Microgramma (typeface)
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| Category | Sans-serif |
|---|---|
| Designer(s) |
Aldo Novarese Alessandro Butti |
| Foundry | Nebiolo (source), Linotype, URW |
| Variations | Eurostile |
Microgramma is a sans serif font which was designed by Aldo Novarese and Alessandro Butti for the Nebiolo Type Foundry in 1952. It became popular for use with technical illustrations in the 1960s and was a favourite of graphic designers by the early seventies, its uses ranging from publicity and publication design to packaging, largely because of its availability as a Letraset typeface. Early typesetters (like the AM Varityper) also incorporated it.
The typeface is almost always used in its extended and bold extended forms (pictured). Initially, it only had upper-case letters. Later versions, by Linotype and URW/Nebiolo, contain lower case letters, accented Latin characters, mathematical symbols, and Latin ligatures. In the URW/Nebiolo version, there are also extended Latin, subscripts and superscripts, extended Latin ligatures.
Novarese himself later developed Eurostile in 1962, a typeface very similar to Microgramma. Eurostile added lower-case letters, a bold condensed variant, and an ultra narrow design he called Eurostile Compact.
Microgramma OnlyShadow is a variant of Microgramma Bold that contains only the shadows of Microgramma Extended Bold, designed by URW Studio and Aldo Novarese in 1994. Although Alessandro Butti died in 1959, URW credited him as the designer of the new font.
The Euro sign in the font has a different weight, styled from a different font family, and is not shadowed.
Not long after inception, Microgramma was widely appropriated for use in science fiction film, depicting advanced technology and space exploration.
Microgramma and its related variations are used throughout the original Alien franchise films, as well as the more recent reincarnations. Weyland-Yutani, the primary corporate conglomerate within both the earlier and recent Alien films (including the recent genre crossover Alien vs. Predator franchise films), features use of Microgamma and its Bold Extended typeface in its corporate logo, although not exclusively.
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