Zoo – Hard Times, Good Times album art

Hard Times, Good Times is the fourth – and final – album by Zoo, a French prog rock band that was active between 1969 and 1972. It became their most successful LP release.

Their self-titled debut album as well as several early single releases featured a band logo with bold condensed letterforms of pronounced horizontal contrast, with circular counters in the O’s. This piece of lettering provided the inspiration to Zoo, a typeface designed by Quentin Coulombier in 2019. In 1972, after numerous changes to the personnel, the band didn’t use that logo anymore: the cover shown here is graced by Indigo, a typeface for good times (and just what I need on a dark December day), designed by André Chante and issued shortly before by Studio Hollenstein, Paris.

The album art was created by Nicole Claveloux and Bernard Bonhomme. While the album title is set in caps from ITC Avant Garde Gothic, the track list and credits on the back are in Futura.

[More info on Discogs]