Optima

Optima is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf and released between 1952 and 1955 for the D. Stempel AG foundry, Frankfurt, Germany.

Though classified as a sans-serif, Optima has a subtle swelling at the terminals suggesting a glyphic serif. Optima was inspired by Roman and Italian stonecarving.

Zapf intended Optima to be a typeface that could serve for both body text and titling. To prove its versatility, Zapf set his entire book About Alphabets in the regular weight. Zapf retained an interest in the design, collaborating on variants and expansions into his eighties.

Characteristics

Optima’s design follows humanist lines; its capitals (like those of Palatino, Hans Eduard Meier’s Syntax and Carol Twombly's Trajan) are directly derived from the classic Roman monumental capital model, reflecting a reverence for Roman capitals as an ideal form.

Optima is an example of a modulated-stroke sans-serif, a design type where the strokes are variable in width. The design style has been intermittently popular since the late nineteenth century; Optima is one of the most lastingly popular examples of the genre. Optima was originally targeted by Stempel's Walter Cunz as a competitor to Ludwig & Mayer's Colonia design, which has not been digitised. Shaw also suggests the little-known 1948 design Romann Antiqua, as well as Stellar by Robert Hunter Middleton as predecessors, and notes the existence of Pascal by José Mendoza y Almeida (1962) as a design with a similar set of influences.

Kia Optima

The Kia Optima is a mid-size 4-door sedan manufactured by Kia Motors since 2000 and marketed globally through various nameplates. First generation cars were mostly marketed as the Optima, although the Kia Magentis name was used in Europe and Canada when sales began there in 2002. For the second generation models, Kia used the Kia Lotze & Kia K5 name for the South Korean market, and the Magentis name globally, except in the United States and Malaysia where the Optima name was retained. The Optima name is now going to be used for all markets except China, where they will also use the South Korean market name.

First generation (2000–2005)

From 2000–2005 Optimas were a rebadged variant of the Hyundai Sonata, differing only from the Sonata in minor exterior styling details and equipment content.

In Australia, the Optima was introduced in May 2001, offered only with a 2.5 L V6 engine, and choice of manual or automatic transmission. The updated Optima was offered with a new 2.7 L engine, 4-speed automatic (the manual was dropped), and features such as full leather interior and alloy wheels were made standard. Thanks in part to better marketing, sales increased to 41,289 units in 2005, an all-time high. The Optima was sold until 2006, when it was replaced by the Magentis.

Honda Accord

The Honda Accord /əˈkɔːrd/ is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1976, best known for its four-door sedan variant, which has been one of the best-selling cars in the United States since 1989. The Accord nameplate has been applied to a variety of vehicles worldwide, including coupes, wagons, hatchbacks and a crossover.

In 1982, the Accord became the first car from a Japanese manufacturer to be produced in the United States when production commenced in Marysville, Ohio at Honda's Marysville Auto Plant. The Accord has achieved considerable success, especially in the United States, where it was the best-selling Japanese car for fifteen years (1982–97), topping its class in sales in 1991 and 2001, with around ten million vehicles sold. Numerous road tests, past and present, rate the Accord as one of the world's most reliable vehicles. The Accord has been on the Car and Driver 10Best list a record 30 times.