There are various terms that deem a typography "grotesk": typography bâton, lineal, or Venus. This once referred to, "ornaments (drawing, painting and sculpture), ancient monuments discovered in Italy by the excavations of the Renaissance, and figuring fantastic subjects, capricious compositions depicting characters, animals, strange plants." CNTRL definition.

Today, the term also evokes the odd, ridiculous, and strange. The difficulty lies in identifying the forms of grotesque. Because of their extraordinary variety and diversity, any grotesk could be reduced to the implementation of one or more of these elements: repetition, hybridity, metamorphosis.

Memoire about Venus and other Akzidenz Grotesk of the late 19th, early 20th century.

Typography: Helvetica Neue by Max Miedinger & King's Caslon by Dalton Maag.
Editorial design : Florent Martini / Virgile Flores / Hucheloup_Trillard

There are various terms that deem a typography "grotesk": typography bâton, lineal, or Venus. This once referred to, "ornaments (drawing, painting and sculpture), ancient monuments discovered in Italy by the excavations of the Renaissance, and figuring fantastic subjects, capricious compositions depicting characters, animals, strange plants." CNTRL definition.

Today, the term also evokes the odd, ridiculous, and strange. The difficulty lies in identifying the forms of grotesque. Because of their extraordinary variety and diversity, any grotesk could be reduced to the implementation of one or more of these elements: repetition, hybridity, metamorphosis.

Memoire about Venus and other Akzidenz Grotesk of the late 19th, early 20th century.

Typography: Helvetica Neue by Max Miedinger & King's Caslon by Dalton Maag.
Editorial design : Florent Martini / Virgile Flores / Hucheloup_Trillard