Bo Berndal

Bo Berndal started his career in the composing room during World War II, and went on to become one of Sweden’s greatest and most prolific type designers. After his first job (as a Linotype machine operator), Berndal graduated to type designer and font pattern maker – not to mention book designer, magazine art director, author, and educator. He also was the co-owner of BIGG, a Swedish ad agency, and Hålet, a gallery dedicated to the typographic arts. His award-winning calligraphy has been displayed in numerous exhibits and is known throughout the world.

Berndal’s stylistic range is remarkable. His display typefaces include alternative designs like Spacekid and Viger Spa, delicate calligraphic scripts like Carl Beck and Mariacava, and uniquely powerful constructed faces like Satchmo and Logoform. Berndal also creates exceptional text faces, like the sans serif Unotype that melds Art Nouveau, Bauhaus and cursive letterforms, Golota, a powerful “semi-serifed” design, and the beautiful old style design Sabellicus.

Of his large body of work, Berndal says, “Including the several versions, italics and so forth, I’ve probably drawn close to two hundred typefaces. I also have around twenty unpublished designs. Some of them should rest in peace; others I will do something about later.”

Although currently retired, Berndal says that he “cannot avoid from drawing new typefaces, because, for me, that is the most joyful doing in the world.”