Frutiger described Avenir as his finest work: "The quality of the draftsmanship – rather than the intellectual idea behind it – is my masterpiece. (...) It was the hardest typeface I have worked on in my life. Working on it, I always had human nature in mind.
Frutiger saw Avenir as his pinnacle of achievement: "The quality of execution – rather than the intellectual concept underlying it – is what sets it apart. (...) It was the most intricate typeface I have ever worked on. As I refined it, human nature remained a constant source of inspiration.