FS Olivia Capturing the poetry of pen, ink and paper. by Eleni Beveratou
FS Olivia Capturing the poetry of pen, ink and paper. by Eleni Beveratou
Sometimes, it's the smallest detail that can spark an idea. For me, and for FS Olivia, this came during a trip to Belgium and the Netherlands in 2011 while studying for my MA at Reading University.
Most were typeset using Sjoerk Hendrik de Roos’s typefaces: Egmont cursive and Erasmus and I became fascinated by the details of the letterforms – such as the serifs on the 'l', 'h', 'k', 'b' and 'd' in Egmont – making each character unique while simultaneously creating an interesting texture on the paper.
FS Olivia
& At the Plantin Moretus Museum in Antwerp, my attention was drawn to the letter 'g' from the Didot family. At first, it appeared to me almost like a mistake, standing out from the text. But at the same time, it seemed to blend quite harmoniously with the rest of the letters. Later, in Amsterdam, I discovered a completely chaotic bookshop and emerged three hours later with an armful of old poetry books.
Regular 414pt
And there it was, the spark. I decided to design a typeface that would capture the details of the process of writing. It would be intended mainly for poetry books, since short lines allow more freedom to differentiate each letter, making it unique and even irregular within the character set, but at the same time blending together with the other letters as a harmonious whole.
Italic 46pt
FS Olivia
Say or recite with little rise and fall in the pitch of the voice. Όταν кάπoιoς μιλάει ή απαγγέλλει αλλάζovτας τoν τόνo της ϕωνής τoυ.
I shared my initial thoughts with Phil and Jason. I think they saw something they liked among these first tentative sketches and they gave me every opportunity to develop my ideas further. Throughout the remainder of the design process, Phil in particular gave plenty of valuable input as FS Olivia began to take shape.
When creating a typeface it's fair to say that it reflects some of the designer’s personality. And that's certainly the case with FS Olivia.
FS Olivia
Although technology is part of my everyday life, I am a great admirer of traditional graphic design where you can touch and feel paper and ink.
A typeface that captures the motion of the pen, with low junctions, deep top serifs and semi-rounded edges.
gc
Regular 28pt
Bold 252pt
AVAILABLE FORMATS
OpenType TrueType Lining and Old Style figures in Tabular and Proportional widths.
Superior & Inferior Numerals and OpenType Fractions. Small Capitals in all Latin, Cyrillic and Greek including Polytonic.
FS Olivia
OpenType Ligatures. Mac and PC
AVAILABLE WEIGHTS Regular Italic Bold Bold italic
REGULAR
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFG HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789 ITALIC
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFG HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789 BOLD
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFG HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789
Qi BOLD ITALIC
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFG HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789
Italic 200pt
LANGUAGE SUPPORT
FS Olivia suports Greek and Cyrillic alphabets in addition to the standard Latin characters.
CYRILLIC ALPHABET
GREEK ALPHABET
REGULAR
REGULAR
АБВГДЕЖЅZЗИІКЛМНОПР СТФХЦЧШЩЪЬЮабвгдежѕ zзиіклмнопрстфхцчшщъью
ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤ ΥΦΧΨΩαβγδεζηθικλμνξοπρ σςτυφχψω
ITALIC
ITALIC
BOLD
BOLD
АБВГДЕЖЅZЗИІКЛМНОПРС ФХЦЧШЩЪЬЮабвгдежѕzзиі клмнопрстфхцчшщъью АБВГДЕЖЅZЗИІКЛМНО ПРСТФХЦЧШЩЪЬЮабв гдежѕzзиіклмнопрстфхц чшщъью
ξ BOLD ITALIC
АБВГДЕЖЅZЗИІКЛМНО ПРСТФХЦЧШЩЪЬЮабвг дежѕzзиіклмнопрстфхцч шщъью
POLYTONIC GREEK Italic 180pt
For further information and to buy FS Olivia visit fontsmith.com
ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΥ ΦΧΨΩαβγδεζηθικλμνξοπρσς τυφχψω ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡ ΣΤΥΦΧΨΩαβγδεζηθικλμνξ οπρσςτυφχψω BOLD ITALIC
ΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣ ΤΥΦΧΨΩαβγδεζηθικλμνξο πρσςτυφχψω
ᾎ Ὤ ὦ ὒ
What I particularly like is that a printed item can develop its own personality sometimes as a result of imperfections in the print. FS Olivia has some of these characteristics as it's inspired by handwriting, and yet it includes some very modern features.
FS Olivia is a friendly and feminine typeface that captures the motion of the pen, with low junctions, deep top serifs and semirounded edges.
FS Olivia
The round shape of the outstroke contrasts with the rough corners of the instroke, while strong diagonals and inclined serifs create an intense pattern with rich textures and unexpected irregularities.
“ In the future everyone will be discredited Everyone must act now to avoid the future� ~ Stephen Roxborough
Italic 40pt
Bold 40pt
t__+44 (0) 20 7407 8800 e__info@fontsmith.com w__fontsmith.com DESIGN Thompson Brand Partners PRINT Team Impression PAPER Colorplan White /Colorplan Fuscia Pink Zen Pure White Š Fontsmith 2012