Date: 1952
Designer:
Hermann Zapf
Foundry:
Stempel
Location:
Frankfurt, Germany
Current equivalent:
Linotype Melior
See also:
BT Zapf Elliptical 711, Linotype Marconi by the same designer.
Technologies:
Metal (foundry)
Metal (machine)
Photosetting
Postscript
Famous for:
First typeface to be produced with Ikarus software system.
Applications: Book Publishing & General Purpose Text Setting
Ubiquity:
Very widely used
Category:
20th century Serif Roman
Stress: Vertical
Serifs: Modern
The first typeface produced with the Ikarus computer-aided design and digitizing system; possibly the first typeface to be designed for digital typesetting. Melior (meaning ‘better’ in Latin) is a text face design that incorporates the superellipse or squared circle, a hallmark of Zapf’s integration of mathematical theory to practical design. This gives the type an upright, slightly squarish appearance. Intended as a newspaper text face, Melior is highly legible at a variety of sizes, but available only in two weights with italics, and has been a preferred typeface for magazines, newspapers and books for over fifty years. Unauthorised copies of Melior by other type suppliers illustrates its critical success.
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picture: Black Dog & Leventhal