A sleeping beauty from the modern Swiss typography tradition, Media has resurfaced in a newly digitalized version, four decades after it was first sketched. Created by the legendary Team’77, the typeface has been dexterously revitalized.
In 1974, André Gürtler, Christian Mengelt, and Erich Gschwind, known as Team’77, were commissioned by Bobst Graphic, in Lausanne, to draw a text typeface specifically for phototypesetting technology. Rather than a constraint, Team’77 thought that the technical parameters of the composing system could result in interesting typographic solutions, detached from historical classifications: not another replica, but the design of a contemporary typeface with a modern purpose. Media was originally released by Bobst Graphic in 1977, after which it was immediately featured in issue no. 8/9 of Typographische Monatsblätter (TM).
Forty years later, the redrawing of Media by the original members of Team’77 Christian Mengelt and Erich Gschwind showcases their mastery: an extraordinarily sophisticated typeface with a unique aesthetic, very legible at small sizes, and full of refined details at display sizes.
More about the collection >Media77 8 styles
Media77 Condensed 6 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
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.
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.
0123456789
0123456789
Proportional Oldstyle Figures
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
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
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
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
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.
Slashed Zero Oldstyle
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.
Tabular figures are all of equal width. They are only needed when the figures must all line up from one line to the next, as in a table. Proportional figures have varying widths, just like most letters; each number has a width appropriate to its design. Lining figures are all the same height, usually similar to that of capital letters. They are needed for use with all-capital settings.
Numerators
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
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
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
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 replaces a sequence of characters with a single ligature glyph, they are designed to improve kerning and readability of certain letter pairs.
Discretionary Ligatures
This feature activates discretionary ligatures which are specific to the typeface. It applies all other designed ligatures that are not classified as standard ligatures.
Historical forms
Stylistic Set 7 [ss07]
This feature replaces glyph(s) with stylistic alternate(s).
s
ss si ssi sl sk st
s
ss si ssi sl sk st
Alternate at symbol
Stylistics Set [ss01]
This feature replaces glyph(s) with stylistic alternate(s).
info@optimo.ch
info@optimo.ch
Lowercase math symbols
This feature activates alternate lowercase positioning of mathematical symbols.
up+down
+±×÷−=≈≠¬∞
up+down
+±×÷−=≈≠¬∞
Multiply sign
This feature substitutes the letter “x” into the multiplication sign.