Left, the original pedal from 1978 using Marvin and right, the 2023 version using Marvin Visions

Anthony Rubolotta designed the re-issue of the Slap-Back Echo pedal by Electro-Harmonix, a rarity from 1978.

The original version designed by David Miller used Marvin and the 2023 version uses Marvin Visions. And though the form factor is different, the layout retains a similar design which ties them together in time.

The secondary fonts used for the labels are Helvetica (1978) and Futura (2023). The Electro-Harmonix logo is based on Skjald, see the dedicated post.

The new version on the pedal on its packaging

The 2023 version of the pedal

From Hub Sleaford’s website:

With a background in fashion, performance and leathercraft, Jo Cope, has spent the last decade reimagining an alternative life for shoes. Her work explores the idea that shoes and feet carry deeper meanings and wisdom. […]

In the exhibition the audience is asked to think through their feet. Considering walking as a metaphor for life’s journey, with feet, paths, and directions as moral and symbolic guides. Jo is interested in encouraging a deeper look at the power that might be hidden in our feet and their potential to impact positive thoughts and actions.

The exhibition at Hub Sleaford in the UK is curated by Lesley Farrell and designed by Ashleigh Armitage.

Ashleigh wrote that she chose Bricolage Grotesque because "the forms perfectly echo the lines of our feet and Jo’s work".

The header of the website, featuring Gig prominently.

Women in Type is a three-year research project undertaken at the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication of the University of Reading between March 2018 and November 2021.

It highlights the work of women as key contributors to the design process of many renowned typefaces of the 20th century. The project is led by Prof. Fiona Ross with principal researcher Dr. Alice Savoie and post-doctoral assistant Dr. Helena Lekka.

The website was conceived by Alice Savoie (content and project management) and Mathieu Triay (design and code) as an accessible and interactive tool to share the project’s findings with the wider public.

In terms of design, the website makes heavy use of Gig designed by Franziska Weitgruber for any display use, including the titles of the articles. It was chosen because it gave an energetic hand-drawn feeling which was reminiscent of the work accomplished by the women of the type drawing offices while remaining fresh and contemporary.

To contrast, and for extended text use, the site uses Grotesque 6 by Émilie Rigaud. It follows the classical Stephenson Blake Grotesque model while bringing just enough modernity to turn the wonky shapes into an even and attractive texture, easily referencing the metal type era the research talks about. However, it doesn't come with its own italics. Émilie highlights (while wondering if what was initially a purposeful decision is now a small oversight):

Designers who used it since then have found alternatives, like underlining it or switching to a different typeface to create a nice contrast.

So to answer the brief, the website uses the variable font of Gig to achieve a matching stroke weight and x-height which allows it be used as italics elegantly inside text set in Grotesque 6.

Gig is used for article titles and headers while Grotesque 6 allows for more functional use in buttons.

An article page featuring Gig for the title and Grotesque 6 for the main text and captions.

Gig is also used for some pull quotes but also for the italics inside the text and captions

Starliners (Hamlyn, 1980) ft. Marvin with Gill Sans. Cover art by Jeffrey Ridge.

Starting in 1978 with Spacecraft 2000 to 2100AD, Stewart Cowley (also known as Steven Caldwell) has collected images of spaceships in a series of books called “Terran Trade Authority Handbook”. From calmcation.com:

[The idea] initially grew out of Cowley’s desire to gather & showcase the vibrant Sci-Fi art exploding onto bookshelves thru the 1960s & 70s. Modelling the first one after the many volumes of the British comprehensive war reference compilations, JANE'S FIGHTING SHIPS, Cowley always intended to engage a writer to formulate a detailed militaristic future-history around chosen art-pieces, but deadline pressure lead him to do it himself.

Spacecraft and Spacewreck (both published in 1978) use Dynamo for the title and Gill Sans for the rest (with Spacewreck introducing a condensed version of Gill Sans). As part of the Galactic Encounters series (with a logo in Quicksilver) — which is tangential to the “Terran Trade” books — Star Quest (published in 1979) uses Marvin for the title and Helvetica for the rest. In 1980 there's a new "Terran Trade" book, Starliners, which goes back to the initial layout with the first and last letters as bookends (known as "EndcapS", see also the Saberhagen paperbacks) but switches to Marvin (following in the footsteps of Star Quest) and uses Helvetica for the subtitle and Gill Sans for the author and series name.

The French (as well as the Dutch, Brazilian and Swedish) version of these books sticks to Dynamo and enforces the "EndcapS" treatment (even though it causes some strange spacing and readability issues).

Star Quest (Intercontinental Book Productions, 1979) ft. Marvin and Helvetica. The Galactic Encounters logo is in Quicksilver. Cover art by Robin Hiddon.

Spacecraft (Chartwell Books, 1978) with Dynamo and Gill Sans. Cover art by Angus McKie.

Spacewreck (Hamlyn, 1978) with more Dynamo and Gill Sans, the latter also in a bold condensed style. Cover art by Fred Gambino.

Various cover from the French edition by Dargaud, featuring Dynamo.

A striking use of Zan for the title of the paperback, a typeface designed by Albert Boton, the designer of Eras and Black Boton. Curiously, this cover is a double bill for Boton with a use of his more elusive Brasilia compact for the subtitle and author name. The logo of publisher Calmann-Lévy appears to be in caps from Futura Extra Bold Condensed.

A strong and colourful use of Optex for the 1974 hardback edition of Beyond Apollo by Barry Malzberg, published by Faber & Faber. It's used throughout the cover for all copy, from the title (all caps) to the author (upper and lowercase), down to the logo on the spine (U&lc). The jacket design is credited to Gask.

The letter design appears to have been tweaked to include an additional colour band (pink) which is reminiscent of some of the variations of Prismania/Prink. Additionally, the capital Y and N appear to be alternates or at least non-standard.

The 1979 edition of Ring Around The Sun by Clifford D. Simak, published by the New English Library sports a great use of Marvin against an illustration by Tim White.

Terry Beard is using the Pinto Inline (for the artist and title) and Gill Sans (for the back cover) combo again. This time he also uses the lowercase of Pinto for the (fantastically strange) subtitle and album name.

An extensive use of Pinto Inline on this re-issue of All Together Now with Rolf Harris by Music For Pleasure with a photograph by Brian Ward (the same photographer who took David Bowie's iconic Hunky Dory picture). The back cover reproduces the title in Pinto and lists the tracks with some notes in Gill Sans.

Source: www.flickr.com John Blakey. License: All Rights Reserved.

Farmer in the Sky (1973) [More info on ISFDB]

From 1973 till 1975, Pan Science Fiction re-issued some of Robert Heinlein's books with a new series look featuring Face Photosetting’s Pipeline all uppercase.

Some of the illustrations are by Patrick Woodroffe (from 74 onwards). The other illustrations are not credited.

Source: www.flickr.com Pete’s Paperbacks. License: All Rights Reserved.

Tunnel in the Sky (1973). [More info on ISFDB]

Source: www.flickr.com John Blakey. License: All Rights Reserved.

Time for the Stars (1973) [More info on ISFDB]

Source: www.flickr.com David Cowie. License: All Rights Reserved.

Red Planet (1973) [More info on ISFDB]

Source: www.isfdb.org ISFDB. License: All Rights Reserved.

The Door Into Summer (1974). Cover art by Patrick Woodroffe. [More info on ISFDB]

Source: www.isfdb.org ISFDB. License: All Rights Reserved.

The Green Hills of Earth (1974). Cover art by Patrick Woodroffe. [More info on ISFDB]

Source: www.pinterest.com Linda Broockmann. License: All Rights Reserved.

The Puppet Masters (1974). Cover art by Bob Fowke. [More info on ISFDB]

Source: www.flickr.com John Blakey. License: All Rights Reserved.

Waldo and Magic, Inc. (1975). Cover art by Patrick Woodroffe. [More info on ISFDB]

Source: www.flickr.com pulpcrush. License: All Rights Reserved.

Ballantine Books re-issued Anthony Burgess’ work between 1972 and 1973 in a striking paperback style featuring ITC Ronda (sometimes with alternates).

The title is uppercase and at an angle, with tight letter-spacing. The author name is also set uppercase but with an even tighter spacing. Helvetica is used for the rest of the promo copy at the top.

The cover style is almost consistent throughout the series with some exceptions: For The Long Day Wanes, the type is not at an angle anymore. For One Hand Clapping (not shown in this post), the title is set in ITC Avant Garde. The more famous A Clockwork Orange shares a similar visual style but the type has switched entirely to Helvetica throughout.

During the mid-1970s, Electro-Harmonix (EHX) had established itself as a pioneer and leading manufacturer of guitar effects pedals. They were the first company to introduce, manufacture, and market affordable state-of-the art "stomp-boxes" for guitarist and bassists.

In 2002 they started designing new pedals to add to their range, and the Mono Synth is their latest addition. Sporting a clean modern design using Futura, it also hints at their vintage roots with the use of Eurostile (with hyper-extended ascender) and Marvin Visions (outlined).

Source: johnpaulcatton.com Photo: Excalibur Books (edited). License: All Rights Reserved.

In 1973, Sphere Science Fiction re-issued a few of Brian Aldiss’ books with a consistent design for the author name featuring Marvin for the uppercase A and Blippo Black for the rest of the name in lowercase (Marvin is uppercase only).

The title of the book is twice in Blippo Bold (note the closed shapes for the R, P and A and alternate e). For Cryptozoic, however, Blippo has been replaced by Helvetica.

Source: www.flickr.com Simon Jones. License: CC BY-NC-ND.

Source: sfpotpourri.blogspot.com sfpotpourri. License: All Rights Reserved.

The 1969 hardback edition of Let The Fire Fall by Kate Wilhelm published by Doubleday features artwork by Milton Glaser and his typeface Baby Teeth with a touch of Futura. He possibly designed the cover.

The paperback version published by Lancer Books the same year features the same illustration, much smaller, and Milton Glaser’s Baby Fat, along with Compacta for the author name and Helvetica for the rest.

Cover for Anne McCaffrey's The Ship Who Sang by Ballantine Books, 1970. The painting is by Alessandro Biffignandi. Title and author name are set in Gonzales Pioneer (1969). The rest of the copy is set in uppercase Memphis, another slab serif but more modest.

1973 reprint of E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Skylark series by Pyramid Books, with illustrations by Jack Gaughan and Ed Emshwiller.

The author name and title is set in Bauhaus Geometric Shaded. The rest of the copy is set in a light weight of Futura, all uppercase and tight.

The same cover style was used to reprint E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensman series, which had changed style just three years prior.

1970s re-issue of the E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensman series by Pyramid Books. All illustrations by Jack Gaughan.

Author name and title are set in Kabel Black, all lowercase. The rest of the copy is in a lighter weight of Kabel – all lowercase for the short blurb and all uppercase for the series promo.

In 1973, Pyramid has re-issued these books in a similar cover style to the Skylark series, with different illustrations still from Jack Gaughan.

Triplanetary and Second Stage Lensmen (1970)

Series of John Wyndham paperbacks published by Coronet Books in 1972. Illustrations by Chris Foss (not credited but signature visible).

The author's name and his alter ego John Beynon are set in Marvin. The titles on the front, back and spine are set in Avant Garde Gothic, sometimes with alternates. All other copy including the author's name on the spine is set in Helvetica Condensed, with some bits in Univers.

Conways Photosetting was a photosetting shop in London priding itself in being ‘good because we have good people’ with a large catalogue of typefaces: some of them licensed from Lettergraphics, some of them appearing original, some of them inspired by competitors.

This particular ad (with perfect 1970s copy style) doesn’t just display wittily the wide array of typefaces they had available but also could be throwing shade at Face Photosetting, a competing shop of the time (‘Not just a pretty face’).

Here's a breakdown of what typeface are used on the poster. The name between brackets is the name found in the Conways catalogue. Note the use of reversed colours for Jim Crow to better match the poster.

We have – Amsterdamer Garamont (Garamond Bold)
Thin faces – Kabel Light (Cable Light)
Fat faces – Mania (Photomania)
Round faces – Futura Bold
Square faces – Eurostile/Microgramma
Condensed faces – Permanent Headline
Bold faces – Futura Extra Bold
Outline faces – Cooper Black Outline
Beautiful faces – Bank Serif
Ugly faces – Rustic
Old faces – Cloister Black
New faces – Computer (Moore Computer/Mogul Computer)
Way in faces – Times Bold
Way out faces – Prismania (Prink Modi)
Swiss faces – Helvetica
American faces – Jim Crow (colour reversed)
Greek faces – Poliphilus Titling
German faces – Fette Fraktur (Fraktur)
etc, etc, etc. and (in every size, shape or colour) – Caslon

Copy text: Amsterdamer Garamont (Garamond Old Style)

Nº 241 – Tigre! Tigre! (1977). Cover by Manuel Dias.

The Colecção Argonauta is a collection of science fiction paperbacks published by Livros do Brasil in Lisbon, Portugal. It’s considered one of the pioneering collections responsible for the dissemination of science fiction in Portugal.

The cover style changes from period to period but from number 225 till 332 (1976–1985), they were set in ITC Ronda, with alternate lowercase a. The publish house’s name is set in ITC Avant Garde Gothic at the bottom. From volume 225 till 300, the type was set in a different colour on a silver background, with an illustration below and the author name in upper and lowercase. From volume 301 till 332, the background changed to blue, the illustration is larger and the author name is set uppercase.

The back of the book features the cover of the next volume with the mention “o seu próximo volume” (roughly, “your next volume”).

Strangely, the switchover from the silver to the blue background was done between Valis volume 1 and 2 by Philip K. Dick leading to a pair of books with different design (but a clean break at number 300). Volume 333, though advertised with the same cover style as number 332, actually came out in a different style.

The cover for Alfred Bester’s Tiger! Tiger! (Tigre! Tigre! in Portuguese) sports an illustration by David Pelham which was used for the UK edition of the book.

Nº 272 – Desígnio Negro 1 (1980). Cover by A. Pedro.

Back cover of Nº 272, announcing Nº 273 – Desígnio Negro 2.

Nº 300 – O Mistério de Valis 1 (1982). Cover by A. Pedro.

Back cover of Nº 300, announcing Nº 301 – O Mistério de Valis 2.

Nº 317 – Rendez-Vous com Rama (1983). Cover by A. Pedro.