LL Unica77 is the only digital version of Haas Unica (1980) authorised by the typeface’s original designers, Team’77. It was re-mastered by team member Christian Mengelt from their own drawings.

Unica has had a conflicted history from the very beginning. After Linotype bought a license for Neue Haas Grotesk (1957) and developed it into Helvetica for worldwide use (1960), they prevented Haas Type Foundry from adapting the typeface to the upcoming phototypesetting technology. Having waited for many years, Haas finally decided to develop a new typeface tailor-made for the technology. They brought in Team’77 (André Gürtler, Christian Mengelt, Erich Gschwind) to conduct a thorough analysis of four formally related typefaces – Akzidenz Grotesk, Neue Haas Grotesk, Helvetica and Univers – as a basis for the new design.

The achievement was significant. Unica is often regarded as the pinnacle of modernist type design, arguably the most modern and the most Swiss typeface: one that embodies the idea of a ‘pure medium’, a ‘neutral carrier’. Upon its release with Bobst Graphic/Autologic in 1980 (and later with Linotype in 1984) Unica seemed to deliver on what Helvetica promised.

Then, in a twist of fate, it disappeared. By the mid-1980s, phototypesetting’s days were numbered, and the personal computer had begun to radically alter the printing trade. In 1989, Linotype acquired Haas’ majority stakeholder, Stempel, and when Haas was terminated, Unica was buried with it.

But it was not forgotten. In 2004, Lineto co-founder Stephan Müller came across a digital version in a Scangraphic specimen book. As it wasn’t available to buy, he sourced a black market copy, made minimal changes to it, and discreetly used it for an artist book. This revival made waves, and before long, Unica became a revered tool of choice for many of the designers associated with Lineto.

As there was still no legitimate version around by 2012, we decided to get in touch with Christian Mengelt. He informed us that the version Stephan had discovered was unauthorised and rejected by Team’77 because of its more monolinear drawing and its strongly altered spacing and kerning.

Mengelt told us that Linotype had turned down his request for a digital re-release of Haas Unica, as they had already given up the trademark in 2005. We were more than happy to contribute to a full digital resurrection of Haas Unica. Christian Mengelt dug out the original drawings, carefully reconstructing each of the eight original cuts. Maurice Göldner helped adapt characters and expand the family.

The resulting character set of LL Unica77 is rich with features and stylistic sets, offering a number of alternates, including rounded punctuation. A thorough re-working of the diacritics and punctuation was presented in the fall of 2019.

At the same time, LL Unica77 became available for use in Cyrillic and Greek. Thanks to our international collaborators, we are able to further extend the journey of Haas Unica. Once consigned to the fate of phototypesetting (and Swiss modernism, one might add), LL Unica77 is now ready to enjoy new life in the digital age of global script design.

Laurenz Brunner

Laurenz Brunner