In 1908, Heinz Hoffmann created Hermes in the spirit of the German grotesques that had so dominated factory printing in the 19th century. Unlike most grotesques of its time, Hermes has occasional eccentricities that distinguish it from other industrial block typefaces. With its rectilinear form blunted by smooth curves, Hermes evokes the feeling of a worn workhorse– a typeface whose edges have been smoothed by overuse in the presses.

Butterick’s revival in 1995 sought to update the typeface for use in the modern age. Expanded again in 2010, Hermes FB includes several weights and accompanying italics, along with unicase alternates.

The Hermes Paratype® font family resembles Hermes FB with its curved rectilinear forms; several typefaces that evoke the 19th century grotesks also resemble Hermes including the Founders Grotesk® font family and the Akzidenz-Grotesk® font family.

References:
Linotype - Hermes FB

Hermes FB’s block-like ethos works well in display applications like logos, headlines and subheaders, and also in short passages of copy. In longer text passages it has legibility issues.