Adrian Frutiger designed Avenir™ in 1988, after years of having an interest in sans serif typefaces. Avenir means ‘future’ in French and hints that the typeface owes some of its interpretation to Futura. But unlike Futura, Avenir is not purely geometric; it has vertical strokes that are thicker than the horizontals, an “o” that is not a perfect circle, and shortened ascenders. These nuances aid in legibility and give Avenir a harmonious and sensible appearance for both texts and headlines. In 2004 Adrian Frutiger and the type director of Linotype GmbH Akira Kobayashi reworked the Avenir and created the Avenir Next for the Platinum Collection.

Avenir™ Next is a major improvement and extension to the existing Avenir. It includes new small caps, newly designed true italics, and a complete new range of condensed weights. The wide variety of possibilities for accentuation means users can now implement Avenir Next for complex typographical tasks needed in such areas as Corporate Design or in the creation of business reports.

A new form of an old friend: Avenir Next Rounded

In 2012, Linotype decided to issue some of the variants of Avenir® Next in Rounded versions. Working in consultation with Adrian Frutiger, Linotype’s Type Director Akira Kobayashi and the designer Sandra Winter have produced four basic weights Regular, Medium, Demi and Bold of Avenir Next Rounded with the corresponding italic versions.