, e, s. In AG Book they’re sloped, while in Helvetica (and in the logos) they’re horizontal.
6 Feb 2011 — 10:50am
So which version of Helvetica does AA use and which one does Lufthansa use?
Thanks again!
RG
6 Feb 2011 — 11:02am
It almost certainly started as a pre-digital version and could very well have been tweaked to better fit in the logos. By the way the bold and black 'a' from (not Neue) Helvetica aren’t so different.
6 Feb 2011 — 12:34pm
As far as I know, Lufthansa used the Berthold version of Helvetica.
6 Feb 2011 — 2:21pm
Isn’t AG Book the Berthold version of Helvetica?
8 Feb 2011 — 5:41pm
Thank you all for your reply.
Jens & Jan - In fact, I started having my initial question after I had had a look at the letterforms of Helvetica on the Die Neue Haas Grotesk specimen book and on the Helvetica Plakat specimen book; these letterforms look neither like (not Neue) Helvetica nor like Neue Helvetica.
Looking at the logos in question, my first thought was that "Berthold Helvetica" (if it's the same as AG Book of Berthold) had been used.
Finally, what riccard0 has to say may be the reason; before the advent of the digital technology, especially with phototypesetting being around, it may be difficult to maintain consistent contours in letterforms.
I don't know...
RG
11 Feb 2011 — 9:51pm
Or even Berthold's Standard BQ Medium
18 Feb 2011 — 9:58am
Some info on Lufthansa (Source: http://users.ncrvnet.nl/mstol/lufthansa.html)
«Lufthansa uses its proprietary typeface Lufthansa, which is based on Berthold Helvetica.»