Asterisco* is a collaborative literary space, a place to bring together readers, authors, content creators, and publishing professionals who share an interest in the world of books; a curious, collaborative network that values ​​discovery and strengthens the book ecosystem. All genres, formats, and paths included.

The visual identity is essentially composed of distorted, altered, and manipulated shapes and typography. Letters turn into shapes, which turn into elements and graphic motifs.

Everything is EVERYTHING.

Memory of Megan (initially released as The Ghosts of Megan) is a book by Marc Lovell. The plot revolves around an actress named Stella Grifith, who decides to head to her ancestors' hometown of Rythgollen in an attempt to escape from Hollywood and Sam Cullen, her boyfriend. However, things go south after she finds herself having to deal with the ghost of a girl named Megan, and Sam Cullen, who manages to track Stella down. Originally released in 1968 by Doubleday, the book has been republished by several different companies, including Ace Books, whose second printing was released in May 1973.

The typeface for the title is Oxford Italic Swash, which is distinguished from its non-swashed counterpart by several details, including the single-story g and presence of swash alternates. The f is apparently a modification, as none of the face’s alternates have a ball terminal on the bottom for that letter.

HANSONS is a home improvement company serving Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

Their logo uses Montserrat in all caps.

The website uses Futura PT for all text outside images, except for the customer review section which uses the old version of Roboto.

The signs in the photo use Arial for the phone number.

This self-titled LP was the first and only studio album by Jackson C. Frank (1943–1999). Recorded by Paul Simon with contributions by Al Stewart and Art Garfunkel, it was released in December 1965.

[More info on Discogs]

First edition, Newnes, 1988

A book about vehicle technology that nicely uses the Light and Heavy weights of Gill Sans to refer to the light and heavy vehicles of the title.

Later editions switched to different typefaces – Futura Condensed and Futura – but maintained the Light and Heavy conceit in the cover typography.

Second edition, Newnes, 1992

Third edition, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1998

Fourth ediiton, Routledge, 2006

Evi O. Studio’s design for the book Cao Fei: My City is Yours accompanies a major retrospective of Chinese artist Cao Fei’s work in the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Spanning two decades, the publication presents themes of urbanisation, digital culture, and globalisation through essays, an artist interview, and rich imagery. The design merges contemporary aesthetics with nods to early Y2K style and Chinatown phone books, forming a unique blend of traditional and digital visual language.

The main font is Splinter by Mario Julián Gutierrez / Dum Dum Studio. It’s used together with Acid Grotesk by Pablo Fernández de la Fuente / Folch for English text. The fonts used for Chinese text are BoutiqueBitmap7x7, Fixedsys Excelsior, MF LangQian, and PingFang HK.

From the publisher:

Cao Fei is one of the most innovative artists to have emerged on the international stage, known for work that charts the breakneck urbanisation, environmental changes and social flux of China in the 21st century.

Born in 1978 in Guangzhou, Cao is a world-builder who works across videos, photography, sculpture and immersive installations. Her acclaimed practice mixes social commentary, pop culture, references to surrealism, and documentary and she has appeared no less than six times in Art Review’s ‘Power 100’ list of the world’s most influential people in art.

This book, published in conjunction with the first Australian retrospective of the Beijing-based artist, showcases key works from the past 20 years, as well as newly commissioned works that explore China’s deep ties to Australia. Together, they encompass a range of compelling themes including urbanisation, digital transformations, 21st-century globalisation, family histories and diaspora.

Designed by award-winning graphic designer Evi-O, the book offers new scholarship on the artist by the exhibition’s curators, Ruby Arrowsmith-Todd and Yin Cao, together with essays by the renowned scholar of Chinese contemporary art Hou Hanru and emerging Asian–Australian writers Michael Sun and Pao-chen Tang. An expansive interview with Cao Fei and short entries on key projects features alongside a rich selection of artwork stills, reproduction images of props and paraphernalia, and a playful array of archival material spanning the artist’s influences.

The images of the book are by Daniel Shipp. See more on the website of Evi O. Studio.

The title page additionally uses Futura Display in squeezed caps, set on a circle.

The chapter opening on this spread pairs Splinter (yellow and red) with OT 2049 from Off Type (green text).

From Wikipedia:

“Formentera” is a song by Spanish singer Aitana in collaboration with Argentine rapper Nicki Nicole, released through Universal Music Spain on Dec 3, 2021. The song was later included on the tracklist of her third studio album, Alpha (2023).

The design created by Paula Vila and Víctor Clemente, founders of the agency Realmente Bravo, evokes a boarding pass. In the song, the concept of a flight to the Spanish island of Formentera is used as a metaphor for love, given that it has no airport and flights are nonexistent.

[More info on Discogs]

One of many, many Herb Alpert knockoffs of the 1960s. Originally released in the US and elsewhere as Carmen and Other Hits, this 1972 UK release was renamed to The Tijuana Sound of the Living Brass.

The band name is in Concordia, with all other text in Futura.

[More info on Discogs]

The back cover additionally has Trade Gothic and Univers.

Source: rockers.de Rockers. License: All Rights Reserved.

The German sleeve for Althea & Donna’s 1978 hit single “Uptown Top Ranking” features four typefaces that were all available from Letraset at the time. None of them was an original creation by the English manufacturer of dry transfer lettering, though: Kabel Black (“Top Ten in England”) and Futura (“An Original Lightning Recording”) are adaptations of geometric sans serifs originally made as metal type in the late 1920. Neptun as used for the song titles is even older than that: it’s a revival of a turn-of-the-century oddity from AG f, a foundry in Offenbach, Germany.

Photo: Florian Hardwig. License: All Rights Reserved.

Style overview of the Yankee family as shown by Alphabet Photosetting in their 1984 catalog. Yankee Shadow here is listed as Yankee Outline Shadow.

The shaded slab-serif caps chosen for the artists’ names – here misspelled Althia & Donna – were released by Letraset just a few months earlier, in 1977. Yankee Shadow was drawn by Tony Geddes. It’s one style out of a family of eight, shown by Alphabet Photosetting in London. Yankee is a collegiate slab not unlike Tal Leming’s United Serif, Christoph Koeberlin’s Winner, and Weichi He’s LL Champion. The outward-facing unilateral serifs in its boldest styles remind me of City Bold as designed by Georg Trump in 1930. Unlike City, it’s drawn entirely without curves. In this regard, it’s similar to Aldo Novarese’s Colossalis.

Source: letraslut.com Letraslut. License: All Rights Reserved.

A sheet of 72pt Yankee Shadow for dry transfer lettering, issued in 1977 in Letraset’s Letragraphica range as LG2606. There was also a 48pt size. The Shadow style was the only one from the Yankee family to be adopted by Letraset. Scan courtesy of Letraslut.

Yankee Shadow was digitized at least twice: by Mickey Rossi as Jim Thorpe (2000) and by Nick Curtis as Sis Boom Bah NF (2007). To my knowledge, other styles from the Yankee family haven’t been revived yet.

You can read about Althea & Donna’s surprise hit on Wikipedia – and listen to it in the video below.

[More info on Discogs]

Witchcraft in America Today is a book by Emile C. Schurmacher (1903–1976), an author from North Salem, New York.

The witch in the cover art is depicted with several of the stereotypical insignia, like red hair, black coat, pointed hat, and steaming cauldron – but no black cat familiar. Still, there’s a feline present: the title is set in yellow Pussycat. This amorphous face was drawn by Charles Papirtis for Photo-Lettering. Two of its three all-caps styles, Black and Swirl, were shown in their 1969 Alphabet Yearbook.

From the back cover:

In expensive Park Avenue apartments and Harlem tenements, in the farms of Pennsylvania and the swamps of Florida, people are casting spells, preparing charms, burning magic candles, and attending nude Black Masses.

Witchcraft in America Today is a fascinating survey of the varieties of magic currently being practiced, from the black Pope of San Francisco to the swinging coven of politically prominent people in Washington, D.C.

What are their goals? What powers do they possess? Why are they increasing in number? The answers—startling, strange and frightening—are all here in Witchcraft in America Today.

Branding and identity for Broad Leaf Spirits, a boutique offshoot of Michigan-based craft beer juggernaut Brewery Vivant, forged as a passion project of the restaurateur to explore non-traditional brewing and distilling techniques.

The design brief was an open invitation for experimentation and play. On-site conversations led to discoveries. The team’s philosophies and external positioning? A group of self-proclaimed mad scientists who share a love for cassette futurism and bygone electronics.

50+ unique graphics were created using a modular synthesizer and oscilloscope. Sounds from the synthesizer’s patch bay were plugged into the oscilloscope and captured at 1/50th shutter speed for analog light trails and haze.

The fuzzed-out 8-bit Unknown font signals the spirit type (vodka, gin, mezcal) while Futura supports with legible sans-serif copy and descriptors. Accessible technology for those who are blind or have low vision was incorporated by printing Braille DIN as raised text with a double-hit of spot gloss.

One year after MGM Records released The Very Best of Hank Williams, they followed up with a second compilation album. This time, the art department opted against a portrait of the legendary country singer, and for an entirely typographic cover design.

Williams’ name is set in a version of Egyptian Ornamented. “The very best of” is added in caps from Akzidenz-Grotesk Extra. Each of the twelve song names is shown in a different typeface. Or almost: one typeface appears twice. Can you spot it?

[More info on Discogs]

Ulysses de Santi is a design dealer and curator renowned for his work in promoting mid-20th-century Brazilian modernist culture and design.

Inspired by the cultural richness of Brazilian modernist design, the new identity for Ulysses de Santi combines expressive typography and editorial-inspired layouts. Built around the contrast between geometric precision and warmth, the visual system explores rhythm, spacing, and tension to create a brand that feels both contemporary and deeply connected to Brazilian design heritage.

Editorial compositions, structured spacing and a precise grid carry the discipline of the visual identity into the digital experience. Motion creates continuity between states, supporting navigation without distraction. Projects are presented as narratives, allowing content to take centre stage while maintaining a strong, coherent identity.

The identity was conceived by Daniel Escudeiro, with digital design by Twoo and digital development by Jorge Toloza.

“Like to Get to Know You Well” is a 1984 single by English singer Howard Jones. From Wikipedia:

The sleeve carried the motto “Dedicated to the original spirit of the Olympic Games” as the single was released at the start of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The extended version, subtitled “international remix”, features Jones singing in English, German and French.

This international aspect carried over to the single’s sleeve design, where the uncredited designer depicts the title in a variety of (badly translated) languages and fonts. The artist name as well as English and French titles use Berling Bold. The Dutch title uses News Gothic Extra Condensed and the Spanish one Americana Extra Bold. The German is in Beton Bold Condensed, while the Japanese is in Gothic MB101. Italian is Futura Demibold. The Greek is in Eurostile Extended Black, with alterations made to create some faux-Greek glyphs. Finally, the Swedish uses Plantin.

[More info on Discogs]

“Bounce Right Back” on the back cover uses Berling as well.

A later release of the single replaced the badly translated Japanese with a slightly less bad translation, and replaced the Swedish at the bottom with “12″ International Remix” in Helvetica Bold.

The headline mixes Romanisch Kursiv No. 20 with Koch-Antiqua fett. The latter is used with both forms for s, but the former isn’t. The question mark is added from Cooper Black, while the smaller copy is set in Futura.

This 1931 group tours brochure was issued by the MER – Mitteleuropäisches Reisebüro G.m.b.H. – of Berlin. The brochure gives details of organised holiday tours across Europe, by train and ship, as well as an extensive tours of the USA, out via the HAPAG line and returning on the Norddeutschen Lloyd for a cool 2,800 RM. The brochure also has numerous adverts for resorts, hotels and travel companies.

The various adverts, a selection of which I have scanned here, are also interesting from a typographical and design standpoint. Many are in the very latest German ‘style’ and feature some interesting and often relatively new typefaces. This advert, with a variety of typefaces and a decorative border asks “Kennen Sie schon die volkstümlichen Gesellschaftsfahrten des MER?” (“Are you already familiar with the popular group trips offered by MER?”) It gives a list of destinations within Germany and abroad as described elsewhere in the brochure.

MER was formed as a Central European Travel Agency in Berlin in 1917 and grew to include the travel interests of the Austrian and Hungarian railways. Many of its services were similar to those of say, Thomas Cook, in the UK. The company was heavily implicated in the crimes of the National Socialist era and in post-war years the company, in both East and West Germany, underwent several complex reorganisations but survives under the name of DER Travel.

“Shakespeare’s hometown is the quiet, picturesque market town of Stratford-upon-Avon in the county of Warwickshire.” Motor can be seen in early use, featuring a non-standard narrow R.

“Don’t miss a chance to visit Lake Lucerne and its eight mountain railways during your trip to Switzerland”
Two weights of Memphis plus a drop cap from Schaefer-Versalien.

Schaefer-Versalien and all-caps Memphis for “Lucerne Lido, the Swiss lakeside resort”

“Finland – the idyllic land of a thousand lakes. A new travel destination!” More Motor – with a narrow alternate N.

Adverts for the San Marco Schiffahrts-Gesellschaft Venedig and Palace Hotel in Tunis, Tunisia. “San Marco” shows Motor’s narrow N again, and features yet another alternate glyph, this time for S. “Dalmatien” is in Berthold Block. The description of the hotel uses Koch-Antiqua.

Adverts for Jadranska Plovdibda D.D. Sušak and Dubrovačka Parobrodarska Plovidba, with several Futura weights and three sizes of Neuland

The Chantier Le Cœur was a shipyard in Lesconil, in southern Finistère, active from 1905 to 1980. It bears witness to the traditional artisanal activity of a small Breton port in the 20th century and has held the designation of “Port of Heritage Interest” since 2018. This former shipyard was converted into an eco-museum in 2019 and is managed by the Bag Leskon association.

The museum showcases the original buildings, collections, and equipment, and takes its name from the shipyard’s principal owner, Alain Le Cœur (pictured in the first photo).

View of the antique tools on display in the museum’s showcases.

View of the antique tools on display in the museum’s showcases.

View of the antique tools on display in the museum’s showcases.

Fañch Le Henaff, creator of the Brito typeface, posing in front of the museum entrance.

More uses of Brito!

Aviano is a manufacturer and system provider of jewelry and watches – for retailers, display concepts, travel retail, e-commerce, and rewards programs; with private labels, licensed brands, and contract manufacturing.

Art director Tina Dompert was commissioned to develop the company’s new branding and website. She selected the Garino typeface from Fincker Font Cuisine as the corporate font. Thanks to some playful details in the letters, it is a perfect fit for the brand’s identity. The Aviano logo is in all-caps Futura.

Hurry Up Chicken Butt is a fast-paced, “hot-potato” style kids game. It was designed by game designer Elan Lee and produced by Exploding Kittens. Both the box and the promotional video use the Cafeteria typeface by Frere-Jones Type

Get ready to jump up and get silly with Hurry Up Chicken Butt! Shake the Chicken to reveal your wacky activity, then perform it quickly before passing the Chicken Shaker to the next player. But watch out—if the timer goes off while you’re holding the Chicken, you’re out! This game is fast-paced, unpredictable, and guaranteed to get everyone laughing.

A 1974 promotional booklet for the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) unit at Syracuse University.

I got great satisfaction from this project. It was the Vietnam era, and I was solidly against that unnecessary and unwinnable war waged by a lying administration which was killing off so many American youth. This piece walks a line between promotion and parody. The ROTC folks loved it for their purposes, while others thought it somewhat ridiculed soldiering.

Some of the interior spreads are below (the booklet turns sideways inside).

Grrrr . . . A warrior wreaking havoc on the battlefield.

Gunman Connection is the debut album by Jamaican dancehall deejay Nicodemus, released in 1982 on the Cha Cha record label. The album was produced by The Morwells. The cover artwork was designed by Leo Roberts.

[More info on Discogs]