Optima is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf and released by the D. Stempel AG foundry, FrankfurtGermany. Though classified as a sans-serifOptima has a subtle swelling at the terminals suggesting a glyphic serif.
Optima was inspired by classical Roman capitals and the stonecarving on Renaissance -period tombstones Zapf saw in Florence on a holiday to Italy.
Zapf intended Optima to be a typeface that could serve for both body text and titling. To prove its versatility, Zapf set his entire book About Alphabets in the regular weight. Interested in calligraphy and the history of Italian printing and lettering, Zapf first visited Italy in While in Florence, Zapf was particularly interested in the design of the lettering in tombstones of the cemetery of the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florencein which the strokes subtly widen as they reach stroke terminals without ending in a serif.
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He quickly sketched an early draft of the design on a lira banknote. In his book About AlphabetsZapf commented that his key aim in designing Optima's capitals, inspired by the Roman capital model, was the desire to avoid the monotony of all capital letters having a roughly square footprint, as he felt was true of some early sans-serif designs.
Like the Roman capitals, Optima's 'E' and 'R' Optima font free alternative dating about a half-square, the 'M' is wide and its sides are splayed. Optima is the first German typeface not based on the standard baseline alignment that had been used up until this point in time. Thus, too many German types have ascenders which are too long and descenders which are too short.
The proportions of Optima "Optima font free alternative dating" are now in the Golden Section: However, the curved lines of the stems of each letter result from technical considerations of type manufacturing rather than purely esthetic considerations. The development of Optima took place over the period Optima was first manufactured as a foundry version in by Stempel of Frankfurt, and by Mergenthaler in America shortly thereafter. If it had been up to Zapf, Optima would have been named New Roman, but the marketing staff insisted that it be named Optima.
Optima is an example of a modulated-stroke sans-serif, a design type where the strokes are variable in width. The design style has been intermittently popular since the late nineteenth century; Optima is one of the most lastingly popular examples of the genre.
Optima's sloped version was originally an Optima font free alternative dating or sloped roman, in which the letters do not take on handwriting characteristics. For Optima nova discussed below Zapf decided to create a new true italic with a greater slant angle. At the same time as the late development of Optima, Zapf was also working on a non-modulated sans for Linotype, to Optima font free alternative dating named Magnus and intended to compete with Gill Sans.
It was ultimately never released. It is a variant designed by Matthew Carterbased closely on Optima Medium. Digital version has not been produced. Medium weight is readjusted to between medium and bold weights in the old family scale.
Glyph sets are expanded to include Adobe CE and Latin Extended characters, with light to bold weight fonts supporting proportional lining figures, old style figures, and small caps. The initial and most common release of Optima, like many sans-serif fonts, has an oblique style instead of an italic: In Optima nova, this is replaced by a true italic.
In interviews, Zapf has said that this was his original goal from the beginning, but the need to release Optima quickly forced him to settle for an oblique. Even in Roman fonts, letters such as Q, a, f are redesigned. The overall bounding boxes were widened in Optima nova. It is a condensed variant which consists of light to bold weights, but no italic fonts.
The glyph set does not support proportional lining figures, old style figures, or small caps. It is a titling capitals variant, which contains only capital letters, with restyled letterform. The glyph set is the same as Optima nova Condensed, but also includes extra ligatures. Berry writes in his review of the nova release: Instead of the added crispness of detail that you might expect of a face designed for display use, this one looks more sculptural.
Further influence of A. Cassandre and Rudolf Kochwhose work greatly inspired the young Zapf, can also be seen in Optima. It is also used in the logo for banking company Desjardins. Optima is used iconically for the role-playing game Travellerand Diaspora used it to pay homage to Traveller.
Optima was used in the end credits of the horror movie The Exorcist as well as for the opening titles of its second sequel, The Exorcist III. Optima was used in the official logo and most publications associated with Expo 67 in Montreal. Optima was used for on the Premier League logo from its inception until The player lettering used a compact version on the shirts from July until Maywhen it was replaced by a different typeface.
Optima was used as the original fonts used on The Smiths original 7-inch single covers and their debut album.
Optima was used for the logo of American emo band Moss Iconalbeit slightly weathered. Marks Optima font free alternative dating Spencer used the font for its corporate logo [22] [23] and as the default on all "Optima font free alternative dating" correspondence from but since it is gradually being phased out on all signage and packaging as part of another re-branding exercise.
Optima is used on the labels of wines from Ridge Vineyards. Optima is used in the text of all the rules and guidance notes for the classification of ships published by Bureau Veritas.
Optima is a humanist sans-serif... Opinions on the design have been variable, perhaps because of its extensive use. It hasn't got the guts to be either a proper Sans or Serif, so it keeps all its options open and appeals to the middle It suits everything and pleases nobody.
Optima would indeed make a good president. Hermann the German Zapf is a fine calligrapher and has designed some pretty amazing typefaces that have been over- and badly used, which isn't his fault. But Optima shows too much of its origin: With the country in ruins and not enough to eat, there was an understandable desire to go back to wholesome type that Optima font free alternative dating peace and harmony after 12 years of Hitler and 5 years of occupation.
Optima is a well drawn face, at least in its original version. And you hardly see it in Germany. Not sure what that says about our politics. Jonathan Hoefler commented that "after three decades signifying a very down-market notion of luxe, this particular sans serif has settled into being the font of choice for the hygiene aisle.
Making the web more beautiful,... Optima was used on The Joy of Painting from for credits and color names at the bottom of the screen at the beginning of the episodes.
Optima is used in the official logo of U. Optima was used for Philippine Peso coins from until As with many popular fonts, knockoff designs and re-releases under different names are common, some created by Zapf himself.
These all tend to copy the original release, rather than the Optima nova design which represents Zapf's final thoughts on his design. In the Bitstream font collection, "Optima font free alternative dating" Humanist is provided as an Optima clone.
Linux Biolinum is a libre font inspired by it. Zapf's Palatino Sans is a more informal typeface in the same style, with a design reminiscent of brushstrokes or calligraphy. The name "Optima" was not my idea Optima font free alternative dating all. It is for me too presumptuous and was the invention of the sales people at Stempel. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other uses, see Optima disambiguation.
Retrieved 9 October Blue Pencil letter design. Retrieved 23 November Archived from the original on 28 September Retrieved 22 August Der Typograph Hermann Zapf: Anatomy of a Typeface.
Retrieved 29 August Retrieved 9 September Retrieved 15 June Retrieved May 1, Retrieved August 26, Retrieved 6 November Retrieved from " https: Humanist sans-serif typefaces Linotype typefaces Stempel typefaces Typefaces designed by Hermann Zapf. Webarchive template wayback links Commons category link is on Wikidata.
Views Read Edit View history. In other projects Wikimedia Commons. This page was last edited on 11 Octoberat By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Optima. Results 1 - 6 of 6 Instant downloads for 52 free optima fonts. For you professionals, 3 are % free for commercial-use!. Beorcana and Hypatia Sans are interesting alternatives to Optima. This list of opinions about McCain's use of Optima as his campaign font during the US.
My Top Twenty Favorite Free Fonts Optima font free alternative dating like Lily, but am very open to you. Optima is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf between and This font or something similar is something to research. Font Family: Chevalier, Number of fonts: + TTF, Type Foundry: URW++, Design date:
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