Mistral is a casual script typeface

Typeface

In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....

 designed by 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...

 for the 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...

 type foundry

Type foundry

A type foundry is a company that designs or distributes typefaces. Originally, type foundries manufactured and sold metal and wood typefaces and matrices for line-casting machines like the Linotype and Monotype machines designed to be printed on letterpress printers...

, and released in 1953. The Amsterdam Type foundry

Amsterdam Type foundry

The Amsterdam Type foundry was a Dutch type foundry which contributed a number of original type designs early in the 20th century. It eventually became a division of Tetterode. On October 1, 2000, Tetterode transferred the rights for all their typefaces to Linotype...

 released a version in 1955.

Excoffon based the form of the typeface on his own handwriting. The stroke has an informal graphic quality similar to brush and ink. The lowercase letters are carefully designed to connect on a line to an extent unusual in script fonts. Descenders are long, and increase the sense of motion. The face has several specially-designed ligatures (which have not been duplicated in digital versions). In lowercase Mistral is a true connecting script, similar to cursive

Cursive

Cursive, also known as joined-up writing, joint writing, or running writing, is any style of handwriting in which the symbols of the language are written in a simplified and/or flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing easier or faster...

 writing.

In Australia, the Mistral font is best known for the "it's Saturday" part of the Hey Hey It's Saturday

Hey Hey It's Saturday

Hey Hey It's Saturday was a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 27 years , debuting on the Nine Network on 9 October 1971 and broadcasting its last episode on 20 November 1999. Its host throughout its entire run was Daryl Somers, who would later...

 logo. It is also the font used for the Night Court

Night Court

Night Court is an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984, to May 20, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan court, presided over by the young, unorthodox Judge Harold T. "Harry" Stone...

logo.

In the Philippines, the Mistral font is best known for the "Come home to" part of the TV5

Associated Broadcasting Company

The Associated Broadcasting Company, Inc is a television network in the Philippines, with main broadcast facilities and transmitter located at 762 Quirino Highway, San Bartolome, Novaliches, Quezon City. The network was previously known as the , Associated Broadcasting Company remains the legal...

 logo from 2001-04.

In 2011, the font was used in hot-pink to advertise the 2011 film Drive

Drive (2011 film)

Drive is a 2011 American crime neo-noir drama film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Ryan Gosling as the principal character, with Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, and Albert Brooks...

.

External links

• Sample text using Mistral.
• Photo album of Montreal storefronts and signs using Mistral.