As all type lovers know, Johannes Gutenberg’s historic first typeface design, way back in the fifteenth century, was the end result of an extensive research and design program to create a type specifically to set the Bible. In fact, most of the early typeface designs were devised for a particular printing assignment.
Over half a millennium later, ITC Weidemann (pronounced “vi-day-mun”) carries on this proud tradition. The German Bible Society commissioned Professor Kurt Weidemann to design the face, originally called “Biblica,” for the first Bible translation mutually sponsored by the German Catholic and Protestant church authorities. ITC admired Weidemann’s design and felt that it should be made available on a worldwide basis. In the process of converting Biblica into an ITC release, the name was changed to credit its designer.
In light of the specific assignment from the German Bible Society, Professor Weidemann chose to pattern the type after old style roman design traits. His reasons were:
- The bracketed serifs of old style faces help retain baseline definition
- The relatively even strokes in old style roman letterforms assure a uniform typographic color that results in less show-through on lightweight paper
- An old style face permits more distinctive shapes of individual letters than other serifed typefaces
With the aid of colleague Kurt Strecker at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart, Germany, Kurt Weidemann modified the original typeface and developed an entire family of weights and styles for the ITC release. A fresh rendition of a classic old style design, ITC Weidemann is slightly condensed, making it perfect when space is at a premium. It features a tall x-height and bracketed serifs, which aid in readability.
ITC Weidemann is available in four weights: book, medium, bold and black, each with corresponding italics. The book and medium weight OpenType fonts also include small caps and old style figures.