univers was one of the first typeface families to fulfil the idea that a typeface should form a family of consistent, related designs. by creating a matched range of styles and weights, univers allowed documents to be created in one consistent typeface for all text documents. this matched the desire among practitioners of the "swiss style" of typography for neutral sans-serif typefaces avoiding artistic excesses. by "excesses" might be meant blackletter, which had been used earlier in german language publications. but univers also leaves out all the styling of the classical roman lettering, including the use of serifs at the end of letter strokes.