Optima is the name of a typeface designed by Hermann Zapf between 1952-1955.
A modern sans-serif design, Optima at first looks a little like a traditional sans-serif. However, its strokes are delicately tapered and carry residual serifs. In many ways, Optima's design follows humanist lines, but its italic variant is merely an oblique, a slanted roman.
Like Palatino, another Zapf creation, Optima is widely admired and widely immitated.
In the Bitstream font collection, Optima is called Zapf Humanist.
Optima is the typeface used on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
Sample
The following paragraph is in Optima, or one of its variants (Bitstream Zapf Humanist or URW Classico), if any of them installed on your machine. If not, a monospace font is used:
