Bruce Haack – Captain Entropy album art
Captain Entropy is a children’s album by Canadian musician and composer Bruce Haack (1931–1988). The spectacular three-dimensional letterforms on this album cover were not custom drawn by designer Jack Wolff. They are from a ready-made alphabet named Allen Stingray.
Created by John S. Allen, it was added to Photo-Lettering’s library sometime between their 1965 and 1971 catalogs. In 1958, Fonderie Olive in France had issued Calypso, which might have provided some inspiration. Stingray is not quite as breathtaking as that, and being a photo typeface, it was much easier to pull off technically than Roger Excoffon’s 3D halftone extravaganza – which had to be engraved and cast in metal.
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Allen Stingray as shown in Photo-Lettering’s One-Line Manual of Styles, 1971
Allen’s design nevertheless is adorable, and has qualities of its own. The three-dimensional look is achieved by two sets of parallel stripes that run diagonally in opposite directions, defining the folded letterforms with hardly any extra interior lines, and often without explicit counters or apertures. In most glyphs, the border between “foreground” and “background” runs in a sweeping curve, much like a ray’s flapping fin. Take that feature and combine it with the shape of the stripes that taper like blades – and you know where Stingray got its name from.
All additional text is set in a couple of styles from Univers.
