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.

A beloved holiday classic, The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore captures the quiet magic and anticipation of Christmas Eve. First published in the early 19th century, the poem follows a peaceful household as the arrival of St. Nicholas brings wonder, warmth, and festive joy. Its rhythmic verse and vivid imagery have made it a lasting seasonal tradition, passed down through generations. This edition features charming illustrations by Janet Samuel that enhance the story’s cozy, dreamlike atmosphere and invite young readers to experience the enchantment of Christmas night.

The cover typography pairs playful and elegant styles: the title is set in ITC Tapioca, lending a whimsical, handcrafted feel that matches the story’s tone, while the author credit appears in Malonia Voigo, offering a refined contrast. On the back cover, the opening capital N of the excerpt continues in ITC Tapioca, with the remaining text—“estle your children all snug in their beds…”—set in Malonia Voigo, maintaining visual continuity with the front. Additional publication details, including the copyright, imprint information, price, and printing line, are set in Gill Sans, providing a clean, modern sans-serif contrast to the decorative display fonts used elsewhere.

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.

For the artwork on Margo Price’s latest album, Hard Headed Woman, the typographic palette echoes the grit and charm of classic Americana. Her name appears in Ars Nova from PintassilgoPrints—a decorative, Art Nouveau-inspired display face whose bold, squarish forms instantly signal a sense of time and place. The album title is set in Cottonwood, an Adobe Originals typeface from 1991 inspired by 19th-century Western wood type, adding a rugged, frontier-style texture to the composition. Smaller supporting text uses News Gothic, a quintessential American sans serif designed by Morris Fuller Benton for American Type Founders in 1908.

The typographic mix feels rooted in time, and a little rebellious, by blending vintage influences with a modern confidence that mirrors Price’s own blend of country: true Americana and outlaw soul. The typography extends across the album packaging, the deluxe boxed set, and merchandise—giving the entire release a cohesive, unmistakably American voice.

[More info on Discogs]

Burlesque is our collective name for a design that goes back to the first half of the 19th century. The contoured all-caps trifurcated Tuscan was shown by foundries in England, the USA, and Germany. Its earliest known appearance found by type historian Nicolete Gray is in 1843 by Figgins and Caslon. Anna Conroy thinks it may have originated in France. In addition to metal type, it was also produced in wood: Wells & Webb showed it in 1849.

The version used on the cover of Sammi Smith’s 1972 album is MP 321 by Headliners, a phototype adaptation of old type in the Morgan Press Collection. The script used for the title is neo-Sonora, another Headliners release.

Cover design by Pinwheel Studios, established 1970 in Nashville, Tennessee, by Herb Burnette, with photography by John Donegan.

[More info on Discogs]

Detail: Burlesque is printed with yellow letters and a pink contour.

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.

“Crown Prince of Dance” is the fourth studio album by Rufus Thomas (between the second and third record, Stax released a live album). The cover features a photograph of Rufus Thomas showing off his dance moves, shot from underneath a glass plate(?) by Maldwin Hamlin. The design and art direction are credited to The Stax Organization, who picked St. Clair for the cover typography, set in a matching purple hue.

I personally like the text block with track listing and credits on the back best of the album design; it’s set in two weights of Helvetica and it’s functional without looking thoughtless or boring. I like to think that this is the kind of typography that would later inspire designers like Experimental Jetset.

[More info on Discogs]

The 2023 Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion in downtown Bristol, Tennessee & Virginia, featured Margo Price and Nickel Creek, amongst other musicians.

HWT Etta East, the non-decorated member of Lynne Yun & Maxime Gau’s Etta family, is used for the name of the event. It's paired up with a sans serif typeface, Adam Ladd’s Gopher.

Poster

Still from the video trailer

Still from the video trailer

Still from the video trailer

WTVF (channel 5) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee. According to Logopedia, the current logo was introduced in 1997. It uses Plantin with vertically stretched lowercase characters (or News Plantin with a widened C?) for “News”, with the e borrowed from Plantin. The tagline is in Bank Gothic. The bold italic 5 was introduced already in 1989. It appears to be a beefed up Times New Roman.

Red Kap is an American retailer specializing in making workwear since their founding in 1923, starting with a trademark red cap. To celebrate their 100 year anniversary, they hired Nashville-based creative agency Table to give them a brand refresh that is far from the usual uniform.

Previous iterations on the brand included a typical selection of “workman” sans serifs — Trade Gothic, then a gaspipe sans, then Knockout and Gotham (Hoefler & Co) in the mid–2010s, then a techy monospace in the early 2020s.

In 2023, Table decided to shed the “thousand-yard stares and guitar riffs” that is de rigueur for products targeted to the trades, and focus on the fun people have at work when they’re doing what they love. Keeping the Knockout used in the Red Kap logo, Table added Obviously (OH no Type Co) into the mix to take over the heavy lifting. The conversation between the two highlights all the bounce and fun Obviously brings to the brand, like a seen-it-all old timer and an enthusiastic apprentice.

The new brand centers around inviting and playful brand photography set with several widths of Obviously, and a background of the eponymous red. To complete the ensemble, Table designed golden callouts that feel almost like patches that might be sewn onto the garments.

Lastly, the identity is anchored with a neutral grotesk for body copy: most of the time Neue Haas Grotesk (Commercial Type), sometimes Neue Haas Unica (Monotype), other times just Helvetica, Arial, Open Sans or Roboto.

Brand strategy, naming, brand messaging, creative direction, art direction, visual identity, logo design by Table, with production by Farmuse.

Principal, Head of Creative and Design: Sean O’Brien
Design director: Ashley Rocha
Senior art director: Shehan Rodrigo, Haley Stone
Graphic designer: Michael Dove
Web design: Elva

For a full list of credits, see the case study on Behance.

Homepage (top)

Homepage (detail)

Homepage (footer)

Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Consider the Wldflwrs is a fine jeweler specialized in designing and hand-crafting engagement rings or custom pieces. They also perform jewelry restoration and repair.

For their communication and website, the company chose to use Ceraph, designed by Emma Piercy and soon to be released by Sharp Type. It is paired it with Sequel Sans for body text; the monospaced typeface used for buttons and links is DM Mono. The logo combines roman caps and italics from ITC Novarese.

Emma Piercy began Ceraph in 2018 as an experiment, a sketched word featuring whiplash forms and flared serifs. “It slowly evolved into a more ambitious and refined project. I wanted the typeface to embody grace and strength, and this aim was the north star throughout its development. This is my first serious undertaking of typeface design, and it took a year on-and-off to settle on the concept.” This typeface comes with several unexpected ligatures for the uppercase, such as the C and the O inside, the H and E sharing a stem, etc. By setting their headlines in capitals, Consider the Wldflwrs play with the magical features of this typeface.

The logo in ITC Novarese was introduced together with the new typefaces as part of the 2023 redesign.

Public Pool is a lifestyle brand that sells apparel and poolside products. The design was done by Perky Bros.

From the Public Pool website:

Public Pool is a celebration of growing up inland. Our goal is simple, to make comfy, quality products
so you can get your lounge on.

The logo and headlines are set in Central Type's Rodger Black. The website uses a combination of Euclid Circular A and Spot Mono for the secondary and body type.

From Wikipedia:

Beautiful Eyes is the second extended play (EP) by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The EP was released on July 15, 2008 by Big Machine Records exclusively to Walmart stores in the United States and their MP3 service. In later years, after the MP3 service got closed down, Walmart transferred the rights to Amazon for their Amazon MP3 service, where it remains exclusively available. The limited release EP has a primarily country pop sound and features alternate versions of tracks from her self-titled debut album (2006), and two original tracks (“Beautiful Eyes” and “I Heart ?”), which Swift had composed as early as 2006.

The cover design by LeeAnn Ramey uses Satisfaction, a script typeface by Andrew Leman which was used for Swift’s logo from 2006 to 2010, see also a previous dedicated post. The title is in lowercase Adobe Garamond Semibold. Photography by Tony Baker.

[More info on Discogs]

Music to Park By is an album by Jimmy Dempsey that features a few country songs. It was released in 1975 on Power Pak, a sublabel of Gusto Records from Nashville, Tennessee.

The title typeface is an interesting one: it’s a Lettergraphics face called Bippie, used here in all caps. It’s paired up with Helvetica (for the Nashville Guitars subtitle).

[More info on Discogs]

8-track tape version

The General Automobile Insurance Services, Inc., or simply The General, is an insurance agency focusing on auto insurance, with headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. From 1993 to 2000, the logo combines several styles from ITC Stone Informal – Bold for “General” (with faux small caps), Semi Bold Italic for “The” and Medium for “Credit General Insurance Company” – with stretched Industria for the phone number.

An all-day café by Jean-Georges Vongerichten in Nashville’s Hermitage Hotel, The Pink Hermit offers a playful retro-modern vibe that complements the hotel’s classic elegance. Our branding takes inspiration from the past to build a connection with the historic hotel, while establishing an independent identity for the café.

We embraced the interior color palette and the quirky charm of the name, creating a bespoke script logotype that reveals a spiraling hermit crab shell. It’s joined by an elusive crab icon that adapts to its surroundings, finding a new home wherever it goes.

The rest of the typographic system is anchored by TT Chocolates, which lends a similar mid-century flare to that of the logotype, and Founders Grotesk Mono, which offers a nice juxtaposition of structure and legibility.

This elegant restaurant at Nashville’s Hermitage Hotel is run by world-class chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, with luxe interiors by Thomas Juul-Hansen. It’s named after a beloved hotel manager’s two children who spent their childhood there in the 1960s, playing games and charming guests.

Our brand identity combines the sophistication of Jean-Georges’ take on regional cuisine with a light-hearted warmth that characterizes Southern hospitality. The curvaceous, custom-drawn ampersand becomes a mark that signifies abundance and inclusion, anchoring the delicate Organda type that dances around it.

Organda with a custom ampersand

Good Dye Young Wash and Rise product packaging with Integral CF

Good Dye Young is a hair dye and color brand created by Hayley Williams of Paramore and her hairdresser Brian O’Connor. From the website:

GDY is an extension of Hayley & Brian’s shared passion to provide a brand that breaks down that wall of just being a company, and creating a community you can be a part of, empowered by tools that encourage your freedom of self-expression.

Good Dye Young's packaging, website, and collateral were designed by Luum and use Integral CF prominently, primarily in its Heavy weight. Their products can be found at Walmart, Target, and via the GDY online store.

Good Dye Young Hair Lightening Kit packaging with Integral CF

Good Dye Young Rainbow Hair Color Kit packaging with Integral CF

Good Dye Young overview of products with Integral CF

Good Dye Young creators Hayley Williams and Brian O’Connor with packaging

Good Dye Young packaging and T-shirt with Integral CF

Opened in 1910, Nashville’s first “million-dollar” hotel has undergone a brand overhaul with today’s traveler in mind. Its opulent rooms famously hosted campaigners for (and against) women’s right to vote, with the yellow-rose-wearing Suffrage supporters winning by a hair.

In honor of this pivotal event, Mucca's rebrand leans into a bold signature yellow, paired with custom typeface, Suffragette, inspired by the hotel’s Beaux Arts interiors. A contemporary tone of voice redefines this heritage brand for a new era of modern Southern hospitality.

A logo variant for the “Complete” service, with caps from Futura Light Italic for the second line, registered in 2006. Spotted on the 5 North freeway somewhere between Carlsbad and Los Angeles.

Forward Air is a logistics company founded in the early 1990s. Their wordmark (registered in 1993) is based on a lesser known typeface design by Aldo Novarese. Sprint was issued by VGC in 1974. There are digitizations by Linotype and SoftMaker.

The logo at the headquarter in Greeneville, Tennessee

Sometime between 1999 (left) and 2006 (right), the logo used on the website was revised to have more balanced spacing.

Around 2015, the logo of Forward Air Corporation was redrawn, now featuring custom italic letters loosely based on Sprint. “Corporation” is in Lucida Sans Bold Italic.