U8

A few months ago I was participating in the exhibition “Hier wäre das Leben leicht”¹, held at Art laboratorium, Berlin. While working with the wide subject of typography, I was visualizing through text some feelings about Berlin. With different tryouts and tests I just slowly confirmed to myself that what really attracts me about big cities is the rapid transit, (more precisely U-bahn). In a way we are dependant on such means of transportation in cities with great population. Getting through the town by car you will be more likely stuck in traffic jams (Staus) and by tram you can drive only in few areas (if a city has any trams. Berlin has only in its North-Eastern part). With buses one can feel at ease only after being accustomed to the city’s transportation system.
The project at Art Laboratorium urged me to look once more into the collection of photos from U-bahn that I have been collecting for several years. This seemed intriguing, soon I found myself sketching the typeface while sitting in the library. The following text is based upon loose fragments that I have found about trains, tunnels, concrete and station signage.

The construction technique was mostly cut and cover², except tunneling under River Spree.

Plans for the project were made by S&H³ team much earlier, but apparently break in the preparation allowed to make several amendments to drafts and enhanced the project – initially, the line was meant to be straighter and it had to cross with the subway line Moabit–Treptow. The tunnels for Moabit–Treptow were partly excavated and they still lie under the city. As a sign of that we can observe the unproportionally large station Moritzplatz.

U8 is a type revival project. The task was to restore a part of history; to find a link between DIN⁴ & Bauhaus; to translate display type into the text typeface.

In digitizations I gave my best to preserve as many quirks and inconsistencies as possible. This task was hard, because in U-Bahn stations every sign is made like a separate piece of art. During the process, while I was transferring U8 atmosphere into typeface, warnings given by older colleagues got confirmed⁵. For example, on each of the signs that I have photographed letter “a” looks different. Not only because of the quality of workmanship, but due to different materials: some signs are made on a enamel metal plate, some are on a ceramic plate. Some metal signs are bent (the shapes stretch in a horizontal direction). Some signs were made during the first part of construction of the Line D (now U8), some at the end of the project.

In order to draw numbers, I had to borrow the ideas for shapes from the so-called “BVG¹⁰ font”
because on U8 line it was impossible to find any sign with numbers. Fortunately, the “BVG font” was used more thoroughly parallel to U8 typeface on all kinds of signalization, train number plates, ticket selling machines and later on buses. Possibly it was used until mid-1990s as a corporate typeface of BVG. (until—E. Spikermann’s “Transit” got in use by BVG)

Why U8 line has became “classic of modernism” [according to the headline of C.Brachmann’s book: Licht und Farbe in Berliner Untergrund, U-Bahnhöfe der Klassischen Moderne]^a

At the time of the construction of the U8 line/making of the signs, the design context was extremely innovative. The ideas of ‘new typography’ were about to develop. By 1925, J. Tschichold^b had written dualistic table to make it clear what is ‘new typography’: typefounder’s type — to engraved type, machine setting — to hand setting, . . . , standardization — to individualization

In the same text he prioritizes the “grotesk”⁶ types, because they ought to be simply formed and easy to read. As a contrasting tool, he allowed to use old types as well, because there were not enough modern typefaces at hand to use in print. Especially because the criteria set by Tschichold was really high: ‘I myself think that it cannot be open to one person to create the letterform of our age, which is something that must be free of any personal traces. It will be the work of several people, among whom one will probably find an engineer.’^b

“A choice of type, more perfect, more legible and cut with more geometric simplicity. Understanding of the spirit of the types suitable and their use in accord with the character of the text, contrast of typographical material to emphasize content.”

J. Tschichold in the upper mentioned text^c

U8 specialist Brachmann^a in book about underground stations of U8 mentions that indeed type selection was made according to models of ‘new typography’, construction is geometric and in sync with Bauhaus. We can imagine that U8 typeface was conceived quite by the ideals of J.Tscichold. Also, the question of authorship remains mysterious so far: my request to the archives⁷ of Berlin has not received any better answer than “possibly it was made by some draftsman / engineer”.

The first subway in the world – London Tube – could have given hints for new direction. Since 1916 a special typeface appeared on station signs (London Tube system got merged). That typeface marked a milestone for subway signage. It is hard to define to which extent Berlin subway graphic outlook got influenced by this. From pro and contra arguments we have to keep in mind that at the beginning of 20^th century Germany had still its own very strong blackletter tradition. So next to Keiser style, (roman/antiqua) it would be thinkable to paint Fraktur or Schwabacher on the walls of U8. Still the choice was made in favour of grotesk. Typography research by C. Burke^d have shown that German type designer P. Renner (in mid-1920s) lived and created from Germany’s own tradition, and he knew about London underground typeface through words of other colleagues. It is hard to define graphical influences and trace the traffic of knowledge in the field back at that time. At least it is documented that technical know-how for subway was actually borrowed from Budapest¹¹. Maybe pragmatical engineers found that under a certain angle and in weak lightning conditions grotesk poses less optical problems and it is easier to paint plates.

I have enjoyed researching the dusty and damaged part of history¹². It is nice to be every now and then the member of SBT⁹. Since my studies in the field of art and design, I have got an overview of the work completed by Bauhaus innovators. This has provided a superior concept for further development of typedesign, but which in its own time lead to none of working typefaces. The clash of geometric planars with the real world: the drawings drafted with a compass and a ruler needed to be transferred on the surface by painters with brushes. Example of U8 shows one of the links how Bauhaus designers probably borrowed from things seen around in Germany and vice versa.