a typeface by Erik Spiekermann
ligature
officina sans
shoulder
[1]
The Officina typeface was created in 1990 by German typographer and designer, Erik Spiekermann. He was born May 30, 1947 in Stadthagen, Lower Saxony and studied art history at Berlin’s Free University. For financial support throughout college, Spiekermann ran a letterpress printing press in the basement of his house. He worked as a freelance graphic designer in London and eventually returned to Berlin, where he helped start MetaDesign in 1979. Ten years later in 1989, Spiekermann and his wife created FontShop. Erik Spiekermann left MetaDesign in 2001 and started United Designers Networks. He has offices in Berlin, London and San Francisco. He is now a professor at the University of the Arts Bremen and has received a vast amount of recognition for his contributions to graphic design.
counter
the enclosed space of a letterform
tail
curved stroke at the end of a terminal
Erik Spiekermann’s most famous typeface is FF Meta, released one year after Officina. Like FF Meta, Officina has a few humanist qualities while being a neo-grotesque typeface. The humanist typefaces mimic movement of the hand and cursive writing, whereas neo-grotesque typefaces are straighter and have less stroke width. These qualities are all meant to create a clean and simple typeface for legibility. It was Erik Spiekermann’s goal to design a typeface that would be produced on low-resolution printers in offices. Spiekermann drew inspiration from typewriter inspired typefaces like Courier and Letter Gothic.
[3]
bold
bold italic
book italic
Officina is a unique and playful approach to a contextually boring purpose. Though it was designed simply for legibility in office settings, its subtle quirks create visual appeal without overbearing the eye. This typeface is universal in that it would be appropriate to use it in both casual and formal environments. Officina is different from other Neo-Grotesque typefaces; it is fresh take on an already clean and simple design category.
[5]
Qp ear
a stroke extending from the main stem
x-height
distance between the baseline and mean line
stress
variation of thickness in the curved part of a stroke
stem
any major vertical stroke
tail
a curved or diagonal stroke at the finish of a terminal
p fi shoulder
a curved stroke on the outside of a letterform
ligature
two or more characters linked together as one unit
baseline
line upon which all type sits
[7]
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[9]
[11]
I’m very much a
person, so that’s why
for me is the obvious
It just makes my words
Designed by Aricka Lewis