1958 · Germany
Optima
Also known as Optima Nova, Zapf-Menscheid
Hermann Zapf's 1958 'serifless roman' — a humanist sans whose stems gently flare toward their ends, splitting the difference between sans and serif. Inspired by lettering Zapf sketched on Florentine grave slabs.
GearedBull (Jim Hood), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Optima_font_sample.svg
About the style
Optima was designed by Hermann Zapf for the Stempel foundry, drawn between 1952 and 1955 and released in 1958. Zapf famously sketched the idea onto a thousand-lira note in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, struck by the flared, serifless letters incised on Renaissance grave slabs. The result is a hybrid that resists the usual classification: it has no serifs, yet its stems swell subtly at the terminals and taper at their waists, giving it the modulated stress and warmth of a glyphic roman while keeping the clean silhouette of a sans. Strongly calligraphic in feel, with classical Roman capital proportions, Optima reads with elegance at text size and authority at display. It has been widely used for cosmetics and luxury branding, and engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C.
Notable examples
- ▸Hermann Zapf — Optima (Stempel, 1958)
- ▸Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall lettering (1982)
- ▸Estée Lauder and Aston Martin brand wordmarks
Anatomy of Optima
The numbered markers call out the design elements that define this style. Hover or tap a marker to see its breakdown.
GearedBull (Jim Hood), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Optima_font_sample.svg
Each vertical stem swells outward as it nears the top and bottom, a serif-like flare without an actual serif — Optima's single most recognizable trait.
Stems pinch thinner at their midpoint and thicken at the ends, giving a subtle modulated contrast borrowed from chiselled inscriptional letters rather than the broad-nib pen.
The capitals follow the varied widths of the classical Roman inscriptional alphabet — a narrow E and S beside a wide M — lending the face its monumental authority.
The double-story a carries an open aperture and a softly modulated bowl, echoing old-style roman type and aiding readability at text size.
How Optima connects
Styles form a network, not a tree. Explore the direct neighbours below — click any to travel the map one hop at a time.
- Evolved from
- Influenced by
Hover or tap a style to preview it.
Evolved from Humanist Sans-serif — a serifless roman with humanist proportions and modulated stress
Influenced by Glyphic (Inscriptional) Serif — its flared, tapering stems derive from chiselled inscriptional letters
Influenced by Trajan — drawn from the Roman inscriptional capital tradition
Describe it like this
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