On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the French National Research Agency (ANR), we conceived and designed a publication for the MOJO project – one of six scientific projects honoured during the anniversary evening held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). The event celebrated two decades of research funding by giving a platform to the scientists and projects that have shaped the ANR’s history.

The MOJO project is grounded in the research of Alessandro Morbidelli, a planetary scientist at the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, at the J.-L. Lagrange Laboratory, and Professor at the Collège de France. Funded by the ANR in 2013, the project investigates the role of giant planets in the formation of planetary systems.

Developed by Yasmine Abouchar, Quentin Dissard, Kevin Forest, and Hélène Trinh, the project explores a visual language inspired by orbital dynamics, gravitational phenomena, and scientific representations of the cosmos. The art direction is built around a precise, rigorous, and calibrated use of typography, centred on Mabrok and Renai Serif – two typefaces distributed by the Babelfont type foundry. Their formal contrasts and editorial discipline structure a graphic system that weaves together, illustrations, diagrams, and pictograms, in order to visually convey the notions of movement, collision, and trajectory inherent to planetary dynamics.

Paperback edition, February 1989

A rare sighting of Obliq, a Letraset release from 1984, used in both of its weights for a science fiction novel by Hal Clement (1922–2003):

The Riddle of Enigma Years of exacting study were coming to an end. All five student scientists, each the best its species had to offer, were one step away from their final degrees. One examination remained: the students were to determine why the tiny planet of Enigma, a planet with so little mass that it should never have had an atmosphere, in fact it did. Everything seemed to be running smoothly until the only Human member of the team, Molly was accidentally blown into one of the deep fissures that pocked the planet’s surface. She found herself trapped in a series of tunnels and caves that only led her deeper into the riddle that was at the heart of Enigma. But as her concerned companions followed her, they found Enigma’s most puzzling anomaly. For in the dark passages they discovered life – life which couldn’t possibly exist.

For the title, the caps were enlarged and shifted down, so that they align with the ascenders and the underline underneath the lowercase letters. Small text is in Univers.

[More info on ISFDB]

Hardback edition, June 1987

Quirinale is the typeface used for a 1980 album of Gustav Holst’s The Planets as performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with conductor Seiji Ozawa (1935–2024). The standard cover features a photograph by Ruud Nooy, showing a golden statue of Mercury with winged hat and money bag in the right hand.

The same typography in a different arrangement was used for an alternate cover, this time together with an image of Earth, Moon (?), and a space probe, possibly Pioneer 10.

[More info on Discogs]

Alternate cover made as a promo and/or for the Japanese market

Herbert von Karajan’s recording of The Planets with the Vienna Philharmonic was first released by Decca in 1962. The 1973 reissue on their Ace of Diamonds label comes with one of the wackier cover designs made for Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite: the planets are represented by floating heads of the eponymous Roman deities. Illustrator Christos added them to a photo of the Trifid Nebula. Saturn looks pretty annoyed by the never-ending rainbow carousel rotating in front of his nose.

The typography brings together two staples of the 1970s: Neil Bold and Stop. In the latter, the H doesn’t have a stem at the right. This unconventional feature was “fixed” by the cover designer, so the title effectively reads “THIE PLANETS”. Other examples for the same intervention include the Thompson Twins logo and Gagosian Gallery’s Crash.

[More info on Discogs]

The trilingual liner notes on the back are set in IBM’s Theme proportional typewriter face.

This 1975 reissue of Gustav Holst’s The Planets as performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Malcolm Sargent was produced by American variety label Sine Qua Non under license from London Records.

The cover art features a view of multiple celestial bodies that seems to be too good to be believable: Earth rises large over the horizon of its moon (?) in the foregroud, with Saturn directly behind it. For good measure, this artistic perspective serendipitously captures a partial eclipse further away.

The title typography features the rarely seen Avanti Caps, issued by Californian phototype company Lettergraphics by 1967.

Compare to Decca’s 1954 cover.

[More info on Discogs]

Bordering on LTypI: Platelet for The Planets. Its designer, Conor Mangat, comments on the genesis of his debut typeface:

Platelet grew out of a 4-day workshop given to students—most with no type design experience—at CalArts in October 1992. The brief, from Phil Baines, asked for an original alphabet to be designed for a specific outdoor purpose, taking into consideration the context for usage, appropriateness and meaning, and traditional notions of good typography.

Consequently, Platelet is based directly on characters and figures found on the car license plates in California. Its original character set comprised only a single lowercase alphabet and non-lining figures, ostensibly to complement the existing all-caps characters on the plates. For its commercial release, however, the set was extended to include alternate, small capitals and other commonly used text characters – somewhat ironic considering the original brief had principally been to create specific display faces that weren’t just scaled text faces.

Cover designer Paul Marc Mitchell took advantage of the added small caps, and mixed them with the lowercase forms.

This album with the Berliner Philharmoniker’s rendition of The Planets under Simon Rattle (b. 1955) was first released as a double CD in 2006. Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite is complemented by four additional tracks by contemporary composers – thanks to Colin Matthews, Pluto finally gets acknowledged, too (just to lose its status as a proper planet the same year) – plus a video by Paul Bates.

[More info on Discogs]

Warner Classics released a vinyl version with just the original suite and Matthews’ addition in 2025.

Telarc’s 1986 release of The Planets as recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the guidance of André Previn (1929–2019) has a cover that depicts the planets – and not only the featured seven, but all nine planets of our solar system, including Earth and Pluto.

Cover design by RasicArt with an illustration by A.I.R. Studio Inc. and art direction by Ray Kirschensteiner (1942–2021). The featured typeface is Germanic Sans. Designed by Acey Cypres for Headliners in 1970, it’s similar to Harpers, which was also used for an album cover for The Planets.

[More info on Discogs]

Peter Max’s Riverside Drive including its star-spangled Stars E style, used together with E.R. Weiß’s Weiß-Initialen Serie II, featuring both its forms for A and the round uncialish E, for the album cover to the Philadelphia Orchestra’s recording of The Planets, led by Eugene Ormandy.

The illustration by Colos shows the seven planets featured in Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite, populated by their respective Roman deities and surrounded by various constellations. In this interpretation, the planets don’t revolve around the sun, but rather around a colorful Earth covered by dark clouds.

[More info on Discogs]

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Source: archive.org Internet Archive. License: All Rights Reserved.

Harpers is a geometric sans that hasn’t been featured on Fonts In Use before. Designed by artist and illustrator Adrian George (1944–2021) for the British edition of Harper’s Bazaar, it was shown in the Modern Publicity yearbook of 1969 under the name Harper. The typeface with the long extenders was available from London-based Face Photosetting and appears in their catalogs as Harpers. Shin Oka, who refers to the typeface as Bazaar, made a digitization in January 2019.

The lighter weights of Germanic Sans (Headliners, c.1970), a related design in two widths and several weights, come pretty close, see for example the G with large aperture and low bar, the angled e, the g with semi-circle descender and angled ear, and the lazy s/S.

License: All Rights Reserved.

Glyph set of Harpers from a c.1981 Face catalog

No designer/typographer is credited. The illustration by Chesley Bonestell (1888–1986) is titled Saturn as it appears in the dark sky of its satellite Japetus and was first shown in Life magazine, May 29, 1944. Palace Script is used for the import note on the golden sticker.

This recording of The Planets by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Bernard Haitink (1929–2021) was issued by Philips Records in 1970. From Geoffrey Crankshaw’s liner notes:

“The Planets” suite was composed between 1914 and 1917 and received its first public performance in 1918 under Adrian Boult. Holst was always keen on astrology and the idea of a musical representation of the different “characters” of the planets held irresistible attraction for him. But there was much more to this vast conception than the mere satisfaction of an astrological whim. The work would never have held such wide appeal if its content had been limited to celestial portraiture. Deeper issues are involved. Holst was a man of vast culture, rich humanity, and powerfully experienced national affections. He was an expert in Sanskrit literature, an enthusiast for English folk-music and, withal, a visionary. All these facets of his protean make-up are fused in the unique totality of “The Planets.” For the most remarkable aspect of the work is its universality. The seven movements combine, though with no thematic linkage, to produce an effect far greater than consideration of each part would suggest. As the stillness of Neptune’s closing bars draws us towards infinity we feel that a vast journey has transpired – and, even more significantly – that a wider exploration awaits us.

This recording is the first to use the newly revised score, published in 1969 by Messrs Curwen and Sons, which incorporates amendments made by the composer himself on the margins of his own score. These are mainly concerned with the dynamics, and represent the fruits of experience in the handling of the vast orchestral tissue. Even more recent corrections — including one vital “wrong note” — are listed on a slip issued with the new edition.

[More info on Discogs]

This recording of Gustav Holst’s The Planets as performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Malcolm Sargent (1895–1967) was released by Decca in 1954. The cover shows the seven featured planets as the heads of their eponymous Roman deities, orbiting a flaming yellow sun.

The main typefaces are Monotype’s Bodoni Ultra Bold Italic and Profil by Haas for “PLANETS”. The contoured and shaded all-caps slab doesn’t appear in direct use, but was redrawn: some details are slightly off when compared to the foundry original, see the bowl of P that’s angled at the bottom, or the A that has a smaller counter.

[More info on Discogs]

Alternate version. The sans serif used for the conductor’s name in the black circle (representing Earth?) and the other small print is the Bold weight of Tempo.

An atmospheric 1950s sleeve design with two colorfully striped planets, for Nixa’s 7″ release with the first and fourth movement from Gustav Holt’s The Planets: Mars, the Bringer of War, and Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity. The music was recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (here credited as Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra for contractual reasons) under Sir Adrian Boult (1889–1983).

The fonts in use are Annonce and Stephenson Blake’s Condensed Sans Serifs Italic.

[More info on Discogs]

From Wikipedia:

Dopes to Infinity is the third album by American rock band Monster Magnet, released on March 21, 1995. The album includes the song "Negasonic Teenage Warhead", the band's first hit single.

Art direction and design by Sandy Brummels and Walberg Design, with input from Dave Wyndorf. The illustration is by Mark Skillicorn.

[More info on Discogs]

An adorable butter alien from another planet set the stage for a brand story like no other.
Butter Baby, a brave explorer from the paradise planet Butterlandia, travelled through space to save his home. He discovered weird and wonderful worlds before eventually crash-landing on Earth, where he found rich, abundant butter and friendly humans, or as he called them ‘humblabubs’. Captivated, he decided to stay and share his traditional Butterlandia treats from his humble store in Blok M, Jakarta.

Our task was to take our client’s initial narrative, build in lore, craft the Butter Baby character, and transform it into a distinctive and out-of-this-world brand identity. Butter Baby’s hero typeface is OZIK Soft, a playful display font that feels expressive without tipping into childish. Its rounded forms feel contemporary while also nodding to Butter Baby’s own soft, rounded character. Our supporting typeface is Söhne. It is functional, highly legible, and provides balance to the more expressive display.

The self-titled debut album from April 1978 was designed by Zoran Busic with art by Rene Zamic.

Record collector, DJ and musicologist Klaus Hiltscher on Saga’s debut album:

In Germany the most sold Saga LP. I like this one because you hear also some rock guitars. In later LPs was the keyboards very dominant! “Humble Stance” is a very significant song for Saga, like “Satisfaction” for the Stones. To me it was the last LP which I really heard. In that year we opened our record shop ROCK ON, from then on I mostly heard Punk/Metal or New Wave like Gary Numan.

The cover established Solemnis as the typeface closely associated with the Canadian band’s early years. For the follow-up, Images at Twilight, the festive uncial by Günter Gerhard Lange was also used for the album title.

The track list on the back is set in Friz Quadrata, mostly in all caps.

The cover for Images at Twilight from May 1979 was again designed by Busic, this time with art by Tony Roberts.

Tracklist and credits on the back are set in Trump-Mediäval Italic.

Silent Knight was released in November 1980. Busic collaborated with Roberts another time. Solemnis made way for Parsons.

Editorial New is the primary typeface used by Comet, the new browser by Perplexity. The logo is based on FK Grotesk, which is also used on the landing page together with FK Display and Berkeley Mono.

From Studio Freight’s case study:

With an AI-powered answer engine that delivers concise, cited responses instead of endless, paid-for links, Perplexity was already disrupting how we find information. When they approached us to help launch Comet, they were looking to go even further with a complete browser experience.

But the product was still in the conceptual stages. No demo. No feature list. No wireframes. Just a vision of more accessible knowledge with more reliable references. The challenge wasn't explaining a product but capturing a possibility.

We worked closely with Henry Modisett and Phi Hoang, the Heads of Design and Brand Experience, to define the direction through shared references and mutual trust. The collaborative process felt less like following a roadmap and more like stargazing — exploring possibilities until patterns emerged.

We took a simple idea seriously as the visual language developed naturally around cosmic themes. Planets became vessels for showcasing potential features. Parabolic lines, inspired by orbital paths, created paths for motion throughout the system and distinguished Comet's identity from the parent brand. Typography came alive with variable weights that expand on hover, inviting curiosity and suggesting deeper discovery with each interaction.

The website's visual journey moves from space to Earth – bringing anywhere to here. We start among stars then descend groundward as users scroll. The announcement video reverses this path, lifting viewers from familiar surroundings toward cosmic possibility before landing on the call to action. Together they form a perfect loop: explore the site, watch the video, then continue where you left off.

AI-generated imagery, created in Perplexity's distinctive style, forms the backdrop while archival footage grounds the experience. Grainy images of industry, nature, and humanity connect the ephemeral to the tangible, speaking to real-world applications. The logo animation opens like a book to a new page, revealing the product as if turning to an unwritten chapter.

Comet is newly launched and will continue evolving. But the foundation is set — a gateway to a browsing experience that feels less like searching and more like discovering.

From WRWTFWW Records:

Music For A Cosmic Garden is a collaborative album by Japanese ambient/environmental legend Takashi Kokubo (Ion Series) and Italian & Swiss trombonist Andrea Esperti (Esperti Project).

Recorded during the heights of the pandemic and completed in February 2021, the splendid ethereal soundscape created by Kokubo and Esperti is available in limited double LP, digipack CD, as well as digital.

For fans of environmental, ambient, cosmic escapes, the works of Midori Takada, Hiroshi Yoshimura, and Satoshi Ashikawa, meditative atmospherics, and gardening in space.

Cover design by Nicolas Eigenheer featuring Void by Malte Bentzen, released by Optimo.
Art cover drawing by Martial Derry.

On 7 September 2023, Foo Fighters played the Estádio Couto Pereira in Curitiba, Brazil. Brazilian illustrator and poster designer Pedro Correa paired his intensely detailed illustration with Soundstar, a typeface from PintassilgoPrints. Both the artwork and the font echo one another with lots of detail and the same feeling of playful, chaotic energy.

You can see more about the posters on F4D Studios.

Astrapi is a French biweekly magazine for children aged 7–11, published by Bayard Éditions. Borel was used for these scientific illustrations in Astrapi № 1019, September 2023.

Theatrical movie poster

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) is a science fiction comedy that follows two academically underperforming high school students, Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Keanu Reeves) and Ted “Theodore” Logan (Alex Winter), whose failure in history class threatens not only their friendship but the future of humanity. To prevent this, a traveler from the future named Rufus (George Carlin) arrives with a time-traveling phone booth, enabling the pair to journey through various historical periods and collect notable figures—including Socrates, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and Abraham Lincoln—for their final presentation.

The logo is a combination of Bippie (for “Bill & Ted’s” and “adventure”) and custom lettering (for “Excellent”). The cashing credits are set in Univers Ultra Condensed. The tagline is set in Futura Bold Condensed.

Closeup view of the logo, from the theatrical movie poster

Presskit for the movie, showing the print version of the logo, which uses Bippie

This compilation album with songs by The Mamas & The Papas was released in 1972, three years after the folk rock band broke up. Its cover design is not the most refined one, featuring a collage of mismatched photos of the four members that can be described as haphazard at best.

The title typeface is a rare one, though, which I haven’t seen outside type specimens before. It’s part of the Riverside Drive family, designed by pop artist Peter Max (b. 1937) and named after his address at 118 Riverside Drive in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Issued by Photo-Lettering around 1970, there were six styles, including solid, outlined, and contoured variants. This is the most spectacular one: the decorated Riverside Drive Stars E has letterforms filled with a pattern of stars, plus the occasional ringed planet. It’s here used in reverse.

[More info on Discogs]

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