# Can anyone identify this typeface?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-typeface/582851>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 23, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-typeface/582851 "2011-05-23T03:07:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-typeface/582851/1 "2011-05-23T03:07:34Z")

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It’s on the banner used by Goebbels for his “Totaler Krieg” speech. Possibly it was just custom for the banner, but at the very least the letters mostly look like something I recognize but can’t name. The O and Ü look a bit wider than what I’m probably thinking of.

Here’s a [photo from the speech](http://bit.ly/jvI3EI):  
(Link shortened because of brackets in the URL. It’s from the German government archives.)

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**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-typeface/582851/2 "2011-05-23T03:12:43Z")

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Unfortunately, your link just goes to the search form, not the picture itself.

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**Author:** ![Euryphaessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Euryphaessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euryphaessa)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-typeface/582851/3 "2011-05-23T03:14:28Z")

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Do you mean [this picture](http://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/dev02/barchpic/2007/06-29/85/e6/15/athene-5cj3l568vns1naasp4cr_layout.jpg)?

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**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-typeface/582851/4 "2011-05-23T03:19:35Z")

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It’s very much like our modern typeface Optima, designed by Hermann Zapf in the 1950s, but chances are that the banner was hand lettered.

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**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-typeface/582851/5 "2011-05-23T03:44:17Z")

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That’s the photo, Euryphaessa.  
I think Optima was the one I was thinking of.

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-typeface/582851/6 "2011-05-23T06:22:36Z")

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It’s not Optima. The round characters (O, U) are slightly squarish in the link, and the umlaut over the “U” is way wider than Optima.

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**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-typeface/582851/7 "2011-05-23T17:55:41Z")

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Considering that Hermann Zapf didn’t design Optima until the 50s, I’d say this was a precursor to it. It certainly looks like Zapf’s humanist sans-serif work.