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Date: 1953

Designer:
Roger Excoffon

Foundry:
Fonderie Olive

Location:
Marseilles, France

Current equivalent:
Mistral

See also:
Choc, Banco also by the same designer

Technologies:
Metal (foundry)
Photosetting
Postscript
Truetype

Famous for:
First attempt at rendering an informal script (handwriting) as a typeface.

Applications: Experimental and Expressive

Ubiquity:
Average use

Category:
Informal Script

Stress: Angled
Serifs: None

Design history:
With letterforms based on the designer's own handwriting, Mistral anticipated the craze for informal scripts by nearly 40 years. Although it was a radical departure from the norm of the postwar years, it still looks idiosyncratic, and like Brush Script, will probably remain a signwriters' favourite for years to come. Unfortunately the digital Postscript font for Mistral lacks the raggedness of edge that can be found in the foundry-produced metal original.

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