SuperVideo demonstration, Load’n’Run issue 2, 1984
Load’n’Run was a magazine compilation of computer programs on tape cassette that could be “RUN” on the ZX Spectrum microcomputer. 10 issues were published in 1984. Each issue consists of a short (4 or 8 pages) print magazine and a cover tape. The tape had several republished programs and some original material.
This “SuperVideo” demonstration is the last program on the cover tape for issue #2.
SuperVideo is a programming system that allows a sequence of text based “cards” to be shown, possibly with border decorations and motion scrolling. It is the sort of thing that might be used to display automatically cycling adverts in a shop, or show instructions in fancy text for a program to follow.
The demo is written in the SuperVideo system it is demonstrating. SuperVideo has several different fonts, and concludes with a charming adaptation of Magnetic Ink to the 8-bit world. Here converted onto an 8×8 pixel grid (the cap height is 7 pixels, with 8 pixels from baseline-to-baseline).
The print portion of the magazine used Magnetic Ink for the title “LOAD’N’RUN” altered to remove the decorative dot in N.
The ZX Spectrum microcomputer loaded programs from compact cassette tape, and the user had to stop the tape manually when instructed. The font here is a striped/inline Art Deco style, vaguely reminiscent of Broadway Engraved and similar, but with round-topped A and M. When running the program, the text scrolls up the screen.
Text (8 pixels) and Title (16 pixels) sizes for a somewhat generic serif font. Note the non-conventional thick/thin placement on the U.
Front cover of Load’n’Run issue 2, feature a lightly modified Magnetic Ink treated with a scanline effect. Perhaps this is where the designers of the serif font in SuperVideo (see other images) got the thick/thin constrast in their U from.
2 Comments on “SuperVideo demonstration, Load’n’Run issue 2, 1984”
The bitmap lettering for “Ferma il registratore” appears to be based on Art Deco. Compared to Broadway Engraved, it seems to be a closer match in regard to details like the crossing middle bar in E and F, the top serifs in I L R, and the curved M. Art Deco’s A is pointed, not round, but the diagonal legs would have looked awkward in 8-bit. Also, Art Deco was carried by Mecanorma – just like Magnetic Ink. I have added it to the typefaces, alongside the “lettering derived from typeface” tag.
Totally agree on the Art Deco id; those horizontal thins that “cross the gap” do seem somewhat particular.