Released in 2017, The Source is Tony Allen’s debut full-length album for Blue Note Records, following the 4-track EP A Tribute to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

The cover was designed by Rebecca Meek, with photography by Bernard Benant. The fat unicase font is Matrona, a winner in TDC’s 2010 Typeface Design competition. Hubert Jocham describes his design as “a very very very bold headline”. He comments on the background:

When letterpress started with the Gutenberg bible, the typeface was like a texture. Before humanism type did not really need to be legible. The letters were rather drawn in an ornamental way. It filled a space. My idea for Matrona was to create a similar structure. I wanted it to be very bold and still as legible as possible. The result was a headline typeface that can fill almost all the space. You can even fill it with a picture. Or you create an ornament with contents.

Matrona comes in three optical sizes, with slightly less delicate counters and notches for the smaller styles. In some regards, like the hefty weight and the common height of uppercase and lowercase glyphs, it reminds me of Jeremy Tankard’s Shire Types. While Matrona is a biform face, i.e. with two distinct forms at least for some letters, the Shire Types are unicase: The five different yet related members all have a single form for each letter. Matrona maximizes the reduction of the white, without becoming blocky like Fit or Assai.

In memory of Tony Allen who died in Paris on 30 April 2020, aged 79.

[More info on Discogs]

Back cover of the vinyl release. Playfair Display is paired with Geogrotesque.

The back cover of the CD release allows a better look at the typography.

Cheee and Cooper, together at last.

Music video for the single "Weather" by the self-described "aggressive elevator soul" band Ginger Root. Directed by Cameron Lew and production-designed by Ashley Kron, the video is framed like the experience of flipping through TV channels and alternates between very fun retro-styled graphics shot off an antique CRT and a family on the couch trying to settle on something to watch.

We open on a tightly-tracked title in James Edmondson's psychedelic Cheee and some wide-set Cooper Black Italic in front of a close-up of a corduroy couch. It's a perfect hat trick of a mood-setter; the video (and Ginger Root's overall sound and brand) fuse funky 1970s influences with more contemporary cues.

The first TV shot introduces Phosphate Solid, an extremely good “local news station identity” choice that's also chunky enough to hold up to some analog distressing. (The serif it's paired with – probably Caslon – gets distressed a lot more, but the effect is neat.)

The other big graphic identity for this video is the “Late Night!” card, which only appears for a second but makes excellent use of Mark Simonson's slick, fluid script Kinescope to nail the "cheesy early-80s talk show" vibe with very few moving parts.

A lot of people are credited as working on this video & even OH no Type Co. is listed in the “Special Thanks” section, so I don't really know who did the typography, but they did a great job.

The rest of the credits are all Cooper, flexing some extreme tracking in both directions.

Phosphate Solid adds some impact while matching the retro attitude (and staying legible even when packed in super-tight and blurred by the TV). The smaller text here is tough to get a good look at through the CRT but appears to be some version of Caslon.

With a whopping three at once, I think this shot is the most fonts on the screen at any point in the video.

The sans on these weather-forecast graphics is the one font here I can’t identify – seems likely it’s just Helvetica but the CRT makes it tough to get clear outlines.

A fledgling journalist with a faulty car stereo has to sacrifice her job interview to take her Grandad to hospital. This results in the most awkward journey of her life.

One-sheet for Brendan Canty's upcoming movie Jam (2021). The film is written by Sam Lazar and produced Assembly Ireland by Rebecca Bourke and Seamus Waters. Visual effects by Blacksmith Studio.

The movie logo uses the classic ITC Souvenir, centre-aligned. For the title credit Souvenir was paired with Rage Italic. The billing block at the end is set in various sizes of Steeltongs.

From a series of “random artworks inspired by some of my favorite tracks.” — Irina Carbone. This poster, inspired by “What Is Real?” by Rodriguez Jr, uses Glysa and TWK Lausanne.

“Spring” (No. 291), ft. all-caps Benguiat Caslon with swash alternates, set on an angle. The small type in the arrows is in reversed Helvetica caps.

Covers for various clip books of line art issued in 1976 by Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio, Pleasantville, New Jersey. This year marked their silver anniversary, see the “Spring” booklet above, indicating that the company was established in 1951. The celebration continued in the following year, see the covers from 1977. According to Bart Solenthaler, Volk went out of business sometime in the 1980s.

See the previous post about the clip books issued in 1955 for more information on Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio.

Coinciding with the silver anniversary, Volk introduced a new logo, featuring rounded sans-serif letterforms. The right arm of V extends to a hand holding a pencil and drawing on the o, turning it into a globe. The Herb Lubalin Study Center points out that this logo was designed by Herb Lubalin – “not his greatest logo, but charming”.

“Vote” (No. 280) ft. Pacella Monitor. The new Volk logo here is framed by tightly spaced caps from Kabel Light.

“Holidays” (No. 281) ft. ITC American Typewriter.

“Homes – Buildings” (No. 282) ft. Bronstein Bold. Like Letraset’s Lazybones, this bold script by FotoStar/Facsimile Fonts is a close follower of PLINC’s West Cooper Nouveau Swash Swash Bold.

“Birthday” (No. 284) ft. Davida.

“Expressions” (No. 285). ft. Bookman Swash Bold Italic with alternates.

“Religion” (No. 286) ft. Pretorian.

“Winter” (No. 287) ft. Norton Chocolate Frosted, a snow-capped variant of S.E. Norton’s series of bold grotesque caps for Photo-Lettering.

“Holidays” (No. 289) ft. Advertisers Gothic.

“Men” (No. 290) ft. Buxom, again by FotoStar/Facsimile Fonts, a copy of Baby Fat, distinguished by less deep notches in M and N.

“Marine” (No. 652) ft. Bobo Bold.

“Summer” (No. 655) ft. Abbey Scroll.

“Old Fashioned” (No. 656) ft. Romantiques No. 5 / Bracelet.

“Crime” (No. 658), with Gill Kayo caps set on a circle.

“Transportation” (No. 659) ft. Dynamo.

“Autumn” (No. 660) ft. Hobo.

“Do-It-Yourself” (No. 661) ft. ITC Ronda.

“Insurance” (No. 662) ft. Microcircus.

“Fall & Winter Sports” (No. 663) ft. Kabel Black.

“Christmas” (No. 664) ft. Tintoretto. The hooked I reveals that this face was not intended for all-caps settings.

“Menu” (No. 665), ft. Bookman Italic in all caps, with an initial swash M.

“Homemaker” (No. 666) ft. Wexford.

“Senior Citizens” (No. 667) ft. caps from Eurostile Light Extended.

“Save!” (No. 669) ft. Mania.

“Executives” (No. 670) ft. Hess Neobold.

“Family” (No. 671) ft. more Benguiat Caslon.

“Crowds” (No. 672) ft. Banco.

“Mail” (No. 673) ft. Buster.

“Circus-Fair” (No. 674) ft. Filmotype Van Horn.

“Spring & Summer Sports” (No. 675) ft. Eurostile Bold Extended in all caps.

“The Little Patriot” (No. G62) ft. Caslon Antique. The logo of the Grafika subseries is in ITC Fat Face with ligatures for ra and fi, accompanied by Kabel Light with omitted tittles.

“Sly Sayings” (No. G63) ft. Paprika.

“Animal Clichés” (No. G64) ft. Thalia.

“Trivia” (No. G65) ft. Advertisers Gothic.

“Villains” (No. G67), ft. a money-grabbing octopus and Bob Quinzel’s Cucumber typeface.

“Printed Forms” (No. G69) ft. Futura Black, ITC Avant Garde Gothic (with alternates), Cooper Black, and Windsor.

“Drop-Ins” (No. G68) ft. Davida complete with its ornaments.

“Time” (No. G70), ft. Optex and Cooper Black.

“Impact!” (No. G71), featuring a version of the triline face designed by Lance Wyman for the 1968 Mexico Olympics, see Mexico Olympic. This is probably Photo-Lettering’s adaptation that went under the name Olympic, or the Lettergraphics version known as Hotline. Note how the type echoes the vibration caused by the jackhammer.

“Cartouches” (No. G72) ft. Arnold Böcklin in all caps.

“Ad Animals” (No. G76) ft. more Thalia.

A rare cover in color, celebrating the United States Bicentennial. “The King-Size Clip Book of Bicentennial Art Volk Corporation” appears to use lettering, or heavily modified type. Several details like the swash caps for G and Z suggest that a version of Cloister (Bold) Italic was involved. Other glyphs don’t match a showing of the Monotype cut, and might come from different sources.

Paradiso is an independent magazine produced by Muse Muse Studio NSW that celebrates creativity and community. Our editorial explores the inspiration that feeds our creative consciousness, from people to places, culture to movements, both near and far.

Paradiso was first published in November/December 2017. Issue 13 came out in March 2020. Windsor is used for the logo and plays a defining role in the interior, too. Optima was chosen as the text typeface, but also serves for headings. It’s paired with Campton for intros, running titles, and other roles. Additional recurring typefaces include Eina (e.g. for the issue’s motto on page 4, see “LOVE” in the image below) and Boogie School Sans (for “Postcard from Paradiso”). See more images on thisisparadiso.com.au.

Cover

Conservatory is an ambient/deep house EP built around field recordings from Adelaide’s botanic garden in the summer of 2019. 100% of profits go to Kangaroo Island’s Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. Marvin Visions is used for the album titles; the track listing on the back uses Helvetica.

Back cover

Romie by Margot Lévêque and Spot Mono by type foundry Schick Toikka used by Oscar Ginter for Paris Print Club Autumn Open Days in Paris. A 6-color Riso poster printed by Quintal Éditions.

Mubien Studio created a bold identity for Apostle Digital, a video marketing solution agency based in Sydney, Australia. Apostle creates kick-ass videos centered on content strategy for today’s digital ecosystem.

The uncompromised typographic branding is using Grand Slang from Nikolas Type, paired with Neue Helvetica across all analogue and digital media, from stationery over web and out-of-home advertising.

To convey the bold, straight black and red visual identity in print, Mubien used embossed and hot-foiled Gmund Action Electric Blood paper, taking profit of the uniqueness of its neon-red color.

Art direction by David Mubien, Javier Ochoa and Daniel iglesias. Photography by Víctor Mubien. Model: María Rodríguez.

Cover artwork for Henry Peach’s EP Mental Vomit, featuring Eckmannpsych in all caps.
 

Digital cover

Vinly mockup

“Dona Dona”, popularly known as “Donna, Donna”, is a song about a calf being led to slaughter written by Sholom Secunda and Aaron Zeitlin. The lyrics were translated once again in the mid 1950s, this time by Arthur Kevess and Teddi Schwartz, and the song became well known with their text.

It became especially popular after being recorded by Joan Baez in 1960 in her album Joan Baez. In her version, the song is retitled “Donna, Donna” (doubling the n). This became very popular and later versions also used the double n. The song became a staple of Baez and used in the human rights protest movement in the 1960s.

The images show the front and back cover of a compilation album issued by Wagram in France in 2017. The use of all-caps Arnold Böcklin appears to reference the typography used for her album Joan or a French single series, both released by Vanguard in 1967.

[More info on Discogs]

A small series of film/photography zines from my first trip to Japan. Four covers for small collections of photos from Osaka, Tokyo, Kyoto & Nara. Each cover has the same number of elements and information, including an asterisk from Monarch that works surprisingly well with the Japanese theme of the series.

Chaotic No Good’s first bootleg cassette and j-card design for Spell’s Season In the Sun released on Halloween 2019.

Season In the Sun is an album of covers released 26 years ago on the 1st of November 1993 by the band Spell. Spell is made-up of members Rose McDowall (Coil, Strawberry Switchblade, Psychic TV, Current 93) and Boyd Rice (NON, Boyd Rice & Friends, Death In June, Current 93).

The album pays tribute to a genre of tragic love songs known as “splatter platter,” “death discs,” “tear jerkers,” or simply “teen tragedy” popular in the ’60s and ’70s. Songs covered on the album include “Terry,” a single written and originally performed by Lynn Ripley aka Twinkle, featured in a former Chaotic No Good release.

Season In the Sun was originally put out on vinyl and Compact Disc by Mute Records and is the project’s only release. The use of Eckmann-Schrift references the project’s original art (see the images at the end of this post).

J-cards are a two-color risograph design, printed with the help of Stephanie at Martian Press.

Cover of the original release on Mute from 1993, designed by Slim Smith together with Spell.

Record label of the original release on Mute from 1993.

Following up on Mustapha Tettey Addy’s Les Percussions du Ghana, here’s another use of Acapulco for an album with African music released in France. This time we get to see the bold weight, in all caps, without any of the swash alternates.

From Moos (Global Groove):

An album by a group I really don’t know much about. Backsleeve tells us Loubassou Kifoueti Denis was born in 1948 in Brazzaville. He is guitarist, composer, singer and arranger in this band. He started out in 1965 with a group called ‘Congo Fiesta’. It lasted but a year and he moved on with le Super-Tabé de Mindouli. This formation fell apart in 7 days but L.K. Denis did not get disencouraged and started ‘Manta-Lokoka’ with saxophone player ‘Pincky’ in 1967. This orchestra lasted till 1971 when he formed ‘African Kings Pili Pili’. It was in 1973 Loubassou Kifoueti Denis and his African Kings Pili Pili returned to Congo from Libreville. This LP is from 1976 and you don’t want to miss it.

[More info on Discogs]

Front cover

Normandia Bold Italic on the cover of a 7″ record by Katuite, released on Merengue Records in Luanda, Angola in 1975. The back cover shows a number of additional typefaces, including Greco negro and Eurostile.

[More info on Discogs]

Back cover

Type detail

Apoc in use for the album art for the debut release of Belgian post-punk band Whispering Sons as well as the accompanying merchandise and their website:

Feeding on the dynamics of the city, their music unveils feelings of alienation, propelled by an urging and ominous sound. Their live performances feel agitated and uneasy, yet always remain raw and honest. Whispering Sons' first EP ‘Endless Party’ was released in 2015, followed by two 7 inches in 2016 and 2017. After winning Humo’s Rock Rally in 2016, one of Belgium's most prestigious national contests, the band has been touring Belgium and Europe extensively, establishing their strong live reputation. Their debut album ‘Image’ was released on October 19, 2018.

Sucre Paper is a print-only independent publication from Copenhagen. The theme of issue #5 is “Anthropology” and features a selection of talented artists: Juliette Abitbol, Chiara Zonca, Nadia Ryder, Charlotte Robin (exclusive editorial), Ayo Akinsete, Benjamin Ewing, Arianna Lago, Aude Le Barbey (exclusive content), Pauline Caranton (exclusive editorial).

The body typeface is Sabon. It’s paired with Effra for headings. The magazine logo is custom. I have chosen Sabon as it goes well with a classic format of a newspaper, as historically it has been made for both typesetting techniques to begin with, and is easily usable in the digital realms. I also personally find the italics of it very neat and used them in text to emphasize a word/phrase or mark the interviewer. For the headline font the choice fell on Effra because I wanted a grotesque font that is more approachable, as the whole newspaper/magazine has a soft/delicate tone to it. Since Effra has a humanist touch to it and more softer, ronder shapes, it didn't overwhelm the page when being used on a greater scale.

Homepage.

By Humankind is a personal care brand using “natural ingredients” and sustainable packaging. Unlike many other direct-to-consumer brands, it exclusively uses a serif typeface: Storm Type Foundry’s Jannon.

The website’s headlines unfortunately are littered with dumb quotes.

Order details.

Instagram ad.

Makina is a fashion brand for women – ambitious, curious, aware. The idea for the branding is based on portraying a woman as a person with a rich, complex character, which can not (and should not) be trivialised. Identity thus creates a visual and linguistic frame inviting the audience to interpretation, motivates them to fill it with an image according to personal preferences.

Clean typography does not distract, and its high readability complements the experimental treatment of the brand’s language. The slim and solid structure of Studio reflects the strength and subtlety of femininity emanating from Makina.

Louise Vendel (b. 1993) is a visual artist who lives and works in Paris. Her portfolio website combines Oroban Hermonthica Italic (Blaze Type) with Sporting Grotesque (Velvetyne) in two weights.