Ryan Forth - Optima Typeface Booklet

Typeface Booklet

OPTIMA

Designed By Hermann Zapf

Published by Stempel

Optima is a humanist san-serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf in 1958. The typeface was designed as a san-serif, with hints of swelling at the terminals, classifying it as a glyphic san. The font was inspired by classical roman capitals and renaissance carvings that Zapf witnessed and studied in Florence while he was on holiday in Italy. The font was also inspired by a friend of Zapfs suggestion- Monroe Wheeler of the Muesum of Modern Art told Zapf the typface should be used as a book type.

Optima was worked on between1955 and 1958, and was later manufactured as a foundry version by 1958. Stempel of Frankfurt published the tyeface that same year. Zapf wanted to name the typeface New Roman, but upon publication was changed to Optima by his marketing team.

Later in Zapf’s life, when asked about his preference on fonts he designed, he expressed his fondness for all of his designs, yet proceeded by saying “a father should not have a favorite among his daughters.” when asked about Optima.

“The name ‘Optima’ was not my idea at all. It is for me too presumptuous and was the invention of the sales people at Stempel.”

Optima is a very widley used font, due to its versatility that treds the line between a san-serif font and serif. In this day in age, the font is often seen in advertisements, especially for cosmetics.

Aa Bb Gg Ff

Ee Dd Cc Ii Hh Nn Oo Mm Jj Rr Tt Ss Yy Xx Ww

OPTIMA REGULAR OPTIMA ITALIC OPTIMA BOLD OPTIMA BOLD ITALIC OPTIMA EXTRABLACK

Optima has a very standard type family when it comes to the different ways the font can be used, which includes regular, italic, bold, and bold-italic. These family members work together to create a block of text that feels cohesive, yet certain lines and titles can have more emphasis than others. For an example of this family in action, below is a placeholder paragraph that highlights the history of humanist san-serif fonts, the catagory of font that optims falls under

History of Humanist San-Serif Fonts 18th - 20th century

“Humanist” or “Old Style” is a historical classification for typefaces that draw inspiration from Roman lettering and the Carolingian minuscule (a standardized form of calligraphy) to include forms that reference the stroke of a pen. Humanist typefaces declined in use in the 18th and 19th centuries, but enjoyed a major revival in the 20th century and remain popular type choices today. Examples of serif Humanist typefaces include Spectral, EB Garamond, and Sorts Mill Goudy; examples of sans serif Humanist typefaces include Merriweather Sans and Cabin.

Notice how the only font used above was Optima, yet variation was introduced through using different.

DISPLAY TYPE

Below and beside shows how Optima is displayed in different sizes and capitalizations, aswell as how the font looks in textblocks.

37 pt, all capitalized

64 pt, uppercase and lowercase

OPTIMA OPTIMA OPTIMA Optima Optima OPTIMA

114 pt, all capitalized

This section shows how Optima looks in different text blocks. Readability is objectivly the most important apspect of a typeface, and determines whether it is good or bad. Here i will display a paragraph of text, typed out in the same size pt (size of the text), yet use different picas. This will show the readability, and difference in readbility, of the text. This is important to know and visualize before beginning your own work using Optima as a primary font.

11 X 11

This section shows how Optima looks in different text blocks. Readability is objectivly the most important apspect of a typeface, and determines whether it is good or bad. Here i will display a paragraph of text, typed out in the same size pt (size of the text), yet use different picas. This will show the readability, and difference in readbility, of the text. This is important to know and visualize before beginning your own work using Optima as a primary font.

11 X 12

This section shows how Optima looks in different text blocks. Readability is objectivly the most important apspect of a typeface, and determines whether it is good or bad. Here i will display a paragraph of text, typed out in the same size pt (size of the text), yet use different picas. This will show the readability, and difference in readbility, of the text. This is important to know and visualize before beginning your own work using Optima as a primary font.

11 X 13

Optima Nova

Due to Optimas popularity, the font has the been creative infulence for a variety of different fonts using the same basic structure set that Hermann used in his original Optima font sketches. “Optima nova” is a redesign of the original font family, designed by Hermann Zapf, and is pictures on the top half of the next page. The ends of the strokes in the letters ‘a’, ‘c’, and ‘s’ flare much more dramatically than they ever did in the older Optima.

Optima Pro Cryillic

Another popular font derived directly from Optima is Pro Cryrillic, which is shown on the bottom of the page to the right. 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.

Written and Designed By Ryan Forth