Optima is a
humanist sans-serif typeface
In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif, gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than seri ...
designed by
Hermann Zapf
Hermann Zapf (; 8 November 1918 – 4 June 2015) was a German type designer and calligrapher who lived in Darmstadt, Germany. He was married to the calligrapher and typeface designer Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse. Typefaces he designed include ...
and released by the D. Stempel AG foundry,
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
in 1958.
Though classified as a
sans-serif
In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif, gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called " serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than s ...
, Optima has a subtle swelling at the terminals suggesting a glyphic
serif
In typography, a serif () is a small line or stroke regularly attached to the end of a larger stroke in a letter or symbol within a particular font or family of fonts. A typeface or "font family" making use of serifs is called a serif typeface ...
. Optima was inspired by
classical Roman capitals and the stonecarving on
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...
-period tombstones Zapf saw in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
on a 1950 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.
Zapf retained an interest in the design, collaborating on variants and expansions into his eighties.
History
![S](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/S._croce%2C_tomba_sul_pavimento_14_berti.JPG)
Interested in calligraphy and the history of Italian printing and lettering, Zapf first visited Italy in 1950. While in Florence, Zapf was particularly interested in the design of the lettering in tombstones of the cemetery of the
Basilica di Santa Croce
The (Italian for 'Basilica of the Holy Cross') is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, Italy, and a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 meters south-east of the Duomo. The ...
in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, in which the strokes subtly widen as they reach stroke terminals without ending in a serif. He quickly sketched an early draft of the design on a 1000 lira banknote.
Zapf was to work on the development of Optima during most of the following decade.
In his book ''About Alphabets'', Zapf 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' occupy about a half-square, the 'M' is wide and its sides are splayed.
On the suggestion of
Monroe Wheeler
Monroe Wheeler (13 February, 1899 – 14 August, 1988) was an American publisher and museum coordinator whose relationship with the novelist and poet Glenway Wescott lasted from 1919 until Wescott's death in 1987.
Biography
Wheeler was born in Ev ...
of the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in New York City, Zapf decided to adapt his typeface to be used as a book type. "He thereupon changed the proportions of the lowercase, and by means of photography, he tested the suitability of the design for continuous reading application." Zapf designed the capital letters of Optima after the inscriptions on the Trajan Column (A.D. 113). Optima was the first German typeface not based on the standard baseline alignment. Zapf stated: "This base line is not ideal for a roman, as it was designed for the high x-height of the Fraktur and Textura letters. Thus, too many German types have ascenders which are too long and descenders which are too short. The proportions of Optima Roman are now in the Golden Section: lowercase x-height equalling the minor and ascenders-descenders the major. 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 occurred during the period 1955–1958. Optima was first manufactured as a foundry version in 1958 by Stempel of Frankfurt, and by Mergenthaler in America shortly thereafter. It was released to the public at an exhibition in Düsseldorf the same year. Zapf himself wanted to name the new type face ''New Roman'', but the marketing staff insisted that it be named ''Optima''.
In a memoir written for Linotype, Zapf commented:
Zapf wrote later in his life of his preference for Optima over all of his other typefaces, but he also mentioned “a father should not have a favorite among his daughters.”
Structure
Optima's design follows humanist lines; its capitals (like those of
Palatino
Palatino is the name of an old-style serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf, initially released in 1949 by the Stempel foundry and later by other companies, most notably the Mergenthaler Linotype Company.
Named after the 16th-century Italia ...
, Hans Eduard Meier's
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...
and
Carol Twombly's Trajan
Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...
) originate from the classic
Roman monumental capital model, reflecting a reverence for Roman capitals as an ideal form.
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 favored since the late nineteenth century; Optima is one of the most lasting examples of the genre. Optima was originally targeted by Stempel's Walter Cunz as a competitor to Ludwig & Mayer's Colonia design, which has not been digitised.
Shaw also suggests the little-known 1948 design Romann Antiqua, as well as Stellar by
Robert Hunter Middleton
Robert Hunter Middleton (May 6, 1898 – August 3, 1985) was an American book designer, painter, and typeface designer. Born in Glasgow, Scotland he came to Chicago in 1908 where he studied at the School of the Art Institute. He joined the des ...
as predecessors, and notes the existence of Pascal by
José Mendoza y Almeida (1962) as a design with a similar set of influences.
Optima is however quite restrained in stroke width variation; more display-oriented predecessors such as
Britannic
Britannic means 'of Britain' or 'British', from the Roman name for the British.
Britannic may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Britannic'' (film), a 2000 film based on the story of HMHS ''Britannic''
* SS ''Britannic'', a fictional ...
show far more differentiation in stroke width than Optima does.
Optima's sloped version was originally an
oblique
Oblique may refer to:
* an alternative name for the character usually called a slash (punctuation) ( / )
* Oblique angle, in geometry
*Oblique triangle, in geometry
*Oblique lattice, in geometry
* Oblique leaf base, a characteristic shape of the b ...
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.
During late development of Optima, Zapf also began working on a non-modulated sans for Linotype, to be named Magnus and intended to compete with
Gill Sans
Gill Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill and released by the British branch of Monotype from 1928 onwards.
Gill Sans is based on Edward Johnston's 1916 "Underground Alphabet", the corporate font of London Underground. ...
. It has never been released.
Optima Greek (1973)
A Greek variant designed by
Matthew Carter
Matthew Carter (born 1 October 1937) is a British type designer.Christophe_Plantin.html" ;"title="y Christophe Plantin">y Christophe Plantin' in typography's golden age was in perfect condition (some muddle aside) long withPlantin's accoun ...
, based on sketches from Hermann Zapf. No digital versions have been produced.
Optima Classified (1976)
A variant designed by
Matthew Carter
Matthew Carter (born 1 October 1937) is a British type designer.Christophe_Plantin.html" ;"title="y Christophe Plantin">y Christophe Plantin' in typography's golden age was in perfect condition (some muddle aside) long withPlantin's accoun ...
, based closely on Optima Medium. No digital versions have been produced.
Optima nova (2002)
![Optima nova specimen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Optima_nova_specimen.svg)
"Optima nova" is a redesign of the original font family, designed by Hermann Zapf and
Linotype GmbH type director Akira Kobayashi.
The new family contains seven font weights, adding light, demi, and heavy font weights, but removing extra black weight. 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
Oblique may refer to:
* an alternative name for the character usually called a slash (punctuation) ( / )
* Oblique angle, in geometry
*Oblique triangle, in geometry
*Oblique lattice, in geometry
* Oblique leaf base, a characteristic shape of the b ...
style instead of an
italic: the shapes are merely tilted to the right. 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.
Reviewing it, John Berry wrote that "its
'color' on the page comes much closer to that of the original metal version than any of the earlier photo/digital versions did" but that "ends of the strokes in the letters 'a', 'c', and 's' flare much more dramatically than they ever did in the older Optima — so much so that these letters almost look as though they have serifs...It’s a subtle difference, but it’s disturbing if you’re used to the understated elegance of Optima’s letterforms."
Optima nova Condensed
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.
Optima nova Titling
A
titling capitals
In typography, titling capitals are a variant of uppercase
Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in ...
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: "it has softly curved joins and interior angles. Instead of the added crispness of detail that you might expect of a face designed for display use, this one looks more sculptural."
In the tradition of hand lettering and lapidary inscription, the titling face shares similarities with the work of Zapf's friend
Herb Lubalin
Herbert F. Lubalin (; March 17, 1918 – May 24, 1981) was an American graphic designer. He collaborated with Ralph Ginzburg on three of Ginzburg's magazines: ''Eros'', ''Fact'', and ''Avant Garde''. He designed the typeface, ITC Avant Garde ...
, especially the exuberant ligatures (for which Lubalin's ITC Lubalin Graph and ITC Avant Garde are notable). Further influence of
A.M. Cassandre and
Rudolf Koch
Rudolf Koch (20 November 1876 – 9 April 1934) was a German type designer, professor, and a master of lettering, calligraphy, typography and illustration. Commonly known for his typefaces created for the Klingspor Type Foundry, his most widel ...
, whose work greatly inspired the young Zapf, can also be seen in Optima.
Optima Pro Cyrillic (2010)
In April 2010, Linotype announced the release of Cyrillic version of the original Optima family, in OpenType Pro font formats. Released fonts include Optima Pro Cyrillic Roman, Oblique, Bold, Bold Oblique.
Derivatives
As with many commonly used fonts, knockoff designs and re-releases under different names have been released, some created by Zapf himself. These all tend to copy the original version, rather than the Optima nova design which represents Zapf's final thoughts on the design. In the
Bitstream
A bitstream (or bit stream), also known as binary sequence, is a sequence of bits.
A bytestream is a sequence of bytes. Typically, each byte is an 8-bit quantity, and so the term octet stream is sometimes used interchangeably. An octet may ...
font collection, Zapf Humanist 601 is provided as an Optima clone. Other Optima clones include Optane from the WSI Fonts collection, Opulent by Rubicon Computer Labs Inc., Ottawa from
Corel
Cascade Parent Limited, doing business as Alludo (pronounced like "all you do"), is a Canadian software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, specializing in graphics processing. Formerly called the Corel Corporation ( ; from the abbreviation ...
, CG Omega and Eterna. Freely available implementations include URW Classico (available with URW Font package from
Ghostscript
Ghostscript is a suite of software based on an interpreter for Adobe Systems' PostScript and Portable Document Format (PDF) page description languages. Its main purposes are the rasterization or rendering of such page description language files, ...
).
Linux Biolinum
Linux Libertine is a digital typeface created by the Libertine Open Fonts Project, which aims to create FOSS, free and open alternatives to Proprietary software, proprietary typefaces such as Times New Roman. It is developed with the free font edi ...
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.
Kontour Type designed the Utile Display typeface, inspired from the Optima typeface.
Notable usages
Optima is used for the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those s ...
and was used by
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
's
2008 presidential campaign. Optima was used in the official logo and most publications associated with
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...
in Montreal.
Optima was chosen as the font to be used for the names of those who lost their lives in the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
, carved into bronze parapets, at the
National September 11 Memorial & Museum
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11 attacks of 2001, which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombi ...
, which is named "Reflecting Absence".
Opinions on the design have been variable, partly because of its extensive use.
Erik Spiekermann
Erik Spiekermann (born 30 May 1947 in Stadthagen, Lower Saxony) is a German typographer, designer and writer. He is an honorary professor at the University of the Arts Bremen and ArtCenter College of Design.
Biography
Spiekermann studied art his ...
described it as "used on parking garages & hospitals across the United States. Tired & inappropriate. I don’t blame the typeface but the designers." He also commented "Optima is patronizing. 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."
Jonathan Hoefler
Jonathan Hoefler (; born August 22, 1970) is an American typeface designer. Hoefler founded the Hoefler Type Foundry in 1989, a type foundry in New York.
Early life
Jonathan Hoefler was born on August 22, 1970, in New York City to Doreen Ben ...
described it as "signifying a very down-market notion of luxe...the font of choice for the hygiene aisle."
Usage examples
Brands and other entities using Optima include:
*''
Endeavour'' – ITV's Inspector Morse crime prequel series set in 1960s Oxford, in the opening credits only.
*
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
– The British national airline's titles, in the Landor livery used from 1984 to 1997.
*
Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. ( ar, القطرية, ''al-Qaṭariya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke netw ...
– The Qatari national airline's titles in the livery used since 2006.
* Wordmark for
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...
in Montreal.
*
Where's Wally
''Where's Wally?'' (called ''Where's Waldo?'' in North America) is a British series of children's puzzle books created by English illustrator Martin Handford. The books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations depicti ...
*
Marks and Spencer
Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...
– Logo used from 2000 to 2007.
*''
BBC One O'Clock News'' – Opening titles used Optima in 1986.
*
Lindt
*Hunters Law
*
Parker Pens
The Parker Pen Company is a French manufacturer of luxury writing pens, founded in 1888 by George Safford Parker in Janesville, Wisconsin, United States. In 2011 the Parker factory at Newhaven, East Sussex, England, was closed, and its producti ...
*
Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions and Steven Spielberg Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshal ...
*
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...
*''
Call of Duty: World at War''
*''
Jeopardy!
''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
''
*''
Persona 5
is a 2016 role-playing video game developed by Atlus. It takes place in modern-day Tokyo and follows a high school student known by the pseudonym Joker who transfers to a new school after being falsely accused of assault and put on probation. ...
'' – Optima Bold is used as the text font for
Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight,
Persona 5 Strikers, and Persona 5 Royal (English versions).
Notes
References
*Margaret Re, Johanna Drucker, Matthew Carter, James Mosley. ''Typographically Speaking: The Art of Matthew Carter''. Princeton Architectural Press: 2003. , .
*Blackwell, Lewis. ''20th Century Type.'' Yale University Press: 2004. .
*Fiedl, Frederich, Nicholas Ott and Bernard Stein. ''Typography: An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Through History.'' Black Dog & Leventhal: 1998. .
*Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson. ''The Encyclopedia of Type Faces.'' Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983. .
*Lawson, Alexander S., ''
Anatomy of a Typeface
''Anatomy of a Typeface'' is a book on typefaces written by Alexander Lawson.''Anatomy of a Typeface'', Alexander Lawson, David R. Godine, 1990.
Background
The book is notable for devoting entire chapters to the development and uses of individual ...
''. Godine: 1990. .
*Macmillan, Neil. ''An A–Z of Type Designers.'' Yale University Press: 2006. .
*Zapf, Hermann. ''Manuale Typographicum.'' The MIT Press: 19534, 1970. .
External links
Typowiki: Optima*
ttp://www.fonts.com/font/linotype/optima/ The Story of Linotype's OptimaAlternatives to Optima– Stephen Coles
{{OS X typefaces
Humanist sans-serif typefaces
Linotype typefaces
Stempel typefaces
Typefaces designed by Hermann Zapf
Typefaces and fonts introduced in 1958