Giambattista Bodoni was asked to take charge of the Stamperia Reale, the official press of Ferdinand, Duke of Parma. He accepted, became the private printer of the court, and printed official documents and publications as well as projects he conceived and initiated himself. Bodoni redefined roman letterforms, giving them a more mathematical, geometric, and mechanical look. He reinvented the serifs by making them hairlines that formed sharp right angles to the upright strokes; the thin strokes of his letterforms were the same weight as the hairline serifs. His typeface design exemplifies the .