Günter Gerhard Lange
Günter Gerhard Lange
GGL – Gutenberg’s machine gun
Manfred Klein about Günther Gerhard Lange, 1981
Günther Gerhard Lange was a man who was hardly known among the public and yet he revolutionised the graphic industry within a few decades. His work for the company H. Berthold AG in Berlin, which was founded in 1858, led to the presentation of the first phototypesetting machine – the Diatype – 100 years later. This was the highlight at the 1958 drupa, the world’s largest print media trade fair. The semi-automatic mechanical phototypesetting device, which could be used in daylight, worked using light-sensitive films and initially conquered the market for job printing and forms.
Lange then worked on systematically building up a type library and the lead typefaces were transferred to phototypesetting. Around two decades later, this initially revolutionary method itself fell victim to technical progress. The company Berthold AG did not survive these developments, but G. G. Lange remained a sought-after speaker, designer and tutor.