Burgert Animata is a little known design by Hans-Joachim Burgert. Burgert (1928–2009) was a calligrapher, sculptor and educator, and the founder of the Burgert Handpresse, where he produced small-edition books and art prints. When Burgert acquired a small book press in 1962, he went to great lengths to cast a design of his own as metal type.
From 1973, Burgert’s publishing output took a more experimental approach, drawing letters by hand and transferring them to photographic filmstrips for composition on a primitive phototypesetter. Burgert Animata was made using this technique.
Hans-Joachim Burgert passed away in 2009. After discovering Burgert Animata, we approached the family for permission to digitize and publish the design – to which they happily agreed.
The digital font sticks close to the original, making only minor changes for coherence. Like Burgert’s manually typeset photographic letters, our spacing is aggressively tight. We have enlisted the help of some contextual alternates, expanding its range beyond just German publishing.
