The prize winners for best annual report design in the year 2005 were released by Manager Magazin back in October 2006. Sixty companies based in German-speaking territories received awards in ten different sector-based categories. I’ve compiled a list of how often certain typefaces were used in all of these annual reports.
The 12 most popular typefaces used in these annual reports were:
- Frutiger Next – 12 Instances
- Frutiger – 11 Instances
- ITC Zapf Dingbats (tie) – 11 instances
- Compatil – 10 instances
- Neue Helvetica – 7 instances
- Univers (tie) – 7 instances
- Corporate ASE – 6 instances
- Myriad (tie) – 6 instances
- Helvetica – 4 instances
- Minion (tie) – 4 instances
- Thesis (tie) – 4 instances
- Wingdings (tie) – 4 instances
A note on the research
Since all of these corporations are publicly-traded companies, their annual reports are posted on their websites for download in PDF-format. Opening each of these files in Acrobat, I looked in the “Fonts” section of the “Document Properties.” That window lists all fonts embedded in the document.
So far, only Linotype has posted any material to these award-winning annual reports and the typefaces used on their website. This page at Linotype.com includes images of some of the top annual reports, and links to their PDFs on the web.
Almost every annual report used more than one font in its design; some reports contained as many as five or six different typeface families. At least 49 typeface families were used, total, not including ca. 31 instances of custom designed typefaces.
Here is a list of all of the typefaces, the number of times they were used, and links to more information about their design. I’ve tried to build in as many links as possible to Jürgen Siebert’s new “100 beste Schriften” site; its an excellent resource.
Akzindez-Grotesk – 3 instances
Info on Akzidenz-Grotesk on the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Akzidenz-Grotesk at MyFonts.com.
Arial – 2 instances
Arial at Linotype.com.
Bulldog – 1 instance
Bulldog at Linotype.com.
Carta – 2 instances
Carta at Linotype.com.
Compatil – 10 instances
See images of Compatil in the winning annual reports at Linotype.com.
Compatil at Linotype.com.
Corporate ASE – 6 instances
Info on Corporate ASE from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Corporate A at MyFonts.com.
Corporate S at MyFonts.com.
Corporate E at MyFonts.com.
Courier – 5 instances
Courier at Linotype.com
N.B.: Courier Cyrillic Bold may well be the coolest font ever.
FF Dax – 1 instance
Info on FF Dax from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
FF Dax at MyFonts.com.
DIN – 3 instances
DIN 1451 at Linotype.com.
FF DIN at MyFonts.com.
Euro Mono – 1 instance
Euro Sans – 7 instances
Euro Serif – 1 instance
The Adobe Euro fonts, at the Adobe Type site.
European Pi – 1 instance
European Pi at Linotype.com.
FF Dingbats – 3 instances
The FF Dingbats family at MyFonts.com.
Franklin Gothic – 1 instance
Info on Franklin Gothic from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Franklin Gothic at Linotype.com.
ITC Franklin Gothic at Linotype.com.
Monotype Franklin Gothic at Linotype.com.
Frutiger – 11 instances
Info on Frutiger from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Frutiger at Linotype.com.
Frutiger Next – 12 instances
Frutiger Next at Linotype.com.
Futura – 2 instances
Info on Futura from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Futura at Linotype.com
Adobe Garamond – 1 instance
Info on Garamond from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Adobe Garamond at Linotype.com.
Garamond #3 – 1 instance
Garamond #3 at Linotype.com.
Gill Sans – 1 instance
Info on Gill Sans from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Gill Sans at Linotype.com.
Granjon – 1 instance
Granjon at Linotype.com.
Helvetica – 4 instances
Info on Helvetica from the “100 beste Schriften“ site.
Helvetica at Linotype.com.
Neue Helvetica – 7 instances
Neue Helvetica at Linotype.com.
Imago – 1 instance
Imago at MyFonts.com.
Lucida – 1 instance
Info on Lucida from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Lucida at Linotype.com.
Mathematical Pi – 2 instances
Universal Mathematical Pi at Linotype.com.
Minion – 4 instances
Info on Minion from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Minion at Linotype.com.
Miscellaneous custom designs – 31 instances
Monotype Sorts – 1 instance
Monoytpe Sorts at Linotype.com.
Myriad – 6 instances
Info on Myriad from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Myriad at Linotype.com.
ITC Officina – 1 instance
Info on ITC Officina from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
ITC Officina at Linotype.com.
News Gothic – 2 instances
Info on News Gothic from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
News Gothic at Linotype.com.
Monotype News Gothic at Linotype.com.
Linotype Punkt – 2 instances
Linotype Punkt at Linotype.com
Rotis – 1 instance
Info on Rotis from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Rotis at Linotype.com.
Sabon – 2 instances
Info on Sabon from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Sabon at Linotype.com.
Sabon Next at Linotype.com.
Skia – 1 instance
Skia at MyFonts.com.
Snell Roundhand – 1 instance
Snell Roundhand at Linotype.com.
Solex – 1 instance
Solex at MyFonts.com.
ITC Stone Sans – 3 instances
Info on ITC Stone from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
ITC Stone Sans at Linotype.com
ITC Stone Serif – 1 instance
ITC Stone Serif at Linotype.com
Swift – 1 instance
Info on Swift from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Swift at Linotype.com.
Swift 2.0 at GerardUnger.com.
Thesis – 4 instances
Info on Thesis from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
See the typefaces at the Lucas Fonts website.
Times New Roman – 2 instances
Info on Times New Roman from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Times New Roman at Linotype.com.
Times – 2 instances
Times at Linotype.com.
Times 10 at Linotype.com.
Times 18 at Linotype.com.
Univers – 7 instances
Info on Univers from the “100 beste Schriften” site.
Univers at Linotype.com.
Linotype Univers – 2 instances
Linotype Univers at Linotype.com.
Webdings – 1 instance
Webdings at MyFonts.com.
Wingdings – 4 instances
Wingdings at MyFonts.com.
ITC Zapf Dingbats – 11 instances
ITC Zapf Dingbats at Linotype.com.