Optimo

Extended Release: Programme Cyrillic and Greek

Programme Pan offers an extended character set, which supports languages that use Cyrillic and Greek alphabets, in addition to those which use the Latin alphabet. It provides accurate and genuine letterforms created for international communication.

Developed by the Swiss design studio Maximage, Programme is an innovative typeface which is based both on calligraphy and computer programming. The typeface was developed with the help of scripting technology.

Programme Extension!

Broadening the range of capabilities, Programme is now expanded with the addition of two weights: “Thin” and “Black.” Developed by the Swiss design studio Maximage, Programme is an innovative typeface which is based both on calligraphy and computer programming. The typeface was developed with the help of scripting technology.

The project started from the rather raw idea that a font’s DNA is entirely contained in the calligraphic letters “o” and “n.” From these two glyphs, it was thought that a computer program could build the full Latin alphabet, since a typeface is actually made out of a limited set of shapes that are repeated in all of its characters. The typeface was eventually optimized for both text and display uses. In some cases, the imperfections of the program have not been retouched to preserve the type’s original essence. This is why Programme exists in a rougher style as well as in a more refined one

The first version of Programme was featured in JRP Ringier’ 2009 book Typeface as Program. The book provides an overview of a series of projects related to programming and type design, which took place at the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL).

Ten years after its release, we are thrilled to publish a substantial extension of Genath.

The typeface was first divided into two families “Genath Display” and “Genath,” and secondly, new weights (Thin and Extrabold) were added to extend its potential for editorial design.

Genath is a revival type, based on a 1720 specimen including Johann Wilhelm Haas’ first design for the Genath Foundry in Basel, Switzerland. Through his meticulous lens, François Rappo was able to create a streamlined digitalization of Baroque eclecticism and extravagance.

Like Joan Michaël Fleischmann, Johann Wilhelm Haas (1698–1764) trained in Nuremberg, likely with Johann and Pankraz Lobinger. Both Fleischmann and Haas epitomize a new typographic departure from the old styles cut during the Renaissance, a divergent situation specific to Northern Europe. It would later spread to Prague and to London, to a lesser extent. Following the death of the Genath Foundry’s proprietor, Johann Wilhelm Haas became its new owner and renamed the foundry, Haas’sche Schriftgiesserei. The foundry has been recognized as the most famous and oldest (1740–1989) type foundry in Switzerland, noted for the launch of Helvetica in the mid-1950s.

Truly “Baroque,” slightly condensed, and highly contrasting, Genath features playful and fancy details which will enhance any editorial work—from footnotes to headlines.

A masterful extension drawn by the legendary Team’77, Media77 now comprises two families “Media77” and “Media77 Condensed” in addition to a new weight “Light” with its corresponding italic. Media77 Condensed’s weights range from Light to Medium providing a narrower visual texture that can accommodate lots of text in demanding editorial contexts.

A sleeping beauty from the modern Swiss typography tradition, Media has resurfaced in a newly digitalized version, four decades after it was first sketched. Created by the legendary Team’77, the typeface has been dexterously revitalized.

In 1974, André Gürtler, Christian Mengelt, and Erich Gschwind, known as Team’77, were commissioned by Bobst Graphic, in Lausanne, to draw a text typeface specifically for phototypesetting technology. Rather than a constraint, Team’77 thought that the technical parameters of the composing system could result in interesting typographic solutions, detached from historical classifications: not another replica, but the design of a contemporary typeface with a modern purpose. Media was originally released by Bobst Graphic in 1977, after which it was immediately featured in issue no. 8/9 of Typographische Monatsblätter (TM).

Forty years later, the redrawing of Media by the original members of Team’77 showcases their mastery: an extraordinarily sophisticated typeface with a unique aesthetic, very legible at small sizes, and full of refined details at display sizes.