An occasional review of type at work in design, advertising and publishing. By: Neil Macmillan
Issue 11 At the Pictures, in the Supermarket, and generally around.
Catch it if you can
'Catch me if you can', another highly entertaining film by Steven Spielberg, offers a little bit more with brilliant titles 'in the Saul Bass style' by French creative duo, Kuntzel + Deygas. Unusually I didn't have my reference books with me in the cinema so could only take a quick guess at the types in use. Looked very like the dominant type was a mix of 60s, 70s & 80s Chalet New York by House Industries but the supporting extended slab serif threw me a bit. An excellent article on these graphics in French mag, Étapes: 94, (www.etapes-graphiques.com) didn't quite confirm the use of Chalet. Some slight character variations which may be down to the production process threw me (it must be Chalet, though). The slab serif proved to be Hellenic Wide. This, one of my regular visits to the cinema, should help reassure reader Jon Tisdall of AMV BBDO that the author does get out now and again. Getting away from it all
Contrasting use of Alias's Elephant which is currently being used by Mark Warner Holidays to encourage that 'get away from it all' feeling whilst, in striking full page ads and posters, The Samaritans' typographers employ it to discourage the same. Works well on the latter's website. Alternative sans serifs from LucasFonts
Designers looking for alternative sans serifs may be impressed by FHM mag's use of Luc[as] de Groot's Sun . Available in seven regular and condensed weights, which you can see for yourself in Fontworks' new LucasFonts booklet , the Sun family demonstrates Luc's genius with letterforms. And Wolff Olins' new identity for the V&A features another LucasFont, TheSans. Word and HTF
To the typographic eye (or ear?), new music and entertainment mag 'Word' comes across as an ode to the Hoefler Type Foundry. With the exception of the masthead and section heads where the eccentricity of the (T-26) Foundry's Amplifier works well, all fonts used are from the New York foundry. Interstate designer, Tobias Frere-Jones' latest, HTF Gotham, based on the building signage of his native city, New York, is the choice of sans. Its affability (HTF's own adjective) is evident in both display and text where both regular and condensed weights are used. Gotham complements the serif choice, HTF Hoefler Titling and HTF Hoefler Text. In the design of the latter Jonathan Hoefler was influenced by Old Style types, Janson Text and Garamond No. 3, whilst the Titling fonts, boasting some really beautiful letterforms, are much more baroque in style. Witness them all at work and enjoy the editorial content for £3.50. Publisher: Development Hell, Art Director: Keith Drummond. Wood you use them?
The current issue of Eye magazine introduces the fill version of Adobe's Zebrawood in a display role. This innovation works well and will no doubt inspire designers to further investigate the potential of the three excellent Adobe Wood Type packages. On saying that, it looks like Birch from Adobe's second collection is being used on posters and TV in a campaign for WKD Original Vodka Silver. For further inspiration on the contemporary use of eclectic wood type letterforms check out 'Garcia' from The Rolling Stone Press. This book about The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, published by Little, Brown and Company, is a stunning piece of work. Needless to say, Fred Woodward, working with several designers, was responsible for creative direction. For thirsty typos
Picked up a very pleasant bottle of Orvieto Classico, from prolific Interstate user Sainsbury's, with a nice mix of types on the label. Italian vintner Bigi's designers combine a beautiful initial with ITC Tiepolo (Bigi logo), dtfTypes' Rialto, and Zapfino (descriptive text) to achieve a successful rennaissance effect. Bound to see more use of Zapfino in this context. More 'type caricature' from Frank Heine
Frank Heine's Remedy, released in 1991, was an early Emigre favourite of mine. A much imitated design, Stuttgart-based Heine followed Remedy with Motion and the unique Dalliance, based on elegant handwriting from the map of a 1799 German battle between the Habsburg Coalition and France. His latest Emigre release is Tribute, an 8 font interpretation of French punchcutter François Guyot's renaissance antiqua of the mid 1500s. Emigre has produced an 'Introductory Booklet' for Tribute. A real collector's piece, superbly designed it features an intelligent and humorous review of the process of historical revival by John Downer. Fontworks have a limited supply of these specimens so contact us quickly if you'd like one. Cooper Back
The Cooper Black revival continues unabated despite its undeserved perception. Full page ads for Oxo and 'I can't Believe it's not Butter' exploit its delicious fatness to the full. Disclaimer:
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