CEO captures the modernist fancy of the characters generated by the last mechanical typewriter from the 1960s, Olympia. This monospaced typeface evokes the visionary ideas and the exploration of new modular forms that were characteristic of the era and both of which were completely detached from the typography printed in books.

CEO’s design is inspired by the typeface Senatorial #71, which was available on some Olympia typewriter models. Olympia was developed in Berlin under the direction of European General Electric (AEG). First produced in 1903, Olympia enjoyed increased success in the late forties and was eventually discontinued in 1992.

CEO is based on an almost rectangular module, which brings a certain authoritativeness and systematic quality to the project. Carefully drawn, this geometric typeface developed into an unusually smooth and somewhat “organic” project—especially through its particular angular curves and slightly rounded stems and terminals. An emphasis is placed on punctuation and special characters, which are reminiscent of the alphabet drawn for magnetic-ink character recognition technology.