Walbaum Fraktur

Walbaum Fraktur

Walbaum Fraktur was designed by Justus Erich Walbaum in the 1800s. It is a Blackletter font based on type found post 1200AD particularly in the area of Germany. It uses typically calligraphic strokes, high contrast between light and heavy stokes and a detached formation of the letters.

Fraktur (Latin for broken) typefaces had a renewed popularity just after the Great Depression with the National Socialist German Workers' Party, or Nazi's. They cultivated an aesthetic sense which was Nationalistic to the extreme, in support of their political campaign which focussed on the greatness of Germany, its old empire, and the alleged German humiliation in the Treaty of Versailles.



Note: 8/5/2012

This has been one of the main influences on my typeface, I have drawn a lot from the calligraphic, expressing strokes that give a hand drawn appeal that a more geometric font such as P22 Bayer Universal lacks. I think this gives the typeface a more human appeal, bringing a bit more emotion into the typeface rather than it be cold and purely functional. I was going to soften the contrast but, due to time and, so as to not water down a feature I thikn it important I have kept the string contrast between line weights which is another feature of Fraktur fonts.