A free retro display sans: Olivetti Neue
Few brands have had the impact that Olivetti has had on my childhood. My dad got us our first PC, a 80286-powered beige box running MS-DOS 3 when I was about ten and it changed my life forever.
Was it an Olivetti? Hell, no. It came from the Olivetti shop, but it was some brand called SunMoonStar. As long as it ran GW-Basic, Xenon 2: Megablast and Lemmings (and, OK — confession time — Crime Wave, so I could take a peek at the bare shoulders of the kidnapped president’s daughter in the intro) I was happy. But, you know, it came from the Olivetti shop.
Pedro Miguel Xarepe remade the Olivetti logo and then went ahead and renovated the original typeface, adding some common ligatures and latin characters to the set in the process.
The result is a graceful, nostalgic typeface, perfect for logos, posters and even book covers. It only comes in one weight, and it has no matching italics but you won’t be setting a book using this one.
Here’s a quick imaginary album cover I made in a few picoseconds, before my youngest daughter wakes up and all hell breaks loose.
You can download Olivetti Neue for personal and commercial use HERE.
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