Elementary in the matter of aesthetics but sophisticated in terms of drawing, Executive was designed as a classic sans-serif typeface but with the raw DNA of a typewriter-generated type.
A Hammond typewriter shuttle triggered the design of Executive, which was developed by Gavillet & Rust. The overall aspect of the Hammond’s typeface is quite narrow and some letters like the “W” or the “M” are very compact due to the specificities of the technique. The generous space between letters is another interesting feature of the typeface, as it gives a very clear and sharp aspect. This led to the skeleton of Executive, the drawing of which was developed through testing in different editorial contexts, between 2002 and 2007. As a result, Executive is characterized by its very pragmatic design: a slender width, which has been adapted proportionally, combined with a generous spacing, resulting in an economic and highly legible typeface.
Executive 10 styles
Case Sensitive Forms
All Caps [cpsp]
Case Sensitive Forms [case]
This function formats the text in uppercase and adjusts spacing between all capital letters. It also applies the ‘Case Sensitive Forms’ feature which replaces certain characters with alternates that are better suited for all capital text, especially related to punctuation.
«Optimo»
@|¦()[]{}¿¡‹›«»-–—·
«OPTIMO»
@|¦()[]{}¿¡‹›«»-–—·
Contextual Alternates
Contextual Alternates [calt]
This feature adapts the position of a glyph after its surrounding context. For instance, a dash placed between two uppercase letters or numbers will be replaced by an uppercase version of the dash, slightly higher. This feature is usually active by default in Adobe applications.
Alternate l
Stylistics Set 1 [ss01]
This feature replaces glyph(s) with stylistic alternate(s).
l ĺľŀłļ
Gallerist
l ĺľŀłļ
Gallerist
Big arrows
Stylistics Set 1 [ss01]
This feature replaces glyph(s) with stylistic alternate(s).
←→↑↓↖↗↘↙ ↤↦↥↧ ↰↱↲↳↴
←→↑↓↖↗↘↙ ↤↦↥↧ ↰↱↲↳↴
Alternate m
Stylistics Set 3 [ss03]
This feature replaces glyph(s) with stylistic alternate(s).
m
formal
m
formal
Tabular Lining Figures
Tabular Lining Figures [tnum–lnum]
Based on the proportions of the capitals, lining figures have an invariable height. With the combination of the tabular spacing format, the width of each numeral is uniformized. This feature is useful when numerals need to all lined up. It facilitates the reading of numbers set within columns or tables. As some applications don’t have access to this feature, proportional figures are set as the default choice.
Proportional Oldstyle Figures
Proportional Oldstyle Figures [pnum–onum]
Based on the design of the lowercase, oldstyle figures have varying ascenders and descenders. Like most of the letters, each number has an appropriate width based on its shape. The combination of oldstyle figures with proportional setting generate numerals perfectly adapted for text.
Tabular Oldstyle Figures
Tabular Oldstyle Figures [tnum–onum]
Based on the design of the lowercase, oldstyle figures have varying ascenders and descenders. With the combination of the tabular spacing format, the width of each numeral is uniformized. This feature is useful when numerals need to all lined up. It facilitates the reading of numbers set within columns or tables.
Fractions
Fractions [frac]
With this feature, any numbers separated by a slash will automatically turn into a fraction. To fit in fraction configuration, numerals have been designed smaller and their weights have been adjusted to suit the typeface.
3/4 3/8 5/8 7/8
3/4 3/8 5/8 7/8
Ordinals
Ordinals [ordn]
This feature replaces any letter following a numeral with its matching superior letters. French language uses the ordinal indicators such as ‘er’ for 1er premier, while Spanish, Portuguese and Italian require the feminine and masculine ordinals ‘a,’ ‘o’ for 1º, 1ª. Ordinals are designed to match the weight of the typeface.
Slashed Zero
Slashed Zero [zero]
Originally created to avoid the confusion between the ‘0’ and the ‘O’, this feature substitutes all zeros in a selected text by a slashed form of the zero.
Numerators
Numerators [numr]
This feature substitutes glyphs with their matching smaller alternates. The numerators are the same glyphs that are used to create fractions, their vertical position remains within the capital letters height. These glyphs are reduced in size and designed slightly heavier to keep them consistent with the rest of the font.
Habcdefghijklmn
Hopqrstuvwxyz()[].,
Habcdefghijklmn
Hopqrstuvwxyz()[].,
Denominators
Denominators [dnom]
This feature substitutes glyphs with their matching smaller alternates and low position glyphs. The denominators are the same glyphs that are used to create fractions, their vertical position remains within the base line. These glyphs are reduced in size and designed slightly heavier to keep them consistent with the rest of the font.
Habcdefghijklmn
Hopqrstuvwxyz()[].,
Habcdefghijklmn
Hopqrstuvwxyz()[].,
Superscript/Superiors
Superscript / Superiors [sups]
This feature substitutes glyphs with their matching smaller alternates which are set slightly above the height of the capital letters. These glyphs are reduced in size and designed slightly heavier to keep them consistent with the rest of the font.
Habcdefghijklmn
Hopqrstuvwxyz()[].,
Habcdefghijklmn
Hopqrstuvwxyz()[].,
Subscript/Inferiors
Subscript / Inferiors [subs]
This feature substitutes glyphs with their matching smaller alternates which are set slightly below the baseline. These glyphs are reduced in size and designed slightly heavier to keep them consistent with the rest of the font.
Habcdefghijklmno
Hpqrstuvwxyz()[].,
Habcdefghijklmno
Hpqrstuvwxyz()[].,
Standard Ligatures
Standard Ligatures [liga]
Standard ligatures replaces a sequence of characters with a single ligature glyph, they are designed to improve kerning and readability of certain letter pairs.
Discretionary Ligatures
Discretionary Ligatures [dlig]
This feature activates discretionary ligatures which are specific to the typeface. It applies all other designed ligatures that are not classified as standard ligatures.
fb fh fj fk ft fu fv fw fy
tf ti tj tt tu tv tw ty ffj
fft ttf ttj
fb fh fj fk ft fu fv fw fy
tf ti tj tt tu tv tw ty ffj
fft ttf ttj
Lowercase math symbols
Stylistic Set 6 [ss06]
This feature activates alternate lowercase positioning of mathematical symbols.
up+down
+±×÷−=≈≠¬∞
up+down
+±×÷−=≈≠¬∞
Multiply sign
Stylistic Set 20 [ss20]
This feature substitutes the letter “x” into the multiplication sign.