Maison Neue is a modern sans-serif typeface designed in 2013 by Swiss type foundry, Milieu Grotesque. It is a geometric typeface with a humanist touch, featuring open strokes, low contrast, and a large x-height. Its design is inspired by classic grotesques, offering a modern and clean look. Maison Neue occupies an interesting space for a Grotesque. Adapted from an earlier design, Maison, this release balances the ideals of its idiosyncratic source with considerations of harmony and flow.
Maison was originally constructed around regularized widths and a lack of stroke modulation with little optical “correction”, Maison Neue revisits the design with a focus on making it more usable and expanding the family. The result is a functional typeface with roots in an nonfunctional ideology. Something that straddles geometric principles and usability in a way that is peculiar, but pleasurable, as well as and highly contemporary. Maison Neue stands as a distinctive design that unites the functional with the unexpected.
oMaison Neue Characteristics
Maison was a Grotesque constructed around regularized widths and a lack of stroke modulation with little optical “correction”. Maison Neue revisits the design with a focus on making it more usable and expanding the family.
Timo Gaessner approached Maison Neue with modern reproduction technologies in mind. Gaessner sees today’s concerns as much more formal than practical, stressing harmony and visual characteristics over classical technical limitations. In the transition from a few weights into full family, some of the quirks of the original are gone. The stroke contrast is slightly more visible and some of the more colorful and noticeable characteristics are removed, such as the tails on the lowercase ‘a’, ‘y’, and ‘t’, or the sloping terminal on the lowercase ‘r’. In their place, we see more traditional character designs that aid in the spacing and consistency.
However, what is retained from the original Maison is what makes Maison Neue so interesting. The distinctive ‘a’ is reminiscent of Akzidenz, but when run through the systematic drawing of Maison creates something quite distinctive. The angled terminals and slightly narrower width (something I assume was the result of the original design’s monolinear forms and regularized widths), along with the atypical origins of the typeface make it innovative in a saturated genre.
The Designer: Timo Gaessner
Timo Gaessner, a Berlin-based graphic and type designer, studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. In 2002 he founded 123buero, a graphic design studio primarily focused on printed matter, identity programmes, exhibition and type design. In 2010 Gaessner and co-founder Alexander Colby established the digital type foundry Milieu Grotesque, through which all recently developed typefaces are distributed exclusively.
Timo has lectured and held workshops internationally, at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Hochschule für Künste (University of the Arts) in Bremen, amongst others. From 2011 to 2013, he has been a visiting lecturer at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe, Germany and several other universities.
According to Gaessner: “We believe in evolution rather than in revolution, and believe that slow and naturally-developing progression has a more sustainable impact. After all, even as a type designer, it’s simply impossible to reinvent the (latin) alphabet. So yes, we are very much tied to design history and the only innovation possible is in technical context. Due to digital evolution, we are now able to draw and develop typefaces that perform with more precision and complexity than ever before.“
Timo Gaessner approached Maison Neue with modern reproduction technologies in mind. Where a design like Bell Centennial would require ink traps, Gaessner sees today’s concerns as much more formal than practical, stressing harmony and visual characteristics over classical technical limitations. In the transition from a few weights into full family — Maison Neue has twelve styles, two of which are monospace cuts (upright and italic) — some of the quirks of the
Timo Gaessner approached Maison Neue with modern reproduction technologies in mind. Where a design like Bell Centennial would require inktraps, Gaessner sees today’s concerns as much more formal than practical, stressing harmony and visual characteristics over classical technical limitations. In the transition from a few weights into full family — Maison Neue has twelve styles, two of which are monospace cuts (upright and italic) — some of the quirks of the original are
Timo Gaessner approached Maison Neue with modern reproduction technologies in mind. Where a design like Bell Centennial would require inktraps, Gaessner sees today’s concerns as much more formal than practical, stressing harmony and visual characteristics over classical technical limitations. In the transition from a few weights into full family — Maison Neue has twelve styles, two of which are monospace cuts (upright and italic) some of the quirks of the original are
Timo Gaessner approached Maison Neue with modern reproduction technologies in mind. Where a design like Bell Centennial would require inktraps, Gaessner sees today’s concerns as much more formal than practical, stressing harmony and visual characteristics over classical technical limitations. In the transition from a few weights into full family — Maison Neue has twelve styles, two of which are monospace cuts (upright and italic) some of the quirks of the origi -
Timo Gaessner approached Maison Neue with the modern reproduction technologies in mind. Where a design like Bell Centennial would require ink traps, Gaessner sees today’s concerns as much more formal than practical, stressing harmony and visual characteristics over classical technical limitations. In the transition
Timo Gaessner approached Maison Neue with modern reproduction technologies in mind. Where a design like Bell Centennial would require ink traps, Gaessner sees today’s concerns as much more formal than practical, stressing harmony and visual characteristics over classical technical limitations. In the transition from a
Timo Gaessner approached Maison Neue with modern reproduction technologies in mind. Where a design like Bell Centennial would require ink traps, Gaessner sees today’s concerns as much more formal than practical, stressing harmony and visual characteristics over classical technical limitations. In the transition
Timo Gaessner approached Maison Neue with the modern reproduction technologies in mind. Where a design like Bell Centennial would require ink traps, Gaessner sees today’s concerns as much more formal than practical, stressing harmony and visual characteristics over classical technical limitations. In the transition
Timo Gaessner approached Maison Neue with modern reproduction technologies in mind. Where a design like Bell Centennial would require inktraps, Gaessner sees today’s concerns as much more formal than
Timo Gaessner approached Maison Neue with modern reproduction technologies in mind. Where design like Bell Centennial wouldn’t require inktraps, Gaessner sees today’s concerns as much more formal than
Timo Gaessner approached Maison Neue with modern reproduction technologies in mind. Where the design in Bell Centennial wouldn’t require inktraps, Gaessner views today’s concerns as much more
Timo Gaessner approached Maison Neue with modern reproduction technologies in mind. Where a design like Bell Centennial would require inktraps, Gaessner sees today’s concerns as much more formal than
low x height
open strokes, low contrast
single story g
removed original tails and sloping terminal
Maison Neue Book Italic 8pt/10
Maison Neue Light 8pt/10
Maison Neue Medium 8pt/10 Maison Neue Bold 8pt/10
Maison Neue Book Italic 9pt/11
Maison Neue Light 9pt/11
Maison Neue Medium 9pt/11
Maison Neue Bold 09pt/11
Maison Neue Book Italic 12pt/14
Maison Neue Light 12pt/14
Maison Neue Medium 12pt/14
Maison Neue Bold 12pt/14
Maison Nepue Book Italic 12/14pt
Maison Neue Light 12/14pt
Maison Neue Medium 12/14pt Maison Neue Bold 12/14pt
the large bowl, curved stroke and angled terminal create more openess for aperture
arch pointing downwards
bowl curls downwards from stem with a notably complex point at the intersection
It all gets ironed out. Money is an iron. Those creases all get smoothed out by money.
What are you all, a family of charlatans?
But that smell, it crosses the line.
She’s nice because she’s rich. Hell, if I had all this money. I’d be nice, too! A
Maison Neue Light, 45pt/47
Maison Neue Book Italic, 55pt/57
Maison Neue Medium, 65pt/67
Maison Neue Bold, 75pt/77
notably low crossbar and even stroke results in a large counter
A
Maison Neue Book, Medium, Bold, 10pt/12, 60pt/62, 90pt/92
Sans Serif: Neo Grotesque
Clean Minimal Modern
the terminal follows path of stroke square dot on i, maintains the consistancy and uniformity of the letterform
distinctive double story a, angled terminals and narrow width make Maison Neue unique in a saturated genre
harmony through subtlety is prioritized with consistency in proportion and shape
pointed apex and sheared top: contributes to overall balance
narrow r, with the weight tapering at the link
the noticeable characteristics from the original maison are removed, such as the tails on the lowercase ‘a’, ‘y’, and ‘t’.
maison neue uses low contrast and simple unadorned terminals to appear even and refined. and simple unadorned terminals a t u r i
Monocular form for lower case g, commonly used in neo grotesque sans serif typefaces.
Maison Neue Light, Bold, 140pt/142, 675pt/677, 740pt/742
occupies upper half of glyph
large bowl due to wide body cropped apex terminals follow natural path of stroke
minimal rectangular arm
low hanging crossbar
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
nample space for closed counter
tight open counter slightly uneven spacing in the middle
angled terminal, no bar
90 degrees, tight aperture
tall curving stroke
K Division Infiltrate Desperate Wealth
Maison Neue Light, 130pt
Maison Neue Book Italic, 145pt
Maison Neue Medium, 175pt
Maison Neue Bold, 200pt
leg connects to arm
low contrast stroke
Mom and I had no idea where Dad was, but those detectives still wore themselves out trying to follow us. After all the news quieted down and the surveillance ended, I began going up that mountain. From there, you can get a great view of the house. Despite the cold, I felt like staying for longer.
Dad, today I made a plan, a fundamental plan. I’m going to earn money, lots of it. University, career, marriage, those are all fine, but first I’ll earn money. When I have money, I’ll buy the house. On the day we move in, Mom and I will be in the yard. The sunshine is so nice there. All you’ll need to do is walk up the stairs
You know what kind of plan never fails? No plan. No plan at all. And do you know why? Because life cannot be planned. Look around you. Do you think these people made a plan to sleep in the sports hall with you? But here we are now, sleeping together on the floor.
Maison Neue Light, 30pt/32
Maison Neue Medium, 30pt/32
Maison Neue Bold, 30pt/32
“In today’s capitalistic society there are ranks and castes that are invisible to the eye. We keep them disguised and out of sight and superficially look down on class hierarchies as a relic of the past, but the reality is that there are class lines that cannot be crossed. I think that this film depicts the inevitable cracks that appear when two classes brush up against each other in today’s increasingly polarized society.” -Bong Joon-Ho
Bong Joon-Ho
Bong Joon Ho (1969) is an award-winning South Korean filmmaker. Born the youngest of four children in Daegu, South Korea, Bong was interested in film from a young age but was hesitant to make it his life’s work. He studied sociology at Yonsei University—a hub for the 1980s democracy movement—before enrolling in the Korean Academy of Film Arts in the early 1990s. There, he made some of his first short films and fully immersed himself in the study of international cinema before releasing his directorial debut, Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000). Since then, Bong has helped transform Korean cinema and bring it to theaters around the world.
Bong Joon-ho’s filmography is characterized by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black humor, and sudden tone shifts. He first became known to audiences and achieved a cult following with his directorial debut film, the black comedy Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), before achieving both critical and commercial success with his subsequent films, notably the crime thriller Memories of Murder (2003), the monster film The Host (2006), the science fiction action film Snowpiercer (2013), and the black comedy thriller Parasite (2019), all of which are among the highest-grossing films in South Korea, with Parasite also being the highest-grossing South Korean film in history.
When Bong Joon-ho was in college, he worked as a tutor for the middle school-aged son of a strict, rich family, getting a glimpse into a luxurious world far beyond his own. It was through this job, all those decades ago, that he first dreamt up the idea for Parasite, his Palme d’Or–winning film about a poor family that scams its way into the lives of a wealthy family. “I imagined what would happen if I just [brought] in my friends one by one,” Bong didn’t last very long as a tutor, however that job inspired an instant masterpiece, captivating global audiences.
Parasite has easily been his most high profile to date on the international scene. After coming up short two years’ prior, Bong’s Parasite was awarded the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first Korean film to ever do so, and it won with a unanimous vote. Following its strong festival run, Parasite began the awards season with three nominations at the 77th Golden Globe Awards, where it was selected as South Korea’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, where it won not only in that category, but made history by being the first foreign language film to win Best Picture as well, winning the Best Director category.
