Antique Olive
Encyclopedia
Despite being named "antique" (equivalent to "roman" in American typographic terminology), Antique Olive is actually a Geometric Sans-serif typeface along the lines of Univers
or Helvetica
. It was designed in the early 1960s by French typographer Roger Excoffon
, an art director and former consultant to the Marsille based Fonderie Olive
. In addition to a basic weight, Antique Olive was produced in medium, condensed, wide, bold, condensed bold, extra bold (known as Antique Olive Compact), and ultra bold (known as Nord).
Lewis Blackwell later commented on the design, "An attempt to offer a more refined sans serif than presented by Helvetica and Univers, but it was too characterful and too late to be widely adopted outside of France."
The face was later made available in cold type and digital versions are now offered by Adobe Systems
and Linotype
.
Univers
Univers is the name of a realist sans-serif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1954.Originally conceived and released by Deberny & Peignot in 1957, the type library was acquired in 1972 by Haas. Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei was later folded into the D...
or Helvetica
Helvetica
Helvetica is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann.-Visual distinctive characteristics:Characteristics of this typeface are:lower case:square dot over the letter i....
. It was designed in the early 1960s by French typographer Roger Excoffon
Roger Excoffon
Roger Excoffon , French typeface designer and graphic designer.Excoffon was born in Marseilles, studied law at the University of Aix-en-Provence, and after, moved to Paris to apprentice in a print shop. In 1947 he formed his own advertising agency and concurrently became design director of a small...
, an art director and former consultant to the Marsille based Fonderie Olive
Fonderie Olive
The Fonderie Olive, in English, Olive Foundry, was a small but high profile type foundry located in Marseilles, France. It is best known for the work of the typeface designer Roger Excoffon...
. In addition to a basic weight, Antique Olive was produced in medium, condensed, wide, bold, condensed bold, extra bold (known as Antique Olive Compact), and ultra bold (known as Nord).
Lewis Blackwell later commented on the design, "An attempt to offer a more refined sans serif than presented by Helvetica and Univers, but it was too characterful and too late to be widely adopted outside of France."
The face was later made available in cold type and digital versions are now offered by Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
and Linotype
Linotype
The Mergenthaler Linotype Company is a corporation founded in the United States in 1886 to market the linecaster invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler...
.