A beloved holiday classic, The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore captures the quiet magic and anticipation of Christmas Eve. First published in the early 19th century, the poem follows a peaceful household as the arrival of St. Nicholas brings wonder, warmth, and festive joy. Its rhythmic verse and vivid imagery have made it a lasting seasonal tradition, passed down through generations. This edition features charming illustrations by Janet Samuel that enhance the story’s cozy, dreamlike atmosphere and invite young readers to experience the enchantment of Christmas night.

The cover typography pairs playful and elegant styles: the title is set in ITC Tapioca, lending a whimsical, handcrafted feel that matches the story’s tone, while the author credit appears in Malonia Voigo, offering a refined contrast. On the back cover, the opening capital N of the excerpt continues in ITC Tapioca, with the remaining text—“estle your children all snug in their beds…”—set in Malonia Voigo, maintaining visual continuity with the front. Additional publication details, including the copyright, imprint information, price, and printing line, are set in Gill Sans, providing a clean, modern sans-serif contrast to the decorative display fonts used elsewhere.

Darmstadt-based designer Mary Vũ designed a poster for a local Christmas pop-up market at the Å Pävi concept store.

She used Dina Chaumont Display and Dina Chaumont Text to create a poster that is visually striking. The bright colours reinforce the visual impact of the message.

Beyond simple objects, GiftArt delivers artistic inspiration that blends into everyday life. At typefounder, we designed a comprehensive visual system by reinterpreting GiftArt’s symbolic ribbon and gift motifs into a unique graphic language.

Under Layơ Lab’s direction, Tam Sơn Journal moves beyond marketing – it becomes a guide for cultivating taste, mindfulness, and a refined sense of self through intentional choices and appreciation. To express the themes of preservation, heritage, and value curation in daily life, Layơ Lab built a visual system grounded in three pillars: timelessness, artistry, and creative freedom.

Typography plays a central role in expressing Tam Sơn’s blend of heritage and modernity. Angie Sans elevates the journal’s luxurious character with its flexible, bold serif forms – tall, stylish proportions and elegant details that create an open, leisurely reading mood. In contrast, FK Grotesk brings a contemporary edge: its mechanical structure, subtle ink traps, and sharp corners offer clarity and accessibility, ideal for refined, slow reading experiences.

Together, these typefaces – especially in headlines – embody the convergence of tradition and modernity, heritage and evolution, premium quality and everyday relevance. Their harmonious contrast guides the reader’s eye and mirrors the calm, curated tempo of an editorial exhibition.

Each spread becomes a quiet yet dynamic journey, echoing Tam Sơn’s thoughtful lifestyle philosophy. Tam Sơn Journal invites readers to slow down, reconnect with beauty, and rediscover mindful luxury in an increasingly fast-paced digital world.

Tam Sơn Journal is a premium gift dedicated to the retailer’s clients at the Giao Điểm Tinh Hoa | Intersection of Mastery event, marking the brand’s 20-year journey in Vietnam.

Fictionist Studio’s latest project pays homage to the many meanings of “Spring”—the season, the object, and the action. Designed for Malaysian sportswear retailer atmos, the Lunar New Year PR kit draws inspiration from a coil spring, incorporating its imagery and wordplay across every element, from the gift itself to custom ang pow packet designs, copy, and packaging illustrations. The result reflects both the multiplicity of the word and atmos’ street culture-led identity.

English text is set in Ghostrite. The font used for Chinese text is unidentified.

The monolinear script used for “Luck Absorber Cookies” appears to be custom lettering.

To celebrate 2025, Max Luxury Packaging sent a colorful calendar to its customers. Each month comes with a different Gmund Colors Matt shade, associated with a silver metallic offset ink. The typeface used for the cover, the months and the days is Scotch Text, created by Neil Summerour and released by Positype in 2017.

The Max Luxury Packaging logo is set in all-caps New Caslon, while Helvetica Bold is used for the day’s digits.

ITC Korinna was announced Vol. 1 No. 2 of U&lc in spring 1974. Ed Benguiat’s revival of Korinna was created already several years earlier: it’s shown in the 1971 catalog of Photo-Lettering, the company that handled the production of many of ITC’s fonts.

Here it can be seen in early use for an ad by Norelco. This brand name – short for “North American Philips Electrical Company” – was used by Philips for selling electric shavers and other personal care products in North America.

From Wikipedia:

Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records (later renamed A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, also known as Phil Spector’s Christmas Album) is an album of Christmas songs, produced by Phil Spector, and originally released as Philles 4005 in November 1963. Spector treated a series of mostly secular Christmas standards to his “Wall of Sound” production style, and the selections feature the vocal performances of Spector’s regular artists during this period. One month after its release, the album peaked at No. 13 on Billboard magazine’s special, year-end, weekly Christmas Albums sales chart.

[More info on Discogs]

Phùng Ân Artisan specializes in high-quality homeware that blends contemporary aesthetics with Vietnamese cultural influences. Known for creativity and sustainability, their products showcase traditional materials and techniques, supporting local artisans and preserving Vietnamese heritage.

Phùng Ân collaborated with Layơ Lab to revitalize its brand, enhancing its visual identity to reflect professionalism, modernity, and creativity. Drawing inspiration from the daily work of Vietnamese artisans, they combined traditional yellow hues with eco-friendly Kraft paper to preserve and elevate the rustic nature of Vietnamese handicrafts. This approach honors the enduring value of Vietnamese craftsmanship and preserves cultural heritage for the future, embodying the concept: “present heritage of Vietnamese culture to the future.”

To emphasize sustainability and traditional craftsmanship, the “gold dust” visual element was introduced, featuring random-shaped gold foil patches to enhance product value and sophistication. Customizable in size, space, and color, it combines artistic and contemporary visions.

The product image system, interacting with high-contrast text, highlights craftsmanship and artistry, serving as both an advertising and sales tool. This system showcases the diverse beauty of Vietnamese handicrafts and Phùng Ân’s portfolio. Images can be adjusted to black and white silhouettes to simplify the design.

Magazine ad for Calvert Extra from 1972, with alcoholic gifts for Tom, Dick and Harry and a combination of Baskerville Old Face and Dutch Initials:

Quit wondering what Tom wants, what size Dick wears, or if Harry likes stripes. Give something everybody likes, nobody returns, and somebody’s already wrapped for you. This timely hint comes from Calvert Extra. The Soft Whiskey.

According to Discogs, the Torero Band was a “British group of studio musicians, imitating the style of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, […] led by Alan Moorhouse”.

Keith Davis designed the sleeve for this album with brass interpretations of Christmas carols, using a photograph by Keith Morris – and lots of Neptun. The record was released in 1968 on Music for Pleasure, located in Middlesex, England. Shown here is a pressing by their Australian branch.

[More info on Discogs]

Source: archive.org Internet Archive. License: All Rights Reserved.

This Christmas-themed album by Jackie Gleason and Dean Martin was released fifty years ago, on the Special Markets label by Capitol Records.

The typeface chosen by cover designer Roy Kohara then was already eight-five years old: it’s Gutenberg, a design by the prolific Herman Ihlenburg and patented for MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan in 1888. Like Art Gothic (Central, 1887) and Cabinet (BB&S, 1888), Gutenberg is of low contrast, with many angled stems and descending glyphs. The decorative dots are another typical period feature, see for example Kismet (Boston, 1879). When used in all caps as for the album title, the Victorian face turns into spaghetti salad.

The illustration is by Seiko Kashihara.

[More info on Discogs]

Source: archive.org License: All Rights Reserved.

18 point Gutenberg with ornaments from Combination Border, Series 97 as shown in a specimen from around 1892

Source: archive.org Internet Archive. License: All Rights Reserved.

Creative direction and packaging design for Food Pirate Studios’ Christmas gift.

Food Pirate Studios is a full service image house based in Milano, active since 2014 and hyper-specialized in food and drinks photography. For the 2023 Christmas holiday FPS gifted all of its clients and collaborators a high quality artisanal beer crafted in Milan by Birrificio Barona.

See also the previous post about the Food Pirate Studios identity.

TT Tangerine from Tropical Type was the perfect blend of fun and fashion for Tanica, a beautiful botanical beverage. Tanica was launched in November 2021 by Adriane McDermott and Kate Napier.

All-caps Tangerine for a gift box

Mini sample set

Right Didone and Wix Madefor in use for a special promotional gift, designed and produced by design studio Bang Bang:

For the 3rd consecutive year, we are continuing the tradition of developing a self-promotional project in collaboration with one of our clients. This time our initiative offers 180g of really «Trop Taste» praline chocolate spread, which you can literally put on everything!!

The objective was to create a «real» brand with «real» packaging constraints as if we were building the project for a client. We took into consideration the unit cost of materials, production of labels, and cost of raw materials. By staying true to ourselves, we allowed ourselves to add a bit of craziness to the branding.(...)

This series of 100 glass jars, 100% recyclable, will be sent randomly to thank our customers and collaborators who have contributed to the studio’s success in 2022. A part of the production and some by-products will also be available to all on troptaste.cool.

All Eternity is an expressive typographic calendar designed by our studio and distributed as client and collaborator gift to kick off the year. Conceptually, the calendar focuses on the subject of time, with each month typographically depicting a saying or famous quotation about the value and importance of time.

For a typographic refresh of the premium gifting service Goody, chief technology officer Mark Bao chose Escalator to replace their previous use of Graphik on their website. Finding that the new all-Escalator typographic palette didn’t comfortably fit the site’s existing structure, he commissioned a tailored version of the typeface, with a higher x-height, spacing adjustments, and slight tweaks to the glyph shapes. Like the retail version of Escalator, the customized version includes a variable font with an optical size axis optimized for onscreen clarity and a wide range of expression.

The customization project is described in an article on the XYZ Type site.

Uncommon Goods is a Brooklyn-based retailer with an emphasis on extraordinary gifts and ethical business practices. In 2020, creative agency Madwell (led by design director Rachel Matts) collaborated with their in-house team on a complete redesign of the brand’s design system. Escalator is used for the logo and extensive typesetting, while Tiempos is used as a secondary typeface in display settings.

Madwell senior designer Tanya Pedra describes the project in her case study:

The logo consists of a rounded typeface—Its curves are simple and clean and playful, communicating that the brand is fun, inviting, and not overly serious. The “sparks” around the u represent the spark of creativity; it’s the gleam of something special catching your eye. The color palette is bright, fresh, and earthy. Photography creates a visual experience that communicates quality and a distinct brand aesthetic.

Uncommon Goods website

Uncommon Goods website

Design style guide

Two previous logos

Source: annyas.com License: All Rights Reserved.

“Rankin/Bass present” is lettering based on Weiß-Initialen Serie II, or Weiss Initials Series II, with the alternate forms for A and E, rendered bolder, with rough contours and a bouncing baseline.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a Christmas TV special that first aired on December 6, 1964. It was produced by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr. – then doing business as Videocraft International, Ltd., and later as Rankin/Bass Productions – in collaboration with the Japanese MOM Productions. From Simon Byrne’s article for Watch the Titles:

Based on the Johnny Marks song of the same name, it tells the story of the famous misfit reindeer with the glowing red nose who – together with his friends Hermey the elf and the bearded prospector, Yukon Cornelius – have a series of adventures, including run ins with an abominable snowman, a winged lion and an island of unwanted toys.

The stop-motion classic has been telecast every year since 1964, making it the longest continuously running Christmas TV special in the United States. It was directed by Larry Roemer, with assistance from Kizo Nagashima. The animation was supervised by Tadahito Mochinaga.

Source: www.artofthetitle.com License: All Rights Reserved.

The story’s narrator is Sam the Snowman, voiced by Burl Ives.

Source: www.artofthetitle.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Instead of MCMLXIV (1964), the roman numerals read MCLXIV, i.e. 1164. An error, or an obscure nod to the Romanesque period?

Source: www.artofthetitle.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: www.artofthetitle.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: www.artofthetitle.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: www.artofthetitle.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: www.artofthetitle.com License: All Rights Reserved.

The opening titles feature hand-drawn capitals with an unconventional distribution of thicks and thins, peppered with perky curls, with roughed-up contours as found in ruling pen calligraphy, and playfully arranged on a bouncing baseline. They are not taken from a typeface, and yet are closely patterned after prefabricated letterforms.

Source: www.flickr.com Scan: Florian Hardwig. License: CC BY-NC-SA.

Showing of Lawless Type in Lettera 2. Teufen: Niggli, 1961.

The source is Lawless Type, an alphabet reproduced in the second volume of Lettera. Started by Armin Haab and Alex Stocker in 1954, this book series was published in four volumes by Niggli in Teufen, Switzerland. The books were distributed in over 70 countries, and used by designers both as inspiration and as a direct source of display letterforms. Lettera 2 was edited by Haab together with Walter Haettenschweiler and came out in 1961. In the appendix, Lawless Type is described as follows:

With latinizing tendencies and italic elements, the skilled typographer can produce a sans serif with a naive effect all of its own. The individual faces [this should read ‘glyphs’ when compared to the original German text], however, must be readapted to each sequence of letters.

A note on YouTube by the Miser Brothers Press, who distributes merchandise related to the TV special, says that “[t]he lettering that is featured on the packages in the original end credits [not shown here, but stylistically in tune with that seen in the opening credits] was done by Tony Peters and Arthur Rankin, Jr.” Peters was the storyboard artist and Rankin was the producer. Rankin, who had worked as a TV art director, also drew the characters, so he probably directed Peters on the lettering.

Source: www.artofthetitle.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Lawless Type was designed by Walter Haettenschweiler. While the first edition of Lettera 2 exclusively credits the prolific designer from Zug, the fifth revised edition from 1976 additionally mentions co-editor Armin Haab. According to Martino Stierli,

it was inspired by the American artist and graphic designer Ben Shahn (1898–1969), who professed a socially critical realism but also experimented early on with typography and graphic design. Haettenschweiler’s homage to Shahn […] embodies elegance and festivity in its strict linearity, but by means of its title also expresses a certain rebellion against too much faith in rules.

In: Haettenschweiler. Schriften für die Welt, Logos für Zug. Zug: DNS-Transport GmbH, 2006 [my translation from the German]

Below is a piece of Shahn’s lettering that exemplarily illustrates this style of his, made for Haggadah for Passover from 1966. It includes the A with the asymmetrical top bar and the curling G. See also the painted jacket maquette on Letterform Archive’s website. This particular work can’t be the one that Haettenschweiler referenced, as it was published several years after Lettera 2, but Shahn employed this style already in earlier works.

Composite image: Florian Hardwig. License: All Rights Reserved.

Haggadah for Passover. Copied and illustrated by Ben Shahn, with a translation, introduction, and notes by Cecil Roth. Boston: Little, Brown & Company and Paris: Trianon Press, 1966.
Left and center: cover and spine, title page. Images: Invaluable.

Right: vellum box stamped with gilt lettering. Image: Henry Sotheran Ltd.

Source: hdl.handle.net Gerard Unger. License: All Rights Reserved.

A sampler of letterform variants found in Romanesque lettering, compiled by Gerard Unger and reproduced from his doctoral thesis, Alverata: hedendaagse Europese letters met wortels in de middeleeuwen. Universiteit Leiden, 2013.

Shahn didn’t invent the peculiar construction for A and G himself either. His lettering in turn takes cues from medieval inscriptions from around the 11th and 12th century. In his doctoral thesis from 2013, the late Gerard Unger examined the history and design of such Romanesque capitals. According to his research, capitals from this period – which precedes the Gothic style – are characterized by the blending of three types of letters from different times and cultures – namely derivations of Roman capitals, of uncials, and insular or Celtic letter forms, homogenized in terms of weight and contrast – as well as by exuberant variation and inventiveness. Among the endless variations collected by Unger is “the A with a flat top or with a transverse bar on top”. He also mentions the “coiled G” as a form frequently found in this period [all quotes: my translation from the Dutch].

Unger touches upon revivals and echoes of Romanesque capitals in the 20th century. One example is Shahn’s lettering. Unger offers a possible explanation for the presence of Romanesque-inspired forms in the artist’s work: immediately after completing his training in 1922, Shahn traveled through Spain and Italy, among other places. He probably saw Romanesque inscriptions or manuscripts along the way and made notes of them, later incorporating them into his graphics.

Source: www.flickr.com Scan: James Puckett (edited). License: CC BY.

Detail from a specimen for Weiss Initials Series II, showing its alternate forms for A and E as well as the curling G

A second example is Weiß-Initialen II, a set of initials by Emil Rudolf Weiß. To Unger, it is “as clear as day that these were designed along the lines of the Romanesque capitals”. First cast by Bauer in 1931, Series II was later extended as Weiß-Lapidar, with added numerals and punctuation as well as a second bolder weight. At least in a broadcast from around 1989, the end credits of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer aren’t rendered in Lawless Type. They are set – you guessed it – in Weiß-Initialen II.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Source: vimeo.com License: All Rights Reserved.

For further reading on Romanesque letters, see Gerard Unger’s doctoral thesis (in Dutch) and the design notes for Alverata, his interpretation of “contemporary European letters with roots in the Middle Ages”.

Lawless Type was adopted for phototypesetting, under various names, but to my knowledge, there is no direct digitization. There are two digital fonts based on the title lettering for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: Island of Misfit Toys, a freebie with alternates made by Steve Ferrera in 2006, and Snow Job JNL, drawn by Jeff Levine in 2017. The former was used for a series of postage stamps issued by the USPS in 2014 [see comment]. Bensgothic is a font based on Ben Shahn’s lettering, started by Harold Lohner in 1998. For information about digital interpretations of Weiß-Initialen, see our typeface page.

Photo: Florian Hardwig. License: CC BY-NC-SA.

From top to bottom: Lawless Type (Walter Haettenschweiler, 1961), Island of Misfit Toys (Steve Ferrara, 2006, using those glyphs that come closest to Lawless Type), Snow Job JNL (Jeff Levine, 2017), and Bensgothic (Harold Lohner, 1998)

Ad for Lucky Strike Cigarettes in the Saturday Evening Post from December 10, 1960. From the Saturday Evening Post (2018):

The average price per pack of cigarettes in 1960 was 26 cents ($1.49 adjusted for inflation), or around $2.50 for a carton. In other words, you could afford to buy a lot of cigarettes then. (Today that many cartons would cost you $1,400 or more.)