Pociąg do Hollywood (“Train for Hollywood”) is a 1987 Polish comedy film directed by Radosław Piwowarski and starring Katarzyna Figura as the “Polish Marilyn Monroe”.

For the Czechoslovak release in 1988, Zdeněk Ziegler designed a poster that shows the title on a steep angle, with letters from alternating typefaces set on a bouncing baseline. Is this a typographic depiction of a derailing train?

The star of the show is the Y from Astral, here in a four-color rendition. The title starts and ends with Caslon 540 Italic. The H probably is from Comstock Condensed, the L from Stencil, and the O’s from something similar to Thorne Shaded – maybe a version of Figgins Shaded? The small print with the credits is set in what looks like Universal Grotesk.

I just learned that Zdeněk Ziegler passed away a year ago, on April 18, 2023. He was 90. RIP.

This is an advertising poster for Holloway, a British travelling theatre company, when it set up in the small town of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. By rule of thumb, it measures around 36 inches (if not slightly more) by 12 inches.

According to the owner of the poster it was probably printed in the 1890s. Years in which November 21st fell on a Monday include 1881, 1887, 1898, and 1910. 1887 or 1898 seem to be the most likely dates. The Tewkesbury Historical Society has some info on the printer, William North. In 1871 he bought the business that had been set up by James Bennett in 1810 and continued by Isaac Jenner. North died in 1907, and one R.A. Newman took over the business in 1921.

Florian Hardwig comments on the fonts in use:

The broadside shows the eclectic mix of typefaces that is so typical for the Victorian era, with different styles for each line, center-aligned and interspersed with rules. Many of the fonts are tricky to identify beyond the general genre, and even when it’s possible to find a match in a specimen or reference book, 19th century typefaces often didn’t have proper trade names yet, and were rather identified by the generic designation and a number. To further complicate things, the larger lines are likely printed from wood type, which was typically local made, and is not as well documented as (metal) foundry type.

“Holloway’s” is set in caps from a bold condensed slab with bracketed serifs. Walter H. McKay’s Egyptienne Bold Condensed (1955) is a 20th century revival of this style. Note that the first O was taken from a different font with horizontal stress. “Great Number One” shows a lighter bracketed slab of lower contrast, see Clarendon/Ionic. The typeface used for “Pavilion of Varieties” is pretty distinctive. The bold italic with flared stems is unidentified, though. “Near ‘The White Bear’” uses an extended Fat Face. Barbara Lind’s Madrone (1990) is a digital revival in the same ballpark. The light grotesque used for “Bredon Road, Tewkesbury” is similar to Caslon’s Condensed Sans-Serif No. 4, or Stephenson Blake’s No. 10 (Reed’s Condensed Grotesque No. 2). See Knockout No. 28 for a contemporary stand-in.

The heavy slab for “Great Attraction …” – underneath the row of stars and framed by two manicules – may be a descendant of Figgins’ Antique, the first slab serif types ever made. The lines with the dates (“On Monday Evening …”) use a roman with strong contrast, vertical stress, and bracketed serifs, see Modern/Scotch.

“Colleen Bawn” is a condensed roman with angled serifs in C and E, compare to Old Style No. 1 or Century Oldstyle. The bold sans (“Or, the Brides of Garryowen” etc.) appears to be Miller & Richard’s Grotesque No. 4, see Sans-Serifs & Grotesques (Miller & Richard).

“Wreck Ashore” is set in a wood type version of French Antique, possibly Stephenson Blake’s No. 3. Later on, in the 1930s, the Sheffield foundry revived this style as Playbill. See also their French Antique No. 2 which is distinguished by a rounder C.

For “Poor Jo”, North chose a wide bracketed slab serif. Caslon’s Ionic Expanded comes close.

“Faith, Hope & Charity” is an extracondensed slab with unbracketed serifs (see Antique Condensed), mixing caps with smaller caps. In 1995, Jim Parkinson made a digital interpretation based on similar American wood types.

“A Life’s Revenge” appears to be a version of a face that was first cast sometime between 1881–84 and sold under the name Rubens. It also appears further below, in a smaller size and with its distinctive descenders on A R n etc.

Despite its striking features, the typeface used for “The Ranks” is not identified. It’s a Latin (i.e. it has triangular serifs) with mid-stem spurs and ball terminals. With its extending strokes, it recalls Algerian. The closest contemporary font I’m aware of is Livery Stable, Michael Hagemann’s revival of an unnamed 19th century typeface. [It’s Latin Ornamented, see comments.]

This run-down is concluded by a “Laughable Farce” and a bold Egyptian with considerable stroke contrast. Among digital fonts, David Berlow’s Giza (1994) is a good substitute.

A Blonde in Love (CZ 1965) — The typeface used for the title is similar to a condensed Cheltenham/Gloucester, possibly a woodtype version. For the small sans serif, see Stephenson Blake’s Grotesque No. 6 and 8.

Various woodcut style posters for the Academy Cinema in London made by Peter Strausfeld in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. For more information visit: mikedempsey.typepad.com

Breathless (FR 1960) — The title is set in caps from Albertus, with charmingly unbalanced spacing. The bold gothic caps used for “The Academy Cinema” and elsewhere in the series exhibit qualities that have been captured in contemporary anthologies/reinterpretations like Rhode, Knockout or Champion Gothic.

Alphaville (FR 1965) — Among digital fonts, Clarendon Extra Condensed by Wooden Type Fonts is a good approximation for “Alphaville”.

A Generation (PL 1955) and Edward and Caroline (FR 1951) — The red caps appear to be from Playbill, Stephenson Blake’s reinterpretation of 19th-century “French Antique” wood type – a face that also appears on other posters of the series. Among the smaller types, there is Gill Sans Italic.

The Confrontation (HU 1969) — More Playbill, SB Grotesque, Gill Sans, condensed Clarendon and other unidentified faces. “In colour and ’scope” is in Britannic Italic. There are several digitizations, but none of them includes the italics. For the actors’ names, see The Godfather’s Haunted Lineage.

The King of Marvin Gardens (US 1972) — Big actors’ names are set in a style generically called Antique, stemming from Figgins’ Antique. Giza and Ziggurat are related digital versions. Smaller names are in caps from Windsor. The small type at the bottom is Latin Bold or similar.

AKA Wedding in Blood (FR 1973) — The generically named Egyptienne comes somewhat close for “Red Wedding”. The italic for “brilliant…” is very similar to Doric Italic No. 1.

Tonite Let’s All Make Love In London (UK 1967) and Dutchman (UK 1966) — WTC Banger from Borutta’s Wood Type Collection appears to be based on a model very similar to largest type. Unfortunately Mateusz Machalski doesn’t mention the sources of his digital interpretation.

To distinguish the Arizona Daily Star as an important regional voice, designer José Merino sought a look that would reflect the unique warmth and passion of the Southwest. From the menu of spicy options recommended by the Font Bureau, he chose Cyrus Highsmith’s Prensa as the main course. The taut, active letterforms and lively details add a special kick to display headlines.

When the existing Prensa series proved too wide for hard-news heads in narrow columns, a fresh set of Prensa Condensed fonts was specially prepared to add flexibility while keeping flavor. Benton Sans provides the secondary navigation and also adds punch in bold sports headlines. A custom smoothed version of Amplitude is employed in the upmarket NWS edition for stylish headlines.

With this versatile suite of Font Bureau fonts, the Arizona Daily Star and its sister publication, the Spanish-language La Estrella de Tucsón, were able to establish distinct identities for a diverse regional audience, while maintaining a single harmonious brand.

“MICA straddles a major boulevard in Baltimore. The historic Main Building of 1907, which looks as if it were carved from a giant chunk of white marble, is situated directly across from the 2003 Brown Center, a taut glass iceberg of a building that projects over the street as if nodding to its older colleague. In creating a graphic identity for the school O wanted to capture its juxtaposition of historical and modern sensibilities, and to specifically reference the dialogue between the two buildings.

“Founded in 1826, MICA is one of the oldest art schools in the nation, evident in its turn-of-the-century buildings and campus. The wordmark we developed is a typographic portrait of this relationship: the monumental capitals are seen in counterpoint to the rhythm of the fine verticals, the last of which carries the angled ‘prow’ of the Brown Center facade. A pattern within the identity program recalls the ornamental motifs and moasaics of the Main Building, as well as the fritted pattern of dots on all of the panels in the Brown Center.” — Abbott Miller, Design and Content, Princeton Architectural Press, September 2014

“The [Lower East Side Tenement Museum] needed a signature publication to be sold in the shop. Originally I’d envisioned a comprehensive historical overview of tenement life. The client pared down the scope and shifted the focus to include museum background material. I then decided to alter column widths and margins in each of the sections to reflect what I saw as differing voices within the text. In keeping with the low budget—and art of widely varying quality—I was drawn to some site photos documenting the dilapidation and the textures of the building in its original state.” — Angela Voulangas

Ready Or Not, Here Comes GX, an article about the TrueType GX font technology by Maryrose Wood.

Founded in 1994 by Roger Black and John Schmitz, Interactive Bureau was one of the first major web design studios. The Internet Archive has a 1996 cache of the IAB site in which one can find Black’s guidelines for web design, many of which still hold true today. This one, however, not so much:

Don't design pages that require a lot of scrolling. Just as 75% of people will only read the top 1/2 of a folded newspaper, most people will never scroll.

The typography is typically Roger Black: red, black, big, bold, and American. Beyond the obvious page size limitations, the design is not too far removed from his current site. Of course, all the type that was formerly rendered via low-res graphics is now displayed via webfonts, thanks to another initiative associated with Black, Webtype.

Another amusing find from the vintage IAB site is an August 1996 Wall Street Journal column by Walt Mossberg in which he surfs the web in its infancy, looking for notable sites.

They pay me to spend time browsing around the Internet. As a professional digital tourist, I can verify that there's a lot of mediocre stuff on the World Wide Web, But I think that, as time goes by, and people get the hang of the thing, the percentage of useful, engaging, or entertaining sites goes up.

So here's my latest list of Web Gems, 18 sites I invite you to try. As always, these sites are best viewed with a modem capable of sending and receiving data at 28.8 kilobits per second.

See also: the 1997 cache of the IAB site, with an updated guide from Black: 10 Rules of Design.

Represent.us is a campaign by the United Republic, a political activist group against financial lobbyism in American politics. The website was designed inhouse using Giza Seven Three from Font Bureau and the free fonts Franchise, Ubuntu and Gentium. The United Republic website uses Giza and Salvo Serif.

Celebrating 60 years of excellence in typography

Exhibition design for Lincoln and New York by The Graphics Office in collaboration with the in-house design team of the New-York Historical Society.