The design style has been intermittently favored since the late nineteenth century Optima is one of the most lasting examples of the genre. Optima is an example of a modulated-stroke sans-serif, a design type where the strokes are variable in width. Optima's design follows humanist lines its capitals (like those of Palatino, Hans Eduard Meier's Syntax and Carol Twombly's Trajan) originate from the classic Roman monumental capital model, reflecting a reverence for Roman capitals as an ideal form. 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 It is for me too presumptuous and was the invention of the sales people at Stempel. The name "Optima" was not my idea at all. In a memoir written for Linotype, Zapf commented: Zapf himself wanted to name the new type face New Roman, but the marketing staff insisted that it be named Optima. It was released to the public at an exhibition in Düsseldorf the same year. Optima was first manufactured as a foundry version in 1958 by Stempel of Frankfurt, and by Mergenthaler in America shortly thereafter. The development of Optima occurred during the period 1955–1958. However, the curved lines of the stems of each letter result from technical considerations of type manufacturing rather than purely esthetic considerations." The proportions of Optima Roman are now in the Golden Section: lowercase x-height equalling the minor and ascenders-descenders the major. Thus, too many German types have ascenders which are too long and descenders which are too short. 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. Optima was the first German typeface not based on the standard baseline alignment. "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. On the suggestion of Monroe Wheeler of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Zapf decided to adapt his typeface to be used as a book type. Like the Roman capitals, Optima's 'E' and 'R' occupy about a half-square, the 'M' is wide and its sides are splayed. 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. Zapf was to work on the development of Optima during most of the following decade. He quickly sketched an early draft of the design on a 1000 lira banknote. 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 Florence, in which the strokes subtly widen as they reach stroke terminals without ending in a serif.
Interested in calligraphy and the history of Italian printing and lettering, Zapf first visited Italy in 1950. Portions of the text are copied onto one of his 1950 sketches. Optima continues to be an all-purpose typeface and Optima nova works for just about anything from book text to signage.Zapf cited this gravestone as inspiring Optima. The titling face includes capital letters with special and unusual letter combinations and ligatures, making it an excellent choice for headlines, logos and advertising purposes. Optima nova has a complete range of beautifully designed real italics the new italic forms, of the e, f and g are especially notable. The original Optima was never manufactured with a real italic, only an oblique version of the roman. Hermann Zapf and Japanese type designer, Akira Kobayashi, collaborated on the project, which included re-working of the existing weights and the addition of several new weights: small caps, old style figures, light, heavy, and condensed.
In 2002, when it was finally possible to produce digital alphabets without technical limitations and compromises, and more than fifty years after the first sketches, an expansion and redesign of the Optima family was completed and released as Optima nova. With the clear, simple elegance of its sans serif forms and the warmly human touches of its tapering stems, the Optima family has proved popular around the world. The font is currently #48 in Best Sellers. Optima Nova contains 60 styles and family package options. Optima Nova was designed by Hermann Zapf, Akira Kobayashi and published by Linotype.
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