Betty Davis – They Say I’m Different album art, Just Sunshine Records logo
Vinyl release, front cover
They Say I’m Different is the second studio album by Betty Davis (b. 1945). It was released in 1974 on Just Sunshine. The cover was designed by Ron Levine, with art direction by Bill Levy and photography by Mel Dixon. Kaisik Wong designed the costume.
The jagged caps are from Sini Aztec, designed by Anthony Sini and offered by Photo-Lettering in solid and outlined styles. In 2011, Jess Collins digitized it for House Industries. The track names and other small print is in Trade Gothic Bold Extended.
Vinyl release, back cover
Adaptation for a CD (?) re-release, with bigger type in two lines, stacked and justified
Center-aligned credits in Trade Gothic Bold Extended, from the inner gatefold
![The Just Sunshine Records logo as seen on the labels uses an outlined style of , with orange fill and set on a curve. The black text appears to be in an adaptation of , with some of its alternate glyphs. [Edit: Bryson Stohr identified it as .]](https://fiu-original.b-cdn.net/fontsinuse.com/use-images/116/116253/116253.jpeg?filename=Betty_Davis_Kaisik_Wong_Styrous_6654.jpg)
The Just Sunshine Records logo as seen on the labels uses an outlined style of Nelson Cumulus, with orange fill and set on a curve. The black text appears to be in an adaptation of Vogue, with some of its alternate glyphs. [Edit: Bryson Stohr identified it as Sans Serif (VariTyper).]
The distributor’s line uses Optima.
5 Comments on “Betty Davis – They Say I’m Different album art, Just Sunshine Records logo”
I don’t know if that’s an adaptation of Vogue; I looked through a 1960s Varityper type specimen book and spotted a face called Sans Serif. To me, at least, the letterforms of the Bold weight seem to match up with the text on the records. It would probably be a good idea to compare the former with the latter to make sure and to avoid any unintentional mistakes.
Specimen: archive.org/details/varityp… (pages 218–221 show specimens of the Bold weight.)
I haven’t received a response yet, so I’ve directly compared the text on the record to specimens of a Varityper typeface called Sans Serif, and the bold weight appears to match the text on the vinyl records.
“They Say I’m Different”, Betty Davis’ name, and “Stereo JSS-3500” appear to be set in the 10-point size: archive.org/details/varityp…, whilst everything else appears to be set in the 7-point size: archive.org/details/varityp…. It’s worth pointing out that this typeface displays noticeable differences depending on the size.
The Vogue credit should be replaced.
Done. Thank you!
I digitized a couple of the Varityper faces long ago for use in rebuilding record labels for my work; happy to upload more examples if anybody would like.
John, that’s cool! Are these digitized fonts available to others, and if so, how/where? Or are these exclusive to your studio work?
For my part, I wouldn’t mind fleshing out our meager record for Varitype releases – without having to piece together typeface samples of low resolution!