Peter Bil'ak
2002

Fedra Mono-Light
Fedra Mono-Light Italie
Fedra Mona-Book
Fedra Mono-Book Italic
Fedra Mono-Normal
Fedra Mono-Normal Italie
Fedra Mono-Medium
Fedra Mono-Medium Italie
Fedra Mono-Bold
Fedra Mono-Bold Italie

Fedra Mono was developed for an annual
report that required a fixed-width
counterpart to Fedra Sans. All the
characters share the same widths, which
makes it suitable for tabular setting
when the information benefit from the
vertical alignment of characters. The
typical example would be spreadsheet or
computer code.«J It is a 10-pitch face
which means 10 characters equals one
inch (2.54 cm) when set at 10 pt. All the
characters, regardless of weight, have
the same width, which is 60% of the em
square. Those are also the proportions
of the 1956 version of Courier. However,
despite the fixed widths, Fedra Mono
remains relatively even in typographic
color, and lucid on screen. The various
potentially similar characters are
clearly distinguishable, notably I, 1
and 1, and 0 and 0, as well as brackets,
braces and parentheses.1)

364 sales@typotheque.com

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Fedra was originally commission
ed by Paris-based Ruedi Baur In
tegral Design and developed as
a corporate font for Bayerische
Rück, a German insurance compan

the font would be exclusive to
the company and never publicly
available. The new version is m
ore versatile, offering a wider
range of fonts, a number of spe

y, as part of their new visual
identity. According to the comm
issioner, the objective was to
'de-protestantize Univers', the
typeface which Bayerische Rück
had been using since Otl Aicher
designed their first visual iden
tity in the 1970s. The typeface
reflects the original brief: it
humanises the communicated mess
age and adds simple, informal e

ciol typographic features (see
opposite page). The spacing of
the font was altered, as well a
s the slope of the italics. Man
y characters were redrawn creat
ing a more flexible type family
Fedra was originally commission
ed by Paris-based Ruedi Baur I
ntegral Design and developed as
a corporate font for Bayerische
Ruck, a German insurance compa

legance. The most important crit
erion was to create a typeface w
hich works equally well on paper
and on the computer screen, and
is consistent across all eomput
er platforms. After first versio
ns of the typeface were complete
d and digitised, the project was
cancelled as Bayerische Rück was
acquired by another even larger
multinational corporation. This

company, as part of their new v
isual identity. According to
the commissioner, the objective
was to de-protestantize Univers
the typeface which Bayerische R
иск had been using since Otl Ai
cher designed their first visu
al identity in the 1970s. The
typeface reflects the original
brief: it humanises the communi
cated message and adds simple,

put an early end to the story of
the custom font. Since a lot of
work had been done already, I de
cided to complete the typeface,
adding extra weights and expert
fonts. Shortly before the plann
ed release date of the typeface,
my studio was broken into, and
my computers and back-up system
containing all the font data we
re stolen, what initially seemed

informal elegance. The most imp
ortant criterion was to create
a typeface which works equally
well on paper and on the eomput
er screen, and is consistent a
cross all computer platforms. A
/ter first versions of the type
face were completed and digitis
ed, the project was cancelled as
Bayerische Ruck was acquired by
another even larger multination

like the ultimate designer's dis
aster was actually beneficial fo
x Fedra. The incident delayed it
s release, allowing me to xe-exa
mine the early design decisions,
made under the assumption that

al corporation. This put an ear
ly end to the story of the cust
от font. Since a lot of work ha
d been done already, I decided
to complete the typeface, addin
g extra weights and expert font

Fedra Mono Light

Peter Bil'ak
2002

Pefer BUM
2002

Peter BUM
2002

Peter BUM
2002

Peter BUM
2002

www.typotheque.com

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