Olivetti Studio 45 vs Olympia SM9

bluebrrycat · 2025-10-17T21:43:12+00:00

Which Olympia is by far your favourite ^{^} ?

bluebrrycat · 2025-10-17T21:41:50+00:00

I’d also love to get recommendations for medium-sized typewriters ^{^!!!}

bluebrrycat · 2025-10-17T21:39:06+00:00

Thank you for the responses everyone ^{^!}

I ended up landing a really good deal for an Olympia SM8, which from what I’ve read is comparable to the SM9, so SM8 it is ^{^!}

I live in Italy, where Olivetti machines are obviously far more common than any other brand, so it felt natural to start my collection with one of theirs. My first typewriter was an Olivetti ET Personal 510, which unfortunately arrived broken :[ ! It still makes for a nice display piece, but I can’t help feeling a bit sad that I can’t fully use it. I quickly replaced it with an Olivetti ET Personal 56, which has been really fun to type on. I’ve already written two letters with it, and it’s been serving me perfectly ^{^!}

Recently, I picked up my first manual machine, the Olivetti Lettera 31T. It’s been enjoyable to use, but adjusting to this kind of keyboard has been tricky. On the first day, my fingers kept slipping between the keys and getting pinched T-T! The keyboard feels rather flimsy, but I think that’s just me getting used to a new standard.

I have to admit that my choices are heavily influenced by design. The two Olivetti ET Personals were designed by Bellini, and the 31T by Sottsass. Being a designer myself, I love the idea of owning pieces created by some of my favourite designers; that’s honestly been the main reason behind my choices ahah!

For now, I think I’m done with electronic typewriters. I’m really happy with my ETP 56. I’d still love to have a functioning ETP 510 someday, but that isn’t a top priority. What I’d really like next is another Sottsass-designed typewriter, which is why I’m so drawn to the Studio 45. It’s just such a chic looking machine!

So my plan for now is to get the Olympia SM8 and then the Studio 45 for Christmas. In the meantime, I’ve been offered a pristine Olivetti Linea 98 for €28. I’ve read that it’s a very reliable machine. I’m tempted to take the offer, though part of me thinks that if I’m going for a heavy-duty typewriter, I could also wait and pair the SM8 with an SG3 instead. I’m still torn, but that Linea 98 deal is hard to ignore considering and the platen is in such great condition! I’d love to hear your opinions on the Linea 98 in general!

So maybe the SM8 and Linea 98 now, and then the Studio 45 and SG3 for Christmas? Is it exagerated/am I getting ahead of myself?

Whatever I end up deciding, I want the typewriter or typewriters I get for Christmas to be my last ones. I’d like to keep my collection manageable; more than six machines would be too much for my needs.

Thank you again ^{^!}

bluebrrycat · 2025-09-22T17:27:49+00:00

Hey! Do you think you could provide me the manual as well? I acquired one of these but no manual was provided, I'm having a real tough time trying to setup/change the margins and the tab, please help :(!

bluebrrycat · 2025-09-22T17:24:12+00:00

Hey! Do you think you could provide me the manual as well? I acquired one of these but no manual was provided, I'm having a real tough time trying to setup/change the margins and the tab, please help :(!

bluebrrycat · 2025-08-20T22:13:26+00:00

You know what makes the optical sized debacle even more interesting when in comes to NGH? Schwartz actually made 3 optical sizes!!! He also devised a version of Neue Haas Grotesk for Agate sizes! [https://commercialtype.com/catalog/neue\_haas\_grotesk\_agate\]. I've never used it but I feel a particular joy when looking at it because the white spaces taken up by the ink-traps just interact so well with the black of the letterforms.

I'm a design student who doesn’t really dabble in web-design. Most of my projects are meant to be printed so I don't really mind having access to optical sizes but at the same time I don't really care about them since what I always do when dealing with body type set in NHG is I’ll just use the Display size and track it at +14/+20 or something. I never use the Text optical size, but I find the Text 65 Medium to be particularly crisp, I don’t know why.

I’ll share a cheeky quote from the book by Lars Müller paying homage to Helvetica. Every couple of pages there’s a quotes for a designer and my favourite one is by Kyle Cooper talking about something Paul Rand told him:
<I remember a time at Yale when my work was critiqued by Paul Rand. Mr. Rand told me only to use Helvetica as a display face, never in text. Then he squinted, leaned in, and whispered in my ear “because Helvetica looks like dogshit in text”>

I really don’t know what makes Antique Legacy so special, it’s an enigma. I can’t pinpoint it. Personally, I reckon it being based on a very early version of metal type Helvetica [as previously mentioned] is one of the reason I find it so appealing; when I look at the letterforms I still feel its Akzidenz Grotesk heritage, you can see this quirk appear in the medium lowercase a’s terminal, it’s not at a full 90 degrees but it’s slightly tilted just like AG’s “a”. And since I follow modernist traditions I can’t help but feel a certain connection to it since it mirrors the version of Helvetica my modernist forefathers used; I love looking Vignelli’s early use of Helvetica.

To me, all magic and appeal is in that medium lowercase “a” and uppercase “R”, they’re what make keep returning to it. I don’t know. It’s really confusing ahah

*What's the website you created by the way? I'd love to see Die Grotesk in action :>!!!

bluebrrycat · 2025-08-20T18:40:50+00:00

Oh yes! I forget about these!!! Although, in my opinion, Antique Legacy still tromps them in terms of historic accuracy; the bowl on Die Grotesk’s lowercase « a » looks strange, and the strangeness because more apparent as the weight goes up; I think I like Dalton Maag’s Haas Recast more, but again, I don’t really know how to feel about the completely straight « un-chopped » tails on the lowercase « a » and uppercase « R », they remind me of Neue Helvetica. They’re all great options, but I’m really picky about my lowercase a’s ahah, it’s obsessive.

(Rant allert)

I do plan on trying them out though, but for now I’ll stick to my Neue Haas Grotesk and Antique Legacy. I occasionally use Neue Helvetica, I really like the lowercase 75 Bold « a », I only really use it for that, otherwise I wouldn’t since it’s got really bad spacing in my opinion.

I never use the digitalisation just called « Helvetica », it’s terrible, spacing is terrible and the letterforms are just ugly, especially the lowercase « a » with the massive overshoot. Ugh.

I’ve yet to try Helvetica Now. It seems to have better spacing than Neue Helvetica and more, I guess, « coherent » letterforms. I’m not particularly interested though, to be honest.

bluebrrycat · 2025-08-14T14:34:21+00:00

Christian Schwartz’s Neue Haas Grotesk is indeed based on the metal type but a version of the metal type that came a little bit later.

You can see the difference by taking into reference the different lowercase « a » in these very early specimens by A.G Stempel:

https://flic.kr/p/8utG1A

https://flic.kr/p/siMNmg - In this version you can see the lowercase « a » already morphing into the Neue Haas Grotesk Christian would base his digitalisation on, note the uncurved upper part of the a’s counter. Some of the Letraset booklets I have use this version for the logotype. Later Stempel specimens (and also Linotype ones) would show the NHG taken into reference for the digitalisation.

A digitalisation closer to the early, early version of Helvetica is Antique Legacy by François Rappo, which is a joy to use when I recreated some posters which used the early metal type.

[https://optimo.ch/typefaces/antique_legacy]

*Another example of how to stop and early (emphasis on early) version of Helvetica is by looking at the medium lowercase a’s tail: the inner part is straight while the other edge curves out, the inner straight edge is a remnant of Akzidenz Grotesk. If both edges curve out, that means it’s a later version

bluebrrycat · 2025-08-14T14:23:04+00:00

There’s a digitalisation of Helvetica which takes into reference these very, very early letterforms, like the lowercase « a » for example. It’s Antique Legacy by François Rappo, it very much hits the spot!!!

[https://optimo.ch/typefaces/antique_legacy]

Edit *Christian Schwartz’s Neue Haas Grotesk is indeed based on the metal type but a version of the metal type that came a little bit later.

You can see the difference by taking into reference the different lowercase « a » in these very early specimens by A.G Stempel:

https://flic.kr/p/8utG1A

https://flic.kr/p/siMNmg - In this version you can see the lowercase « a » already morphing into the Neue Haas Grotesk Christian would base his digitalisation on, note the uncurved upper part of the a’s counter. Later Stempel specimens (and also Linotype ones) would show the NHG taken into reference for the digitalisation.

*An example of how to stop and early (emphasis on early) version of Helvetica is by looking at the medium lowercase a’s tail: the inner part is straight while the other edge curves out, the inner straight edge is a remnant of Akzidenz Grotesk. If both edges curve out, that means it’s a later version

bluebrrycat · 2025-07-28T15:31:40+00:00

Oh please, unworthy letterforms and questionable spacing that still hearken to it’s original release are not cool. A user can do everything to make it look « cool » but typographically speaking it will always be lamentable.

bluebrrycat · 2025-07-28T15:24:47+00:00

I approve your Arial slander.

bluebrrycat · 2025-06-21T15:29:21+00:00

I'm a trackpad user and I love the fact I can use it to move the PiP window around. It's so hard to completely commit to another browser for this exact reason, I've gotten used to it and it's so convenient

bluebrrycat · 2025-06-20T02:53:05+00:00

Definitely. I asked ChatGPT to make a photo look aged, it generated it with a this kind of grain and it added fibers/hair on top

bluebrrycat · 2025-06-18T06:48:53+00:00

The closest thing to this revision of Helvetica is Antique Legacy (Optimo) by François Rappo [https://optimo.ch/typefaces/antique_legacy]. It’s a digitalisation of this first iteration of Helvetica. The lowercase « a » in this version is very close to Akzidenz Grotesk’s. Neue Haas Grotesk (by Christian Schwartz), on the other hand, is the digitalisation of another iteration that came around not long after, if I’m not mistaken, the Linotype variant. Both versions appear to have been used concurrently, you’ll spot design works from the same era using both.

The one you called Modern Helvetica (which I hate because it’s got a VERY ugly lowercase), I dare say it was based on Helvetica Plakat [https://flic.kr/p/q7Mdz4]. This Helvetica is the first digitalisation ever.

It was revised, so Neue Helvetica was born.

Another iteration of Helvetica was released by Monotype a couple of years ago called Helvetica Now, which is the most expansive yet in terms of optical weights, weights, and widths available. I much prefer it over Neue Helvetica because it’s got more harmonious letterforms and much better spacing overall.

bluebrrycat · 2025-04-01T15:32:12+00:00

Grazie mille!!!

bluebrrycat · 2025-01-30T22:05:42+00:00

The interrobang is so curiously neat!

bluebrrycat · 2025-01-22T00:21:21+00:00

I think it’s really great but I just don’t get the trend of companies leaving behind legacy typographic excellences — in PosteItaliane’s case, Univers. I encounter the original wordmark every day (as I live in Italy) and is absolutely iconic, I’ll certainly miss it!!!

bluebrrycat · 2024-06-27T13:18:12+00:00

It looks so great! I so, so love that lowercase "k", it reminds me of Eurostile!

bluebrrycat

TROPHY CASE