DataLife Engine - Softnews Media Group

"Always intrigued by Bodoni’s original work, I was set out—back in 2000—to examine his work and study Manuale Tipografico, one of the greatest specimen books ever printed. Issued in 1818 at Parma, Italy by Bodoni’s widow, the two-volume work shows an impressive array of 142 roman alphabets and some foreign ones such as Greek and Cyrillic. After a careful examination of all characters, I decided to create a typeface based on the distinct script capitals presented in the book. Matching lowercase italics were later selected and designed to complete the series. Since my intention was not to create simply a digital version of Bodoni’s work, this typeface was designed with connected characters and capitals with extra calligraphic elements.

The result was released in 2002 and published in our award-winning catalog/book IDEA/Trendsetting Typography vol.1. Later in 2005 we revived a large number of ornaments and borders (credit goes to designer George Lygas).