This typeface is a Hermann Zapf designed font and is considered the most successful of its kind of all. Optima’s first sketches dates back as early as 1950 when its designer was in Florence, visiting the church of Santa Croce. He started to sketch the letters from plates of the grave that has already been cut as early as 1530. He had to do this as there was no available paper at that time hence, he had to do this at bank notes of 1000 lire each. These letters inspired the creation of Optima, which eventually became a typeface inspired by classic Roman characters minus the serifs proportionately in Golden Ratio proportions. Because of the intricateness of the process, the first drawings were only finished in 1952. The careful legibility of the type paved the way for August Rosenberger, a famous punchcutter, to cut the said letters.
Optima was officially released in 1958 in matrice production for the Linotype machines. Since then it became a popular font option around the globe because of its clear, simple, elegant and purely human touches. It has been applied in sorts of purposes—from signage to book texts—you can find it. Optima is available 4 companion and 12 weight fonts.
No comments