WOBURN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A reimagined version of the Haas Unica® typeface, dormant since the era of phototypesetting, has been brought to life as the 18-font Neue Haas Unica™ typeface family, the newest release from Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: TYPE), a leading provider of typefaces, technology and expertise for creative applications and consumer devices. Monotype’s Toshi Omagari of the Monotype Studio has given this classic a fresh, digital facelift with more weights, more languages and more letters to meet today’s digital and print needs for a variety of applications including corporate branding, signage, books, magazines, packaging, fashion and more. As Neue Haas Unica begins its new lease on life, recognized designers are praising its rebirth, from Abbott Miller, partner at Pentagram, who calls the design an “elegant, mature sans serif groomed for the digital present,” to Corey Holmes, whose reaction to key features boils down to two words: “sheer badassery.”
Omagari has transformed the Unica™ design into a rich, modern version, true to its original intent as a Helvetica® typeface alternative that also draws on influences from the Univers® typeface. Bringing forward the ideals of its inspirations, Neue Haas Unica is both familiar and refreshingly unique.
“I’m honored to bring back Unica and make it something even better for today,” said Omagari. “Neue Haas Unica is equipped with all the stuff that users would expect in a modern font, including abundant weights, tons of kerning, and OpenType® alternate glyphs. I’ve also added a few language-specific characters because I care a lot about non-English languages.”
Comprising nine weights from ultra light to extra black, including complementary italics for each, Neue Haas Unica offers full support for Pan-European languages, including Cyrillic and Greek. Omagari added several language-specific characters, including IJ/ij acute in Dutch; Bulgarian and Serbian letters; a new solution for the middle dot of Catalan; and a special apostrophe for French and Italian elisions. Users can take advantage of a large suite of OpenType typographic features, including ligatures, fractions, small caps and old style figures. Omagari also incorporated design nuances, such as fine adjustments to character proportions and spacing to aid in readability. All this adds up to one of Monotype’s strongest offerings in a typeface revival: a comprehensive suite of fonts, multilingual coverage, support for special characters, aesthetic improvements and a delicate gradation of weights – making Neue Haas Unica ideal for a wide range of projects across digital and print.
The long-lost love child of Helvetica and Univers
The story of Haas Unica begins in the late 1970s, when Helvetica and Univers were already highly popular, in use for nearly 20 years. Designers were well aware of the strengths, weaknesses and best uses of each. It was also a time when phototypesetting matured as the preferred method for setting type, and fonts were developed to take advantage of this technology. In 1980, the Haas Type Foundry seized the opportunity to create a design that fulfilled the vision for a phototypesetting typeface based on key attributes of Helvetica and Univers. Designed by Team ’77, the new hybrid – Haas Unica – hit the sweet spot, with a look that was less formal than Univers and less mannered than Helvetica, yet still sophisticated, clean and versatile.
However, Haas Unica found only limited success, due mostly to the industry’s transition to desktop publishing in the 1980s, which rendered phototypesetting obsolete. While both Helvetica and Univers were updated for digital use, Unica was sidelined – until now.
Neue Haas Unica – what major designers are saying
- “Asleep for three decades, Neue Haas Unica has woken up fresh-faced and optimistic for the future.” – Abbott Miller, designer, partner at Pentagram
- “The rush is going to be: who’ll use this first?” – Bryan Edmonson, founder, SEA Design
- “A beautiful, classic, sans serif with a touch of warmth.” – Tony Brook, founder, Spin
- “Unica is a typeface that sits perpetually on the tip of one's tongue: familiar, so close, and yet new and different enough to prove essential.” – Darrin Crescenzi, design director of innovation, Interbrand
- “Unica manages to retain the lovey awkwardness of Univers, while dialing in the precision of Helvetica.” – Juan Carlos Pagan, design director, Deutsch NY
- “It’s a whole other univers.” – Stefanie Weigler and David Heasty, founders, Triboro
- “I am aware of Toshi's work. I am thrilled Toshi is the one who has undertaken this project. He is meticulous and faithful in his reproduction; you know it is done right with no liberties taken.” – Corey Holms, graphic designer
Neue Haas Unica may be licensed as either desktop fonts or Web fonts from MyFonts, Fonts.com, Linotype.com or FontShop.com. All subscribers to Fonts.com Web Fonts paid plans also have access to the new fonts as Web fonts, while Pro, Master and desktop add-on subscribers can also use the family as desktop fonts as part of their subscription.
Neue Haas Unica is available in either a Pro or W1G version, available at $49 and $65 for a single font, respectively, or $399 and $499 for the full family. An introductory $99.00 promotion is available for the Pro version through May 7, 2015, when licensing the entire Neue Haas Unica typeface family of desktop fonts from www.myfonts.com, www.fonts.com or www.linotype.com.
About the Monotype Libraries
The Monotype® Libraries feature the typeface collections from individual, historical libraries, including Monotype, Linotype, FontFont, ITC, Ascender and Bitstream. With over 25,000 typeface designs supporting more than 250 Latin and non-Latin languages, the Monotype Libraries represent one of the world’s largest, trusted and continuously expanding inventories of typefaces, offering a rich blend of timeless classics and innovative designs.
About Monotype
Monotype is a leading global provider of typefaces, technology and expertise that enable the best user experience and ensure brand integrity. Headquartered in Woburn, Mass., Monotype provides customers worldwide with typeface solutions for a broad range of creative applications and consumer devices. The company’s libraries and e-commerce sites are home to many of the most widely used typefaces – including the Helvetica®, Frutiger® and Univers® families – as well as the next generation of type designs. Further information is available at www.monotype.com. Follow Monotype on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Monotype, Helvetica and Frutiger are trademarks of Monotype Imaging Inc. registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Unica and Haas Unica are trademarks of Monotype Imaging Inc. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Univers is a trademark of Monotype GmbH registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. OpenType is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corp. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2015 Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc. All rights reserved.
