Culture
Words by Florian Hardwig
“Dark Peignots”, the long trail of a successful design, 1937-2023
A.M. Cassandre designed Peignot in the early 1930s. It was then available through the Deberny & Peignot foundry in Paris, where it was first cast in 1937. By the following year, the family – three weights and a set of initials – was complete.
Over the decades, Peignot was produced for every major typesetting technique, in metal and wood, and from phototype and dry transfer lettering to various digital font formats. The groundbreaking design with its novel lowercase characters spawned numerous imitations, reinterpretations, and direct copies. Already in the 1940s, Fonderie Olive in Marseille produced a close follower named Chambord, with a more conventional lowercase. Deberny & Peignot countered with a lawsuit – and their own revision, Touraine.
A first adaptation for photographic typesetting was made available before 1950, under the name Chickering. By the 1970s, most type providers of note carried a Peignot in one way or another. Typically, these were (more or less) direct translations of the original. Some expanded the weight range. Others got more creative and elaborated on the biform/unicase theme, see for example PLINC Envoy and Filmotype Vixen.
Cassandre may have been born in Kharkiv, but his design covered the Latin alphabet only. At least three times, though, other designers have made an attempt at adding matching Cyrillic characters.
When typography went digital in the 1980s and 1990s, Peignot was among the first designs to be converted for the new medium. And not just once, but more than a dozen times. Quality-wise, these renditions were all over the place, from decent and faithful to sloppy and downright abominable. Several of these fonts got names that resembled the original while still avoiding trademark infringement: Penyoe, Peinaud, Penguin, and even PigNose. Others were baptized after the perceived connotations, like Exotic 350 and Metropol 95.
Of the many Peignots over the years, only a fraction were made under license from Deberny & Peignot (and later Haas, who acquired the foundry in 1972). With the exception of the 1937 original, none of them was approved by the designer or his heirs. This changed only when Production Type acquired the exclusive rights to Cassandre’s typefaces from the artist’s estate. In 2024, as part of the House of Cassandre collection, the type design agency re-released the iconic typeface (with the addition of Peignot Initials) in its definitive digital form. Production Type’s work represents the sole authorized digitization of Cassandre’s type designs.
Over the decades, Peignot was produced for every major typesetting technique, in metal and wood, and from phototype and dry transfer lettering to various digital font formats. The groundbreaking design with its novel lowercase characters spawned numerous imitations, reinterpretations, and direct copies. Already in the 1940s, Fonderie Olive in Marseille produced a close follower named Chambord, with a more conventional lowercase. Deberny & Peignot countered with a lawsuit – and their own revision, Touraine.
A first adaptation for photographic typesetting was made available before 1950, under the name Chickering. By the 1970s, most type providers of note carried a Peignot in one way or another. Typically, these were (more or less) direct translations of the original. Some expanded the weight range. Others got more creative and elaborated on the biform/unicase theme, see for example PLINC Envoy and Filmotype Vixen.
Cassandre may have been born in Kharkiv, but his design covered the Latin alphabet only. At least three times, though, other designers have made an attempt at adding matching Cyrillic characters.
When typography went digital in the 1980s and 1990s, Peignot was among the first designs to be converted for the new medium. And not just once, but more than a dozen times. Quality-wise, these renditions were all over the place, from decent and faithful to sloppy and downright abominable. Several of these fonts got names that resembled the original while still avoiding trademark infringement: Penyoe, Peinaud, Penguin, and even PigNose. Others were baptized after the perceived connotations, like Exotic 350 and Metropol 95.
Of the many Peignots over the years, only a fraction were made under license from Deberny & Peignot (and later Haas, who acquired the foundry in 1972). With the exception of the 1937 original, none of them was approved by the designer or his heirs. This changed only when Production Type acquired the exclusive rights to Cassandre’s typefaces from the artist’s estate. In 2024, as part of the House of Cassandre collection, the type design agency re-released the iconic typeface (with the addition of Peignot Initials) in its definitive digital form. Production Type’s work represents the sole authorized digitization of Cassandre’s type designs.
Presented documents:
1. 1937 - Peignot by A.M. Cassandre – Deberny & Peignot, foundry type, 1937–38 (4 styles)
2. 1937 - Peignot by A.M. Cassandre – Deberny & Peignot, wood type, c.1937 (3 styles) Image by Ampersand Press Lab (Éric Nunes) CC BY-NC
3. 1937 - Peignot by A.M. Cassandre – Deberny & Peignot, cardboard type, c.1937 (2 weights) Image by Ampersand Press Lab (Éric Nunes) CC BY-NC
4. 1946 - Chambord by Roger Excoffon and Marcel Olive – Fonderie Olive, foundry type, 1946–50 (5 styles). A close follower of Peignot, with a more conventional lowercase. Subject of a plagiarism lawsuit.
5. 1947 - Touraine by Guillermo Mendoza y Almeida – Deberny & Peignot, foundry type, 1947. A revision of Peignot with a more conventional lowercase.
6. 1950 - Chickering – Photo-Lettering, phototype, by 1950 (3 styles incl. a left-leaning italic)
7. 1954 - Constructa by Eugen Nerdinger – alphabet / lettering model, by 1954. Includes Peignot-like “half-uncial” forms.
8. 1965 - Envoy – Photo-Lettering, phototype, by 1965 (3×3 weights). Three flavors: Envoy (≈ Peignot), Envoy Nouvel (more conventional lowercase), Envoy Biform (capitals derived from Peignot’s lowercase).
9. 1965 - Etcetera Biform – Photo-Lettering, phototype, by 1965 (3 weights). A variant of Envoy in which upper- and lowercase forms have the same height.
10. 1969 - Peignot – VGC, phototype, by 1969 (3 weights)
11. 1969 - Peignot – Headliners, phototype, n.d. (4 weights)
12. 1970 - Peignot – Lettergraphics, phototype, by 1970 (3 weights)
13. 1971 - Peignot – Photo-Lettering, phototype, by 1971 (3 weights)
14. 1974 - Peignot – Berthold, phototype, by 1974 (3 weights)
15. 1974 - PE 3, PE 5 – Alphatype/Filmotype, phototype, by 1974 (2 weights)
16. 1974 - Vance, Vicky, Vixen – Alphatype/Filmotype, phototype, by 1974 (3 styles). A mashup of Peignot and Univers.
17. 1974 - Peignot – Zipatone, dry transfer type, by 1974 (2 weights)
18. 1978 - neo-Peignot – Headliners, phototype, by 1978 (4 weights)
19. c.1978 - Peignot – Typogabor, phototype, by c.1978 (3 weights)
20. 1981 - Peignot – Face Photosetting, phototype, by 1970 (3 weights)
21. 1981 - Peignot – Letraset, dry transfer type, 1976 (3 weights)
22. 1981 - Peignot Bold – Formatt, dry transfer type, by 1981
23. 1982 - Penyoe Bold – Compugraphic, photo/early digital, by 1980
24. [1985] - Peignot – TypoBach, phototype, n.d. (3 weights)
25. 1985 - Peignot Bold – Compugraphic, photo/early digital, by 1985
26. 1986 - MontereyFLF – Casady & Green, digital, 1986 (2 weights + slanted italics)
27. 1988 - Peignot – Letraset, dry transfer type, by 1981 (3 weights)
28. 1988 - Peignot – Adobe/Linotype, digital, 1988 (3 weights)
29. 1988 - Exotic 350 – Bitstream, digital, 1988 (3 weights)
30. 1988 - Greyhound – B&P Graphics, digital, 1988 (2 weights + slanted italics)
31. c.1989 - Peignot – Panache, phototype, by c.1989 (3 weights)
32. 1989 - Peignot – Linotype, digital, by 1987 (3 weights)
33. 1990 - Пеньо by Viktor Yakovlev, lettering, by 1990. A Cyrillic adaptation made for the Шрифт-89 contest
34. 1991 - PigNose by David Teich – digital, 1991. Extended by Fantazia Fonts, 1994 (6+ styles)
35. 1992 - Peignot – Solotype, phototype, by 1992 (4 styles). The only known phototype version to include Peignot Initials.
36. 1992 - Penguin Plain – Corel Corporation, digital, 1992
37. 1992 - Peignot BQ – Berthold, digital, by 1992 (3 weights)
38. 1993 - Peignot Demi – anon., digital, 1993. With Cyrillic.
39. 1994 - Peignot D – URW, digital, by 1994 (4 styles). Adds Round Medium and Initials Bold styles.
40. 1994 - Vi Co May – Tran sy Hung / VietNet/Vn-Fonts Group, digital, 1994. With Vietnamese.
41. 1994 - Pare – Bay Animation Inc., digital, 1994 (2 weights)
42. 1994 - Exotica – MicroLogic Software, digital, 1994 (2 weights)
43. 1997 - Metropol 95 – BX Fonts, digital, 1997. Derived from Greyhound, with added Cyrillic.
44. 1997 - Peinaud Medium – MGI Software, digital, 1997
45. 1997 - Peridot – Rubicon Computer Lab, digital, 1997
46. 1999 - Display No 3 Light – URW, digital, by 1999
47. 2000 - Peignot by George Williams – digital, 2000. Soft corners.
48. 2004 - Peoria – SoftMaker, digital, by 2004 (2 weights)
49. 2013 - Carella by Jerak Durzan – 128bit Technologies / MacAppware, digital, 2013
50. 2015 - Pinot Grigio Modern by Alan Meeks – Alan Meeks, digital, 2015 (3 weights + italics). A “modern update” of Peignot with soft terminals, larger x-height, and reduced contrast.
51. 2019 - Pagnol by Jean-Renaud Cuaz – Typorium, digital, 2019 (5 weights plus italics, in Small Caps and Lower Caps variants). Rounded tops and bottoms of pointed capitals and wider proportions for the lowercase.
52. 2020 - Hershey-Peignot by Cédric Rossignol-Brunet – Fond de riz, digital, 2020 (2 styles). An interpretation in the style of the vector fonts made by Allen V. Hershey in the 1960s.
2. 1937 - Peignot by A.M. Cassandre – Deberny & Peignot, wood type, c.1937 (3 styles) Image by Ampersand Press Lab (Éric Nunes) CC BY-NC
3. 1937 - Peignot by A.M. Cassandre – Deberny & Peignot, cardboard type, c.1937 (2 weights) Image by Ampersand Press Lab (Éric Nunes) CC BY-NC
4. 1946 - Chambord by Roger Excoffon and Marcel Olive – Fonderie Olive, foundry type, 1946–50 (5 styles). A close follower of Peignot, with a more conventional lowercase. Subject of a plagiarism lawsuit.
5. 1947 - Touraine by Guillermo Mendoza y Almeida – Deberny & Peignot, foundry type, 1947. A revision of Peignot with a more conventional lowercase.
6. 1950 - Chickering – Photo-Lettering, phototype, by 1950 (3 styles incl. a left-leaning italic)
7. 1954 - Constructa by Eugen Nerdinger – alphabet / lettering model, by 1954. Includes Peignot-like “half-uncial” forms.
8. 1965 - Envoy – Photo-Lettering, phototype, by 1965 (3×3 weights). Three flavors: Envoy (≈ Peignot), Envoy Nouvel (more conventional lowercase), Envoy Biform (capitals derived from Peignot’s lowercase).
9. 1965 - Etcetera Biform – Photo-Lettering, phototype, by 1965 (3 weights). A variant of Envoy in which upper- and lowercase forms have the same height.
10. 1969 - Peignot – VGC, phototype, by 1969 (3 weights)
11. 1969 - Peignot – Headliners, phototype, n.d. (4 weights)
12. 1970 - Peignot – Lettergraphics, phototype, by 1970 (3 weights)
13. 1971 - Peignot – Photo-Lettering, phototype, by 1971 (3 weights)
14. 1974 - Peignot – Berthold, phototype, by 1974 (3 weights)
15. 1974 - PE 3, PE 5 – Alphatype/Filmotype, phototype, by 1974 (2 weights)
16. 1974 - Vance, Vicky, Vixen – Alphatype/Filmotype, phototype, by 1974 (3 styles). A mashup of Peignot and Univers.
17. 1974 - Peignot – Zipatone, dry transfer type, by 1974 (2 weights)
18. 1978 - neo-Peignot – Headliners, phototype, by 1978 (4 weights)
19. c.1978 - Peignot – Typogabor, phototype, by c.1978 (3 weights)
20. 1981 - Peignot – Face Photosetting, phototype, by 1970 (3 weights)
21. 1981 - Peignot – Letraset, dry transfer type, 1976 (3 weights)
22. 1981 - Peignot Bold – Formatt, dry transfer type, by 1981
23. 1982 - Penyoe Bold – Compugraphic, photo/early digital, by 1980
24. [1985] - Peignot – TypoBach, phototype, n.d. (3 weights)
25. 1985 - Peignot Bold – Compugraphic, photo/early digital, by 1985
26. 1986 - MontereyFLF – Casady & Green, digital, 1986 (2 weights + slanted italics)
27. 1988 - Peignot – Letraset, dry transfer type, by 1981 (3 weights)
28. 1988 - Peignot – Adobe/Linotype, digital, 1988 (3 weights)
29. 1988 - Exotic 350 – Bitstream, digital, 1988 (3 weights)
30. 1988 - Greyhound – B&P Graphics, digital, 1988 (2 weights + slanted italics)
31. c.1989 - Peignot – Panache, phototype, by c.1989 (3 weights)
32. 1989 - Peignot – Linotype, digital, by 1987 (3 weights)
33. 1990 - Пеньо by Viktor Yakovlev, lettering, by 1990. A Cyrillic adaptation made for the Шрифт-89 contest
34. 1991 - PigNose by David Teich – digital, 1991. Extended by Fantazia Fonts, 1994 (6+ styles)
35. 1992 - Peignot – Solotype, phototype, by 1992 (4 styles). The only known phototype version to include Peignot Initials.
36. 1992 - Penguin Plain – Corel Corporation, digital, 1992
37. 1992 - Peignot BQ – Berthold, digital, by 1992 (3 weights)
38. 1993 - Peignot Demi – anon., digital, 1993. With Cyrillic.
39. 1994 - Peignot D – URW, digital, by 1994 (4 styles). Adds Round Medium and Initials Bold styles.
40. 1994 - Vi Co May – Tran sy Hung / VietNet/Vn-Fonts Group, digital, 1994. With Vietnamese.
41. 1994 - Pare – Bay Animation Inc., digital, 1994 (2 weights)
42. 1994 - Exotica – MicroLogic Software, digital, 1994 (2 weights)
43. 1997 - Metropol 95 – BX Fonts, digital, 1997. Derived from Greyhound, with added Cyrillic.
44. 1997 - Peinaud Medium – MGI Software, digital, 1997
45. 1997 - Peridot – Rubicon Computer Lab, digital, 1997
46. 1999 - Display No 3 Light – URW, digital, by 1999
47. 2000 - Peignot by George Williams – digital, 2000. Soft corners.
48. 2004 - Peoria – SoftMaker, digital, by 2004 (2 weights)
49. 2013 - Carella by Jerak Durzan – 128bit Technologies / MacAppware, digital, 2013
50. 2015 - Pinot Grigio Modern by Alan Meeks – Alan Meeks, digital, 2015 (3 weights + italics). A “modern update” of Peignot with soft terminals, larger x-height, and reduced contrast.
51. 2019 - Pagnol by Jean-Renaud Cuaz – Typorium, digital, 2019 (5 weights plus italics, in Small Caps and Lower Caps variants). Rounded tops and bottoms of pointed capitals and wider proportions for the lowercase.
52. 2020 - Hershey-Peignot by Cédric Rossignol-Brunet – Fond de riz, digital, 2020 (2 styles). An interpretation in the style of the vector fonts made by Allen V. Hershey in the 1960s.
