URW Grotesk
{{Short description|Sans-serif typeface}}
{{Infobox font
| name = URW Grotesk
| familyname =
| image = URW Grotesk specimen.png
| style = Sans-serif
| creator = Hermann Zapf
| foundry = URW
| creationdate = 1983-7
| releasedate = 1987
}}
URW Grotesk is a large sans-serif typeface family designed by Hermann Zapf for URW in the mid-1980s.{{cite book|author=Neil Macmillan|title=An A-Z of Type Designers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8lpJXXQPEqUC&pg=PT10|year=2006|publisher=Laurence King Publishing|isbn=978-1-85669-395-0|pages=105–6}}{{cite book|first=Nikolaus Julius|last=Weichselbaumer|title=Der Typograph Hermann Zapf: Eine Werkbiographie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f9VaCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT393|date=14 December 2015|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG|isbn=978-3-11-041505-6|pages=325-8}}
URW Grotesk is a sans-serif of mixed design, with influences both of geometric sans-serifs of the 1920s and 1930s, such as Futura and Erbar, as well as "grotesque" and "humanist" sans-serifs. Elements related to the geometric model include the "single-storey" letter 'a', based on a circle. Other elements are less purely geometric, and more based on classic serif typefaces, for example the 't' with a curl to bottom right and an angled stroke terminal, unlike Futura's 't' composed of two simple cross-strokes.{{cite web|last1=Reynolds|first1=Dan|title=How To Choose The Right Face For A Beautiful Body|url=https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/05/how-to-choose-the-right-face-for-a-beautiful-body/|website=Smashing Magazine|accessdate=23 June 2016}}{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Steven Heller, Gail|title=New Vintage Type: Classic Fonts for the Digital Age|date=2007|publisher=Watson-Guptill Publications|location=New York|isbn=9780823099597|page=159}} Some ideas for the design germinated from "Magnus", a 1950s design for Linotype that did not reach release. Starting from Zapf's original designs, URW created an extremely large range of weights and widths by computerised interpolation and extrapolation.{{cite web|last1=Coles |first1=Stephen |title=Alternatives to Futura |url=https://www.fontshop.com/people/stephen-coles/fontlists/futura-alternatives |publisher=Fontshop |accessdate=2 October 2015 |url-status=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316221104/https://www.fontshop.com/people/stephen-coles/fontlists/futura-alternatives |archivedate=March 16, 2015 }}
Florian Hardwig's obituary for Zapf described it as "not a typical design for him, utterly uncalligraphic...but it functioned wonderfully, of course."{{cite web|last1=Hardwig|first1=Florian|title=In memoriam Hermann Zapf, 1918–2015 (German)|url=http://www.myfonts.de/2015/06/zapf/|website=MyFonts|accessdate=23 June 2016}}{{cite web|title=Alternativen zur Futura|url=http://peter-glaab.de/2013/10/alternativen-zur-futura/|website=Peter Glaab Typografie + Visuelle Kommunication|accessdate=23 June 2016}}{{cite web|last1=Reynolds|first1=Dan|title=Hermann Zapf receives Germany’s highest honor|url=http://www.typeoff.de/2010/05/hermann-zapf-receives-germanys-highest-honor/|website=TypeOff|accessdate=23 June 2016}} It is the primary typeface used by the University of Nebraska at Omaha.{{cite web|title=University Communications|url=http://www.unomaha.edu/university-communications/brand/fonts.php|publisher=University of Nebraska at Omaha|accessdate=23 June 2016}} The design was originally intended for Axel Springer publications.{{cite web|title=URW Grotesk|url=https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/grotesk/|website=MyFonts|accessdate=23 June 2016}} Zapf designed a serif companion font at the same time as part of the same (ultimately abandoned) redesign project, URW Antiqua.{{cite web|last1=Sieradzki|first1=Maria|title=Gute Schriften: URW Antiqua|url=http://gute-schriften.hbksaar.net/urw-antiqua/|website=HBK Saar|accessdate=23 June 2016}}