1967 · Germany
Sabon
Also known as Sabon Next
Jan Tschichold's 1967 Garamond revival — a refined old-style serif engineered to print identically across hot-metal, Linotype, and Monotype machines. The disciplined modernist's homage to a Renaissance master.
GearedBull (Jim Hood), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sabon.png
About the style
Sabon was designed by Jan Tschichold and released in 1967, the product of an unusual commission from a consortium of German master printers who wanted a single typeface that would set identically whether composed by hand foundry type, Linotype, or Monotype. Tschichold based the design on the sixteenth-century romans of Claude Garamond and the italic of Robert Granjon, naming it after Jacques Sabon, a punchcutter who had brought Garamond's matrices to Frankfurt. The technical constraint of three-way machine compatibility forced economies — a unified roman and italic width, a slightly narrowed set — yet Tschichold produced a face of exceptional poise: warm old-style color, fully bracketed serifs, moderate contrast, and the calm even texture prized for book work. Sabon became one of the most respected text serifs of the late twentieth century, the choice of fine publishers worldwide.
Notable examples
- ▸Jan Tschichold — Sabon (Stempel/Linotype/Monotype, 1967)
- ▸Bramann printers' consortium commission
- ▸Jean François Porchez — Sabon Next revival (2002)
Anatomy of Sabon
The numbered markers call out the design elements that define this style. Hover or tap a marker to see its breakdown.
GearedBull (Jim Hood), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sabon.png
Serifs curve smoothly into the stem on a bracket rather than meeting at a sharp angle — the warm, pen-rooted signature of the Garamond old-style lineage.
The double-story a's bowl thins on a diagonal axis, the oblique stress of the broad-nib pen that marks the garalde class.
Letters are drawn slightly narrower than a typical Garamond, an economy forced by the requirement that roman and italic share metrics across three machines.
In running text the moderate contrast and calm proportions produce a smooth, even grey, the quality that made Sabon a fine-press standard.
How Sabon connects
Styles form a network, not a tree. Explore the direct neighbours below — click any to travel the map one hop at a time.
- Evolved from
- Influenced by
Hover or tap a style to preview it.
Evolved from Garamond — a refined revival of Claude Garamond's sixteenth-century romans
Influenced by Garalde (Old-style) — carries the warm old-style colour of the garalde class
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