Mistral is a casual script

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

type foundry A type foundry is a company that designs or distributes typefaces. Before digital typography, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces for hand typesetting, and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and ...

, and released in 1953. The Amsterdam Type foundry released a version in 1955. Excoffon based the form of the typeface on his own handwriting. The stroke has an informal graphic quality similar to brush and ink. The lowercase letters are carefully designed to connect on a line to an extent unusual in script fonts. Descenders are long, and increase the sense of motion. The face has several specially designed ligatures (which have not been duplicated in digital versions). In lowercase Mistral is a true connecting script, similar to

cursive Cursive (also known as joined-up writing) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionality and m ...

writing. Choc, another typeface of Excoffon's, grew out of his repeated and ultimately abandoned efforts to make a bold of Mistral. The poster for the film '' Drive'' uses this font for the film's title.

References

Bibliography

*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. . *Macmillan, Neil. ''An A–Z of Type Designers.'' Yale University Press: 2006. .

External links

Excoffon's Autograph
(many images and examples) Casual script typefaces Typefaces and fonts introduced in 1953 Letterpress typefaces Photocomposition typefaces Digital typefaces Display typefaces Typefaces designed by Roger Excoffon Fonderie Olive typefaces {{Typ-stub