Peignot (typeface)

Peignot (pronounced Pen-yoe) is a sans-serif display typeface, designed by the poster artist A. M. Cassandre in 1937.[1] It was commissioned by the French type foundry Deberny & Peignot.[2]

Peignot

Category	Unicase stressed sans-serif
Designer(s)	A. M. Cassandre[1]
Foundry	Deberny & Peignot[1]
Date created	1937
Sample

The typeface is notable for not having a traditional lowercase, but in its place a "multi-case" combining traditional lowercase and small capital characters.[2] Cassandre intended for Peignot to be used in publishing and stated that "[t]here is no technical reason in printing why we cannot return to the noble classical shapes of the alphabet and discard the lower case forms."[1]

The typeface achieved some popularity in poster and advertising publishing from its release through the late 1940s. Stylistically Peignot is a "stressed" or modulated sans-serif in the Art Deco style, in which the vertical strokes are clearly wider than the horizontals. Use of Peignot declined with the growth of the International Typographic Style, which favored less decorative, more objective, traditional typefaces such as Akzidenz-Grotesk.

Peignot experienced a revival in the 1970s as the typeface used on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (and its production company, MTM Enterprises) and the second season of That's My Mama. While often classified as "decorative", the face is a serious exploration of typographic form and legibility. It is now owned by Linotype Corp. and is distributed by both Linotype and Adobe.

A very similar typeface, Chambord by Roger Excoffon, was released by the Fonderie Olive in Marseille in 1945; it had a traditional lowercase.[2] A font resembling Peignot was used for the Intellivision video game system. Derek Vogelpohl distributes a digital version of that font as freeware under the name SF Intellivised.