For many decades Lanny Sommese was the head of the Graphic Design department at Penn State University. In addition to his role as an iconic educator, he was a mentor to the many designers who went through the program including myself, Chip Kidd, Barbara de Wilde, Thomas Wilder, Jake Lefebure and many others.

In his own design practice Lanny created posters and logos for many local clients, much of the work in the arts and cultural sphere. Every year, he produced a poster for the CPFA (Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts). This one made for the 1979 edition features tracked out caps from Cooper Black. The small type is in all-caps ITC Souvenir.

A colorful 3-D / stencil themed poster from 1985 for “an invitational exhibition of sculpture in cast metal” at Hope College’s Depree Art Center and Gallery in Holland, Michigan.

It’s hard to identify the “HOT” typeface definitively, especially with the counterform of the “O” missing, but the underlying letterforms without the 3D effect are very similar to Futura. It may also be hand-lettered.

“STUFF” is set in the dimensional and shaded member of the Alpha family, Alpha Sunrise. Its exclamation point has been mirrored – perhaps to add extra dimension to the shading, roughly approximating how light might land if the “O” from “HOT” was the light source.

The smaller supporting text is Helvetica with all “O” counters filled in and irregular mid-word shifts between weights.