Tempo (typeface)

{{short description|Geometric sans-serif typeface}}

File:Tempo Medium Italic Type Specimen (24552250119).jpg

Tempo is a 1930 sans-serif typeface designed by R. Hunter Middleton for the Ludlow Typograph company.{{cite book|author=Allan Haley|title=Typographic Milestones|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dKeVor1olhkC&pg=PA117|date=15 September 1992|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-471-28894-7|pages=117–120}} Tempo is a geometric sans-serif design, closely copying German typefaces in this style, above all Futura, which had attracted considerable attention in the United States. Unlike Futura, however, it has a "dynamic" true italic, with foot serifs suggesting handwriting and optional swash capitals.{{cite web|last1=Schwartz|first1=Christian|authorlink1=Christian Schwartz|title=Back with a flourish #5. Christian Schwartz on swaggering swashes|url=http://www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/type-tuesday24|website=Eye|access-date=31 March 2018}}

Tempo was expanded to a sprawling family released over the 1930s and 40s, that ({{as of|2020|lc=yes}}) has not been fully digitised.{{cite web|last1=Korwin|first1=Josh|title=The Ludlow: Typographic Influence, 1931–1962|url=http://blog.threestepsahead.com/general/the-ludlow-typographic-influence-1931–1962/|website=Three Steps Ahead|access-date=31 March 2018}} It included the shadow-form display typeface Umbra, which has often been released separately.{{cite web|last1=Devroye|first1=Luc|authorlink1=Luc Devroye|title=R. Hunter Middleton|url=http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-26269.html|website=Type Design Information|access-date=4 October 2016}} Some styles had a double-storey 'a' in the usual print form, similar to Erbar, others the single-storey form in the manner of Futura, and numerous alternative characters were available.{{cite book |last1=Hutt |first1=Allen |author-link=Allen Hutt|title=Newspaper Design |pages=117–120 |quote=With Tempo Heavy roman it is necessary to specify the alternative 'squared' characters for A, M, N, W; with these caps. in their normal pointed form the type has the look of one that has strayed from advertising display into news.}} Digital-period type designer James Puckett describes it as "bonkers; really four typefaces that just got lumped together for the sake of marketing."{{cite web |last1=Puckett |first1=James |title=Currently working on an accurate revival of R. Hunter Middleton's typeface Tempo |url=https://dribbble.com/shots/4852810-On-Tempo |website=Dribbble |publisher=Dunwich Type Founders |access-date=29 January 2019}}{{cite web |last1=Puckett |first1=James |title=Tempo Heavy Italic |url=https://dailytypespecimen.com/post/162659540918/tempo-heavy-italic-type-specimen/ |website=Daily Type Specimen |publisher=Dunwich Type Founders |access-date=29 January 2019 |quote=Tempo has a fun mix of Futura’s teutonic sternness and R. Hunter Middleton’s love of lively quirks. Middleton worked in a backward leaning f, a curvaceous style for v, w, and g, and big open apertures for e and s that resemble American advertising letters of the era.}}{{cite web |last1=Puckett |first1=James |title=Tempo Alternate |url=https://dailytypespecimen.com/post/157382055433/ludlow-tempo-alternate-bold-type-specimen |website=Daily Type Specimen |publisher=Dunwich Type Founders |access-date=29 January 2019 |quote=Tempo Alternate was designed to look more like Futura than the original release of Tempo. They failed pretty miserably; only a blind man could confuse this for Futura Bold.}}{{cite web |last1=Puckett |first1=James |title=Stellar Bold |url=https://dailytypespecimen.com/post/159830404128/ludlow-stellar-bold-type-specimen/ |website=Daily Type Specimen |publisher=Dunwich Type Founders |access-date=29 January 2019 |quote=Stellar and Tempo, released in 1929 and 1930, respectively...both have the Erbar a}} Middleton also designed a slab-serif typeface in similar style, Karnak, around the same time, again copying a German trend of Futura-style "geometric" slab-serifs.{{cite book|author=Neil Macmillan|title=An A-Z of Type Designers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jxV4qEolEo8C&pg=PA135|year=2006|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-11151-7|page=135}}

Tempo's italic, with its 'feet' at the bottom of the letters, was an influence on that of the popular 2002 geometric sans-serif family Neutraface, designed by Christian Schwartz.{{cite web|url=http://www.christianschwartz.com/neutra.shtml|title=Neutraface|authorlink=Christian Schwartz|last=Schwartz|first=Christian|publisher=www.christianschwartz.com|access-date=October 2, 2011}}{{cite book|last1=Berry|first1=John D.|title=Dot-font: Talking About Fonts|date=2006|publisher=Mark Batty Publisher|location=New York|isbn=0-9772827-0-8|pages=117–121|edition=1st}}{{cite web|url=http://www.houseind.com/fonts/neutraface/neutrahistory|title=The Neutra Legacy|publisher=House Industries|access-date=October 2, 2011}}{{cite web|last1=Coles|first1=Stephen|title=Neutraface: Functional Novelty|url=http://typographica.org/000446.php|website=Typographica (archived)|access-date=8 December 2017|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014005807/http://typographica.org/000446.php|archive-date=14 October 2007}}