I set out to design a contemporary font that is condensed with thick and thin strokes. The highly structured forms of this condensed font was made more interesting and softer by giving it a slightly calligraphic tone and by adding round corners. Atto’s express purpose is to be both utilitarian, compact and technical but with a friendly face.

The name “atto” was adopted since it refers to the measurement of “smallness” or detail. You will no doubt discover all the many pleasant nuances within Atto. Adopted in 1964, “atto” comes from the Danish “atten”, meaning eighteen. Atto - (symbol a) a SI prefix to an unit and means that it is 10 to the power- 18 times this unit. Examples are one attosecond or one attometer/attometre.

Atto is available in for Mac and Windows in Postscript, Truetype and Opentype. See also the companion font Atto Sans.