Visual identity for the Gothic Modern exhibition at the Albertina Museum in Vienna. The exhibition explores the relationship between medieval art and European modernism, highlighting how artists such as Edvard Munch, Max Beckmann, and Käthe Kollwitz drew on Gothic stylistic and thematic elements and translated them into a modern visual language. An accompanying catalog was edited by Ralph Gleis and published by Hirmer in two language editions, English and German. The identity uses the Riegla and Riegraf typefaces.

Banner with the key visual featuring Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette, an early painting by Vincent van Gogh.

Exbibition poster

After being inspired by the film Marty Supreme, I decided to add a few items of my own creation to the world this movie created. These would have been celebrity endorsed and promotional items existing after Marty’s rise to fame.

Digital posters for Jose Berrio’s 2021 solo exhibition Diseño Para Música at the Planetario de Bogotá. The second image is for a concert by Nicolás y Los Fumadores that took place as part of the show.

The titles are set in Dida, while smalle text uses two weights from Syne.

“It Looks Just As Stupid When You Do It.” poster (17½″×25″). This trademarked slogan was first used in August 1990. The “Youth Against Tobacco” text appears to be done by hand.

This anti-smoking campaign was developed in 1990 by Minneapolis-based agency Martin Williams for the Minnesota Department of Health.

Wendy Solie Hansen takes credit for the art direction, with copywriting by Lyle Wedemeyer and photography by Rick Dublin of Dublin Productions. In a feature in Print Casebooks 9, Teresa Reese writes:

For the copy line, […] Hansen chose Caslon Antique because it reminded her of smoke, “kind of wavy and jagged and not clean-looking.”

The small print sometimes is in Helvetica (or similar), but that varies between the various printings.

These two posters are dated 1989. Left: “If You Smoke, You Might As Well Start The Day With A Mouthful of This.” poster (17½″×25″). Hansen comments:

“Once we decided to go with a Scope look-alike,” she reports, “we tried to make it as close as possible

without getting into legal trouble. We changed the shape of the label somewhat but used the same typeface, Optima Medium […].”

Right: “If You Smoke, Your Expensive Perfume Won’t Smell So Expensive.” poster (17½″×25″). The label text uses Helvetica.

“Butts Are Gross.” poster (17½″×25″). This printing includes the logo of the American Cancer Society. This trademarked slogan was likewise first used in August 1990.

“Butts Are Gross.” poster variant in landscape format (13″×30″)

As a journalist and writer active in the twentieth century, Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) naturally was a typewriter guy. Robert Messenger has a collection of portraits of the author at his typewriters, spanning two decades. To say Thompson’s relation with his working equipment was carefree would be incorrect – there are at least two pictures of him pointing a gun at his typewriter – but it definitely was an intense one.

Hence, what better choice for a book with his essential writing than a typewriter font? If I were to nitpick, Thompson’s model of choice was a Selectric. He used other machines before, but at least since the 1970s, he wrote on a Selectric II, the second generation of IBM’s electric typewriter with an interchangeable “typeball”. Then again, the output of a Selectric looks rather clean, certainly when compared to that of earlier mechanical models. That’s where Trixie – recently renamed to LTR NCND – comes in: Erik van Blokland’s digital fontification of the typescript produced by a vintage Triumph Durabel Norma has the right amount of smudge and unruly alignment that we expect to see from the manic Gonzo persona.

The dust jacket for Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone was designed by Joseph Hutchinson, who was Rolling Stone’s art director at the time (since 2018, his title is Creative Director). The book’s interior design is credited to Joy O’Meara, designer at Simon & Schuster.

Back of dust jacket with praise

Cover and spine

Title page with credits in Rockwell

The paperback edition has a different blurb, but otherwise the same design.

Back cover of the paperback edition, with the synopsis set in Trade Gothic or similar

Radium mager and fett on the case of a pack of playing cards, advertising the Revue brand of cigarettes by Sulima.

According to Cigabox.de, Tabak- und Cigarettenfabrik Sulima F.L. Wolff GmbH was established in Dresden, Germany, in 1871. It was acquired by Jasmatzi AG before 1914, which in turn was taken over by Reemtsma in 1925. Sulima was still doing business under that name in 1924.

The secondary typefaces, a compressed grotesk and a Romanisch-like roman, are shown with too little detail to identify them reliably.

See also this invoice from 1924 for another example of both weights of Radium used together.

The cards were produced by a division of the Vereinigte Stralsunder Spielkarten-Fabriken Act.-Ges. in Altenburg, Sachsen-Anhalt.

Ad for Lucky Strike Cigarettes in the Saturday Evening Post from December 10, 1960. From the Saturday Evening Post (2018):

The average price per pack of cigarettes in 1960 was 26 cents ($1.49 adjusted for inflation), or around $2.50 for a carton. In other words, you could afford to buy a lot of cigarettes then. (Today that many cartons would cost you $1,400 or more.)

Fabian – Going to the Dogs (original title: Fabian oder der Gang vor die Hunde) is Dominik Graf’s loose adaptation of Erich Kästner’s novel Fabian. Die Geschichte eines Moralisten, set in Berlin in 1931. The drama film premiered at this year’s Berlinale festival and had its theatrical release on August 5, 2021.

The typeface used for the title is from Berlin, too: Fanfare was first cast by the Berthold foundry in 1927. It’s a well-considered choice: Not only was Fanfare frequently seen on posters from the era. Fabian, the protagonist, works as a copywriter for a cigarette company. Louis Oppenheim, the designer of Fanfare, had a background in commercial arts, too, and created ads for Problem cigarettes (for Mahala Problem) and Juhl cigars (for Paul Juhl).

Apart from the title type, the posters have little in common with German poster design from the 1920s and 1930s, and lack in dynamics and audacity. They look as if the brief was to show Tom Schilling (as Fabian, with his obligatory cigarette) as big as possible. And to fill the remaining space with blurbs and credits.

[More info on IMDb]

Sleeve for Van Halen’s most successful single. Released in December 1983, “Jump” reached number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The design features a black-and-white adaptation of the cover art from the band’s then upcoming album 1984. The airbrush painting by Margo Nahas shows a putto stealing cigarettes. From Wikipedia:

The model was Carter Helm, who was the child of one of Nahas' best friends, whom she photographed holding a candy cigarette. The front cover was censored in the UK at the time of the album’s release. It featured a sticker that obscured the cigarette in the putto’s hand and the pack of cigarettes.

The band name uses Initiales Cristal, an all-caps typeface designed by Rémy Peignot with the help of Adrian Frutiger and first released by Deberny & Peignot in 1953. The decorated Latin caps were reversed, outlined, and stretched for the application. The script used for the title in the speech balloon is Edwin W. Shaar’s Flash Bold (Intertype, 1940).

[More info on Discogs]

Back of the single sleeve with Helvetica (and Helvetica Condensed).

Color version of Margo Zafer Nahas’s illustration as seen on the cover of the 1984 album (stylized as MCMLXXXIV), released on January 9, 1984. Copperplate Gothic is used for the Roman numerals. The art direction is credited to Richard Seireeni, David Jellison, and Pete Angelus, [More info on Discogs]

“Communications” from the Paste Pot & Scissors subseries, ft. Mike Hinge’s Hinge Computer. Illustartion by Tom Sawyer.

Covers for various clip books of line art issued in 1970 by Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio, Pleasantville, New Jersey. The series provides a glimpse into the topics that were in demand by the press – and by the media in general – in the United States at the time. The covers paint a slightly more progressive image than those from a decade before, e.g. with a women in the driver’s seat (for “Transportation”, see below). The vast majority of the portrayed people still is white and male. The cover for “Communications” (above) with three protesting women is an exception.

The series is also a snapshot of what was in fashion in display typography. The chosen faces – almost each cover features a different one – are diverse in style. Many were issued only shortly before. There are several exclusive designs by the NYC-based typesetting studio Photo-Lettering (Hinge Computer, Brave and Free, Calendar, Microcircus, Benguiat Indian, Bauhaus Prisma, Bordonaro Black Magic, West Kangaroo) and also a few recent releases by VGC (Giorgio, Antikva Margaret).

See also the dedicated post about the subseries titled Grafika which was introduced in 1970. For more information on Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio, see the post about the clip books issued in 1955.

“Happy Birthday” (No. 190) ft. Davison Dimensional (1969). The small text is in Helvetica.

“Holidays” (No. 191) ft. Brave and Free with stretched letterforms.

“Travel” (No. 195). While the title is set in caps from Georg Trump’s City fett, rasterized and repeated at varying angles like stamps in a passport, the names of the destinations are hand-lettered. Some are probably based on existing faces, e.g. “Orient” appears to emulate Benguiat Newlock. “Greece” might be patterend after Copeland Trillium.

“Religion” (No. 196) ft. Solemnis. “18th Anniversary Issue” uses tightly spaced Futura Light.

“Winter” (No. 197) ft. Giorgio (Giorgio Giaiotto, 1966).

“Men” (No. 198) ft. Profil. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Women” (No. 199). Illustration by Tom Sawyer. The constructivist stencil caps are from Futura Black.

“Holidays” (No. 200) shows tightly spaced lowercase Clarendon.

“Crowds” (No. 201) ft. Filmotype Vigus. The portrait format and the use of ITC Avant Garde Gothic Light as secondary typeface suggest that this was a late edition, already in the style used in subsequent years.

“Groups” (No. 526) ft. Calendar (1969).

“Transportation” (No. 527). Illustration by Tom Sawyer. The typeface is PLINC’s Microcircus, a squooshed variation of Microgramma/Eurostile.

“Insurance” (No. 529) again features Microcircus.

“Western” (No. 533) ft. a depiction of a Native American with feathered headdress. The type was apparently chosen for its name – it’s Benguiat Indian.

“Food” No. 539 ft. Prisma Graphic.

“Human Relations” (No. 541) in Cartier (Carl Dair, 1967), with slightly stretched letterforms.

“Education” (No. 542) ft. caps from Antikva Margaret (Zoltán Nagy, 1966).

“Handyman” (No. 543) ft. Goudy Oldstyle Bold, with a shortened ascender for d.

“The Golden Years” (No. 544) ft. Augustea Open. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Teens” (No. 545) ft. Bauhaus Prisma K (1970).

“Family” (No. 546) ft. Jana (1965). Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Sales” (No. 547) ft. Eurostile stretto. Illustration by Tom Sawyer.

“Spring & Summer Sports” (No. 548) ft. Permanent Headline in solid and open styles.

“Worry-Fear” from the Paste Pot & Scissors subseries (No. PP132) ft. Black Magic by Lewell Bordonaro.

“Son of Little Guy” (No. PP136) ft. West Kangaroo Demibold, an informal face with horizontal stress by Dave West.

“He’s got a sword and two girlfriends” — @Coochiebone

Ad by the Lorillard Tobacco Company for the Newport brand of menthol cigarettes, featuring two very similar typefaces: Cooper Black for the big text at the top, and Goudy Heavyface for “After all, if smoking isn’t a pleasure, why bother?”. Both are used in unidentified swash italics versions. The former is similar to a phototype version named Cooper Black Italic Flair, but exhibits a number of differences. The latter isn’t identical with Goudy Fancy.

@CuteDogPics4 comments: “I can't look at something like this without imaging Don Draper coming up with it out of nowhere, drink in hand, after being mentally absent for a whole meeting”

Lucky Strike introduces the Lucky Strike that doesn’t taste like a Lucky Strike.

One of the phototype versions of Perpetua, tightly spaced and more condensed than the original, paired with indented copy in Helvetica, for a magazine ad by the American Tobacco Company.

No Planet No Fun is an ambitious collective movement to fight global warning. The project by Susie Hammer, Ro Ledesma, and Gabinet Exquisito involves an upcoming exhibition in Barcelona and a book dedicated to our dying planet. Shown here are several graphics that were posted to social media channels to raise awareness for the cause.

The charming symmetry could easily make you forget: these advertisements by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. from 1975 to 1978 were made to sell a product that packs 70 known carcinogens in a single paper stick!

In 2009, Kevin Walsh of Forgotten New York posted an article about his time at Photo-Lettering, Inc. One of the included images identifies the fonts used here. The caption reads: “Text: Hadriano BBD4 Display: Bembo Graphic 6 (?) (Winston Exclusives)”. Versions of Hadriano and Bembo Graphic are also shown in PLINC’s One Line catalog from 1971.

Richard Roundtree

A 1968 ad designed by 2017 AIGA Medalist Emmett McBain at Vince Cullers Advertising, an African-American-owned agency which pioneered the use of black models in ads directed at a black audience. Their work for the Lorillard Tobacco Company “laid the groundwork for how cigarette companies and other businesses spoke to Black consumers.” — AIGA Design Archives

Paperback edition by Pocket Books, 1970

The Selling of the President 1968 is a non-fiction book written by American author Joe McGinniss and published by Trident Press in October, 1969. The book describes the marketing of Richard Nixon during the 1968 presidential campaign. It has been described as “a classic of political journalism” and a “classic of campaign reporting that first introduced many readers to the stage-managed world of political theater.” [Wikipedia]

Original hardcover edition, Trident Press / Simon & Schuster, 1969

Change to Luckies and get some taste for a change

Charter Oak in use for a Lucky Strike ad in an issue of Life magazine, circa 1962.

Shock campaigns from 2014, 2013 and 2008 launched by Public Health England (PHE). The 2014 campaign was launched alongside an expert review of the role of smoking in the progressive decline of the body’s major systems. Proclaiming loudly that ‘every cigarette rots you from the inside out’, the adverts appear on digital and print billboards across the country, and also on video. Not surprisingly, Smokers’ rights group Forest called the campaign ‘poisonous’ and accused PHE of making ‘exaggerated claims’.

Sylvia has been used for the Smokefree campaign since 2004. Bold weights are used with brightly coloured pictogram-style illustrations for the upbeat message of online campaigns and the Quit Kit. The Medium weight is used for the Stoptober campaign. The Light weight is used for the dramatic, shock message of these campaigns.

Stoptober is the 28-day challenge to stop smoking for most of the month of October. It's based on the belief that after 28 days without a cigarette, smokers are five times more likely to give up smoking for good.

A giant red inflatable ‘Stop’ sign is pushed around the country to raise awareness of the campaign and to mark the countdown to the official start of the challenge, 1 October.

Supporting this, a mobile Stoptober roadshow tours the country, offering a range of care services. There is also a series of YouTube videos, with people sharing their experiences of quitting smoking. The circle motif is used throughout the graphics, in a range of bright, optimistic and summery colours.

A custom version of Sylvia is used throughout the Smokefree anti-smoking initiative. Sylvia Light is used for advertising campaigns, Bold weights are used for the Quit Kit.

Squishy stress-reliever from the Stoptober supplies pack

Squishy stress-reliever from the Stoptober supplies pack

Digital display on the BT tower in London’s Fitzrovia

Stand from the touring Stoptober roadshow

Stoptober Supplies — a kit containing information and advice

Stoptober quit cards