Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?, Rising Moon Books (Muddy Boots Books), 2003

Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots? is a 2003 children’s picture book written by Carmela LaVigna Coyle and illustrated by Mike Gordon with Carl Gordon. The book presents a young girl asking her mother a series of imaginative questions about what princesses can and cannot do, ultimately reinforcing the idea that being a “princess” is about inner qualities rather than strict rules or appearances.

The visual style combines soft watercolor illustrations with expressive, playful typography that complements the childlike tone of the story. The title lettering has a whimsical, hand-drawn appearance that reflects curiosity and imagination, while the lighter, more decorative text elements enhance the gentle and reassuring mood of the narrative. The type helps communicate themes of self-acceptance, individuality, and breaking traditional stereotypes, aligning with the book’s message that children can define themselves freely.

The title and credits are set in Randumhouse, whose irregular, slightly uneven letterforms reinforce the informal, storybook feel and visually echo a child’s handwriting, making the design feel approachable and personal.

Subsequent books in the series use likewise use Randumhouse for the title, now paired with Fairfield – which is also the typeface used for the interior (not shown).

Do Princesses Scrape Their Knees?, Rising Moon Books/Muddy Boots Books, July 2006

Do Princesses Have Best Friends Forever?, Taylor Trade/Muddy Boots Books, December 2010

Do Princesses Make Happy Campers?, Taylor Trade, February 2015 

From Wikipedia:

The TV Album is a compilation CD of songs by “Weird Al” Yankovic that features songs about television and TV shows. In 1993, Yankovic’s former record label, Scotti Brothers, had released a similar album called The Food Album that contained songs about food. The artwork was done by Mad magazine veteran Jack Davis.

Funhouse is used for the artist’s name and Ice Age is used for the album title.

[More info on Discogs]

The Canadian version with a MuchMusic promotion and a shadow on “‘WEIRD AL’ YANKOVIC”

The back cover uses Times New Roman (image taken from the Canadian version).

The credits use Palatino, with ITC Zapf Dingbats as bullet points.

CD label

The cassette version of the Canadian version uses Beeswax for “‘WEIRD AL’ YANKOVIC” and Helvetica Condensed for track names and credits.

From Wikipedia:

Turn the Radio Off is the second album by ska punk band Reel Big Fish. It was released in the U.S. in 1996 on Mojo Records.

Funhouse is used for the band's name and Crud is used for the album title. From the liner notes:

cover concept: aaron barrett & vince pileggi
girl with gun: carla yacenda
disc jockey: jed the fish courtesy kroq
photography: sheryl nields
assisted by: reggie casagrande
art direction: imagination design

See the whole album design including the booklet with lyrics on the Internet Archive.

[More info on Discogs]

CD label

Back cover

House Gothic 23 is paired up with Gotham in this advertisement for DC Nation. From Wikipedia:

DC Nation was a programming block of DC Comics series and shorts that aired on American television channel Cartoon Network on Saturday morning. It premiered on March 3, 2012, and was produced by Warner Bros. Animation.

Sweepstakes ad by Birds Eye, “the official training table vegetables of the National Football League”, from October 1966. The chubby letterforms in the speech balloon come from West Bubble Gum Blockshadow. “A great trip …” is set in another face drawn by Dave West for Photo-Lettering, Inc.: It’s West Kerpow, which has been revived by Bob Alonso under the name Shazam.

lt’s easy to win the Grand Prize. Just enter the Birds Eye National Football League Sweepstakes. You can win your kid’s favorite football player. He’ll come out to spend the day with your family. And he’ll bring along a new ’67 Pontiac Tempest Station Wagon. As part of your Grand Prize, you’ll also win an Autumn Haze Mink Stole plus a free trip for 2 to a postseason pro game in Miami or Los Angeles.
And that’s not all. You’ll also receive a freezer filled with delicious Birds Eye Vegetables, a blender, stadium blanket, electric knife, clock radio, picnic jug and an NFL Official Football. Your football hero will spend the day with your family, talking to your child’s school assembly or your husband’s club, taking the whole family to dinner. And he’ll give the neighborhood football fans some firsthand pointers on the game.
ALSO, 14 FIRST PRIZES. Your favorite player will spend the day with you and your family. And he’ll deliver a color TV and season tickets to local NFL games.

February 1997 ft. Impact, FF Blur, and Franklin Gothic. Bryant’s #8 jersey would be a mainstay until 2006 when he switched to #24.

Slam magazine was started in 1994 by Publisher Dennis Page and Creative Director Don Morris at the now-defunct Harris Publications. Morris designed the current logo in 1996, based on Neville Brody’s FF Harlem. Cory Johnson (who later went to Vibe) was founding Editor-In-Chief.

The magazine looked to show a hip hop spin on basketball. When it came to design, everything from the distorted grunge era to stretched PC type to early 00s pixel/techno to Obama-era clarity has been covered in truckloads. The magazine is a great representation of the last 25 years of type trends (see all the covers at Fandom). Standouts include an odd version of House Industries's House Gothic 23 (maybe a very early version) and the timely Timmons NY/BWord combo (both by Pentagram’s Matt Willey).

Kobe Bryant was on the cover of Slam upwards of twenty times (Slam has collected all of them). Key career moments are highlighted, right on to Kobe’s mentorship of his daughter Gianna’s basketball team at Mamba Sports Academy.

February 2003, ft. Chalet Comprimé 1970 in use shortly after its release.

January 2000, ft. House Gothic 23, sometimes with the alternate straight-legged R and bearded G, plus Vineta for “KB8”.

March 1998 with more House Gothic 23 and Garage Gothic caps.

December 2008, with Champion Gothic, in all caps from several weights. “Special” fetaures Bello. Design by Stephen Goggi.

March 2019, with Timmons NY and BWord, both designed by Matt Willey.

April 2010, ft. United Sans in various weights and widths. The quote is set in all-caps Miller Display Italic. In supporting roles, more Vineta (stars) and Bello (URL). Design by Melissa Medvedich with photography by Martin Schoeller.

Special Edition 2016, ft. Tungsten and Gotham Ultra.

Dracula: Return of Evil. A Tale of Terror for the 21st Century is the first volume in Universal Studios Monsters, a 6-book horror series for middle-grade readers written by Larry Mike Garmon and published by Scholastic in 2001.

The cover uses two early releases by House Industries. “Return of Evil” and the author line are in Allen Mercer’s Halfwayhouse (1993), while “A Tale of Terror” features Jeremy Dean’s Crackhouse (1994). “Dracula” uses a bold condensed fraktur, cf. Fette Fraktur. It’s either an unidentified font, or custom lettering.

“The Beatles inspired set visualizes the lyrics of “All Together Now”. In addition to the bright, Yellow Submarine and Peter Max-inspired cosmic colorway, I also created a solo version of the  ”I Love You” print in a more muted, Valentine’s Day color palette. All of the typography was sourced from period designs, all available from Photo-Lettering.” — Josh Korwin