West Bubble Gum’s Blockshadow style in bichromatic use for a matchbook by Holiday Inn, probably from around the mid-1970s: the slogan “Get that holiday feeling” was introduced in late 1974 by J. Walter Thompson.

“Get that” is set in squeezed Romana. “The World’s Innkeeper” uses PLINC’s Standard Intermediate Extended, a slightly narrower version of Akzidenz-Grotesk breit on the matchbook shown above. The ones below use the similar Venus Extended.

I Am Somebody is the title of a spoken word album by Reverend Jesse Jackson that was released on Respect, a sublabel of Stax Records. It contains a recital of the poem “I Am – Somebody”. The cover typography by David Krieger of The Graffiteria features Folio in its mager and fett weights.

[More info on Discogs]

Jackson became active in civil rights protests already as a student. In 1960, he was one of the Greenville Eight, a group of African American students that successfully protested the segregated library system in Greenville, South Carolina. Since 1966, he was involved in the Operation Breadbasket movement, a department of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

The album came out in 1971, three years after Martin Luther King Jr. – the SCLC’s first president and a close friend and mentor of Jackson – was assassinated. The same year, the “Country Preacher” broke off from SCLC and formed Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity). In 1996, it merged with the National Rainbow Coalition, another organization founded by Jackson to pursue social justice, civil rights, and political activism, into Rainbow/PUSH. He served as the organization’s head until July 16, 2023.

Jesse Jackson died February 17, 2026, at the age of 84. The New York Times commemorates him as “charismatic champion of civil rights”. RIP.

The quotes on the back cover are set in Helvetica.

The gatefold shows photographs of Jackson together with several of his companions and fellow campaigners, including Martin Luther King Jr., his widow Coretta Scott King, as well as Richard G. Hatcher and Carl Stokes, the first elected African-American mayors of Gary, Indiana, and Cleveland, Ohio, respectively. The liner notes by Rev. G.E. Redic are set in Helvetica, and the credits at the top right in News Gothic.

Soul Street is an album by R&B and soul singer and songwriter Eddie Floyd (b. 1937), released in 1974 on Stax Records. The sleeve design is by the record company’s internal design studio, The Stax Organization. Ellis H. Chappell provided the marvelous street scene illustration, complete with shop signs of current and previous businesses in various lettering styles as well as details such as protest graffiti.

[More info on Discogs]

The cover typography is set in Swinger. This funky heavyweight comes in two styles, Swinger and Swinger Shadow, both of which can be seen here. The designer of Swinger is Ray Cruz.

Born August 31, 1943, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Cruz graduated from New York City’s High School of Art and Design and honed his skills working in several of the city’s lettering studios, including Techni-Process (1963), Headliners (1964, under John N. Schaedler), and, following two years of army service, at the newly formed John N. Schaedler, Inc. There, he helped Schaedler design Loose New Roman and was soon appointed studio director. Tempor Medium and Bold from 1968 were “his first independently designed alphabet styles”. Swinger and Fat Albert followed in 1969 and 1970. Cruz described the latter as the “sign of the times – anti-war fervor mixed with sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll”.

In 1977, he founded Cruz & Slowik Associates, together with Janet Slowik. There, he drew numerous wordmarks and logotypes, as well as custom typefaces including for Camel and the United States Postal Service. From 1999 to 2005, Cruz served as type director at the Young & Rubicam advertising agency. In addition, he was a passionate teacher, working as adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design, FIT, Kean University’s Robert Busch School of Design, County College of Morris, and Marywood College.

In total, Cruz designed more than fifty typeface styles. He revived some of his early works himself and released them in digital form through his own foundry, Cruz Fonts, including Swinger.

Ramon “Ray” Cruz died on March 26, 2025, at the age of 81. Rest in peace.

Credits and track list on the back cover are set in a light weight of ITC Avant Garde Gothic.

Sam & Dave released I Thank You on October 25, 1968, on Atlantic Records. The front cover was designed by Haig Adishian, with the combined title and artist name using Photo-Lettering’s Plywood, placed on the top of a photograph of Sam & Dave in performace taken by Jim Cummins.

[More info on Discogs]

Radio City is the second album from the American rock band Big Star.

The front cover features the title and artist set in Bentley at a large point size, with the title using the outline style. On the back cover, Bentley is also used for the band members (in the outline style) and track listing, with additional credits in ITC Avant Garde Gothic. “Ardent Records are distributed by the Stax Organization” and some fine print underneath are set in all-caps Eurostile.

[More info at Discogs]

Andrea Bianchi’s digitization of André Pless’ Lucky in use on the album cover of Indigo, the self-published debut album of Jordan Occasionally:

Jordan Occasionally (they/them), or Jordan Dodson, is a Neo-Soul Artist and Activist from Memphis, TN. In 2021, they were awarded the “Student Communicator of the Year Award”, the first in University of Memphis’s history, for protests organized in honor of Breonna Taylor. Jordan Occasionally has also been featured in Forbes Magazine for their heartfelt contributions to Memphis Soul Music.

The reversed contrast typeface used for the two bottom lines is Blackest by Zetafonts.

The debut album from soul group, The Dramatics, released by Volt Records, a division of Stax Records. The typeface is Papirtis Pink Mouse Solid, one of many extra-heavy geometric display sans serifs issued in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The lowercase offered an alternative to Baby Teeth. which was quite prominent at the time but was caps only. Artwork credits from the liner notes:

Cover Design: Ron Gorden
Illustration: Neil Deckert
Art Direction: David Krieger
Creative Director: Larry Shaw

The new branding of Memphis River Parks is successful in its use of GT Haptik Black. The quirky typeface matches OCD’s colourful palette and succeeds in creating interesting signage in what may be otherwise mundane locations.

From OCD’s case study:

The new concept plan turned previously fragmented public property into one connected riverfront. The icon is a mini-map of the new configuration. It captures the six-mile River Line running through the five park districts: Greenbelt, Mud Island, Fourth Bluff, Big River and MLK.

The icon was driven by that tricky switchback at the hip of the path. That hitch informed type selection; Grilli Type’s GT Haptik had a particularly evocative R. And then the arches of the Hernando de Soto Bridge, the swirl of the river and the curve of Beale Street Landing informed the layout of the system. […]

No two signs are the same. The pieces are color-coded by district.

Design Partners: Jennifer Kinon, Bobby C. Martin Jr.
Designers: Hanah Ho, Talia Cotton
Signage: Andrew Freeman
Signage Photos: Bob Bayne

“Way-finding totems are commonly placed where paths intersect, or where the path/orientation is not immediately clear.” — OCD

“… and ankle height garden signs are placed to reinforce that you’re on the right path.” — OCD

On the website, GT Haptik is used in Black, Bold, and Medium weights, with its less eccentric stylistic alternates. It’s paired with Lora for text (not pictured).

Art Direction: The Graffiteria / David Krieger. Creative Direction: Larry Shaw, Ron Gorden. Photography: Joel Brodsky.

The light type for “Jean Knight” is unknown to me.

[More info on Discogs]