AM Impero is a slightly inclined geometrical sans serif with a very strong thick/thin contrast, a 9-degree angle and some other rather special features. Like some of the faces in the AM collection, Impero has only one thick stroke for each character (excepting M, which has two). Other peculiarities of AM Impero are the G with a thin curve on the left, narrow s and S, and curved strokes in letters M, N, V, W, v and w, where they are not usually found.
Impero
‘The goal with AM Impero,’ says designer Antonella Sartorelli, ‘was to preserve the original look of the typeface while improving its overall visual balance, which was rather poor. Several refinements were introduced: the thick/thin modulation was standardised, the contrast in certain letters such as o was adjusted; and subtle optical corrections were applied throughout to ensure greater consistency across the character set. Some glyphs, such as the ampersand and most of the numerals, were redrawn because the original forms were too complicated and too inconsistent with the rest of the characters.’
Courtesy Archivio Luca Lattuga
Following its original wood type model, AM Impero has the unique and very useful feature of three alternative sets of letters with ascenders and descenders. In one set they are of normal length; in another they are long; and in a third they are both long and looped. These loops as well as other details mentioned above strongly resemble the early version of the Agfa logo (designed around 1925); and this could well have been the source of inspiration for Impero.
Xilografia di Verona released Impero some time before World War 2, but as with most of the Alfabeti Modernisti typefaces, the exact date is unknown due to a lack of documents and dated specimens.
Loopy (ss 01)
Long stem (ss 02)
