Roger Excoffon
Encyclopedia
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 foundry in Marseille called Fonderie Olive
. Later he co-founded the prestigious Studio U+O (a reference to Urbi et Orbi
).
Excoffon's best known faces are Mistral
and Antique Olive
, the latter which he designed in the period 1962–1966. Air France
was one of Excoffon's largest and most prestigious clients. The airline continues to use a customized variant of Antique Olive in its wordmark and livery
.
Excoffon's faces, even his most sober, Antique Olive, have an organic vibrancy not found in similar sans-serif types of the period. His typefaces gave voice to an exuberant body of contemporary French and European graphic design.
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 foundry in Marseille called 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...
. Later he co-founded the prestigious Studio U+O (a reference to Urbi et Orbi
Urbi et Orbi
Urbi et Orbi denotes a papal address and Apostolic Blessing that is given to the City of Rome and to the entire world, on certain occasions. It was a standard opening of Ancient Roman proclamations....
).
Excoffon's best known faces are Mistral
Mistral (typeface)
Mistral is a casual script typeface designed by Roger Excoffon for the Fonderie Olive type foundry, and released in 1953. The Amsterdam Type foundry released a version in 1955....
and Antique Olive
Antique Olive
Despite being named "antique" , 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...
, the latter which he designed in the period 1962–1966. Air France
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
was one of Excoffon's largest and most prestigious clients. The airline continues to use a customized variant of Antique Olive in its wordmark and livery
Livery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
.
Excoffon's faces, even his most sober, Antique Olive, have an organic vibrancy not found in similar sans-serif types of the period. His typefaces gave voice to an exuberant body of contemporary French and European graphic design.