Master of Reality is the third studio album by Black Sabbath, released in the United Kingdom by Vertigo on 6 August 1971.

The first pressings came with a poster featuring a photo of the band, taken by Keef (not depicted here). The album’s title is shown embossed, with the black-on-black lettering only visible in relief. Later editions would drop the costly embossing in favor of the album title printed in gray – as well as in many other colorways.

The letterforms were distorted to resemble a fluttering flag. They are taken from Lodwick Kabel, a weight extension of Rudolf Koch’s Kabel that’s bolder than Kabel Black (1929) and also ITC Kabel Ultra (1975). London-based typesetting studio Photoscript showed it as “Exclusive Royalty face” in their 1970 catalog. See the Blog post for more details.

[More info on Discogs]

Master of Reality was the band’s first album to include printed lyrics. They are set in Gill Sans, with caps from a bold weight for the titles. At least on the shown US pressing by Warner Records, the credits block uses News Gothic.

In this photo, the raised title lettering becomes a tad more visible: the protective foil accentuates the contours.

Single cover for the 1976 NEMS reissue of Black Sabbath’s single “Paranoid”, with B-side “Snowblind“. The cover art by artist Dave Field was rendered in ink and pencil.

[More info on Discogs]

See Field’s designer profile on Discogs for his other album artwork.

From publisher Faber & Faber:

Legendary producer and record label boss Joe Boyd has spent a lifetime travelling the globe and immersing himself in music. He has witnessed first-hand the growing popularity of music from Africa, India, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe since the 1960s and was one of the protagonists of the ‘world music’ movement of the 1980s.

In this sweeping history, Boyd sets out to explore the fascinating backstories to these sounds and documents a decade of encounters with the most extraordinary musicians and producers who have altered the course of music for us all.

The typographic jacket design for the massive tome – Joe Boyd writes that “it’s a bit of a door-stop [and] sherpas will be provided to purchasers to help them carry it home” – is by Jonathan Pelham. He arranged the alliterating main title in four lines, set in a large size of Minérale’s Light weight. Thomas Huot-Marchand’s 2017 design is distinguished by stems with intersecting sides, “originally conceived as a geometrical exaggeration of the structure of traditional serif faces.” [205TF]

Subtitle, author name and blurb (by Robert Plant) are added in Pegasus. This choice is a nod to Berthold Wolpe’s longstanding relationship with Faber & Faber. Originally conceived in 1937 as a text typeface that could accompany his smash hit Albertus, Wolpe’s design was digitally revived by Toshi Omagari in 2017.

David Arthur Brown comments: “Love the design. The typography and the pattern are unexpected but feel rhythmic without being Afro-cliché.”

Grand Funk is the second studio album by Grand Funk Railroad, released at the tail-end of 1969 by Capitol Records.

From Wikipedia:

Recorded at Cleveland Recording Company, the album was produced by Terry Knight and engineered by Ken Hamann. The album was certified gold by the RIAA, the first for the group. It includes a cover of the Animals’ 1966 song “Inside Looking Out”, which is still a staple of the band's live concerts.

The title on the front cover is set in Tension, a crop-and-repeat condensed geometric face offered by Photo-Lettering.

The credits on the back cover are set in Helvetica (regular). The group members' names on the inner gatefold are also set in Helvetica, with the credits underneath set in Linotype’s Garamond No. 3 (italic), a revival of Garamond.

[More info on Discogs]

Apple Music Chill is a radio station launched in December 2024, designed to provide listeners with a continuous flow of relaxing music across various genres. The station aims to offer a sanctuary of sound, helping listeners unwind and find calm throughout their day.

Programming includes ‘mindful moments’, brief interludes intended to encourage presence and relaxation. These programs explore how music can serve as a tool for focus and mental well-being. It used Raum, the new experimental display typeface by Justin Sloane and Huw Williams, characterized by its distinctive inktrap design.

Alex Joseph designed the album artwork, logo and branding for Lola Young’s album This Wasn't Meant for You Anyway. The cover features a portrait by Sophie Jones, with Lola Young's name set in Windsor Elongated, with added weight. The album title appears discreetly below in Helvetica Bold. The same fonts are used across the vinyl design, album singles, and promotional materials.

[More info on Discogs]

In Amsterdam’s excellent music recording studio IJland, a Telefunken Magnetophon M5 broadcast or studio deck is used to “glue” digital audio mixes together by using old hardware. It has a magic touch with music production.

The Magnetophon tape recorder was one of the first recording machines to use magnetic tape in preserving voice and music. The brand name Magnetophon – introduced in 1935 by AEG and later continued by Telefunken – became the generic word for the tape recorder in a lot of languages. On this device, it’s shown in outlined script letters based on Signal.

Brand identity by Soo Yeah Studio for Out/Standard, a library music provider.⁠
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NaumType’s Base&Bloom serves as the primary typeface, offering a fluid type system for unique-looking words across the brand. Logotype and headlines are in Yafeu by Creativetacos. Klim Type’s Untitled Sans Regular complements it as the body copy typeface, balancing the design.⁠

Lux is a nightclub based in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter.

Alias Harbour has been used for the logotype since 2018.

OVER is the latest album by Japanese singer-songwriter Daichi Miura (三浦大知), released in January 2024 with Sonic Groove. The graphics used for the album as well as the OVER tour that started in 2023 used Murathan Biliktü’s BM Babet as the main typeface.

Originally created in collaboration with Dutch artist Babet, the typeface appears on the album cover, merchandise, and tour visuals, providing a unified look for the OVER project.

[More info on Discogs]

Iconic rap duo Co’Sang from Naples is back for their third album called DINASTIA. The names of the album and the band are typeset with Norman. More specifically, it uses the variable font, mixing Bold with Fat and Regular. The DINASTIA logo features a distinctive design enhanced by a particle noise effect, giving it a unique and dynamic texture.

NP10, April 2023

Contest in use on posters for NP10 and NP11, two nights of jungle, breaks, and drum ’n bass held by Negative Pace in Melbourne, Australia.

NP11, July 2023