Neville Brody
Modern-day typography superstar
We often talk about the "greats" in typography -- Goudy, Garamond, and others -- but seldom focus on designers of the late 20th century. Neville Brody has created typefaces that revolutionized the graphic design over the past two decades. He's a British designer and art director, hailing from record cover design. He made his fame through awesome work as Art Director for the Face magazine, then moving on to City Limits, Lei, Per Lui, Actuel and Arena, together with London's The Observer newspaper and magazine.
He has shown that truly creative and different high-quality fonts can still become classics. 1988 Brody published the first of his two monographs , which became the world's best selling graphic design book. Combined sales now exceed 120,000. An accompanying exhibition of his work at the Victoria and Albert Museum attracted over 40,000 visitors before touring Europe and Japan.
Insignia: hip, cutting-edge sans with an attitude
Insignia® was designed as a headline face for Arena magazine in 1986, and released as a font by Linotype in 1989. Insignia has the basic forms of constructed grotesque fonts and was influenced by the New Typography of the Bauhaus during the 1930s.
Insignia's monoline, round-and-sharp forms reflect the Zeitgeist of that age, suggesting technology and progress. Yet, like other Brody fonts, Insignia is also immediately recognizable as one of the hip, cutting-edge classics of our own computer era. The alternate font has half-serifs on the E, F, and Z; squeezed bowls on the P and R; a wider J; and an S made from protractor-shaped parts. Four original Brody fonts are available from Linotype: Insignia, Insignia Industria Solid, Industria Inline and Arcadia. His designs have received international recognition for their innovative style, reaching almost cult status. (Linotype)
Industria: multi-purpose, killer condensed sans 
Mac users have enjoyed Industria since the launch of OS X. But they probably don't know there's an entire family behind that name, not just the single font Apple shipped. Real graphic designers will surely want to own the entire family!
First designed for a magazine called The Face, Industria was released as a font by Linotype GmbH in 1989. Industria is a condensed sans serif with abbreviated, essential forms. It has a systemized mechanical structure of straight strokes with rounded outer corners and rectangular counter spaces.
The solid version is strong, cool, and reserved; the inline version gives a vibrating and artful contrast. The alternate font has a more flamboyant lowercase g and t.
Arcadia: Art Deco styling
21st Century Masters: Neville Brody
Next time you are surfing for fonts, be sure to key in "Neville Brody" to see his entire collection of trend-making fonts!
We wish to send special thanks to researchstudios.com for helping with this article. Visit the Neville Studio for a look at more of this designer's stunning works.
Take advantage, and expand your creative awareness!
... and thanks for reading!
Fred Showker, Editor / Publisher of DTG Magazine
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