[a][1] Diotima has a relatively slender and wide design, light in colour and suitable for purposes such as decorative printing and headings rather than for body text.

Diotima was released in the roman or regular style around 1951 and the italic around 1953, although Zapf-von Hesse had been working on the design for some years by this point.

In 2001, San Francisco Public Library held an exhibition on Hermann and Gudrun Zapf's work, showcasing early specimens of Diotima.

[10] Diotima was digitised early on in the period of digital fonts, with releases by Linotype (which had inherited the rights from Stempel) and Adobe.

[11] Linotype described the 'regular' weight as corresponding to the metal type after ink spread, and the light as analogous to the previous digital version (that shown right).