This Christmas-themed compilation album with twelve tracks from eight of their artists was released by Coral Records in 1958.

[More info on Discogs]

The headline face on the back cover is worth a closer look: it’s Ornata. The ornamented roman was designed by Oskar H. W. Hadank and cut as a metal typeface in 14 (!) sizes by the Klingspor foundry.

Passport was formed in 1971 as a jazz fusion group led by saxophonist Klaus Doldinger. This album features Brian Auger, Johnny Griffin, Alexis Korner, Volker Kriegel, and Pete York. It was recorded live October 16, 1973, in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The surrealist airbrush art depicts a partly transparent portrait of Doldinger. A hand emerges from the multicolored mountain ranges holding a mirror with a second face wearing clown makeup. It is credited to Wandrey’s Studio, Hamburg.

The album’s title is in Orbit, spiced up with double outlines, vertical gradient fills, and highlights. The names are in Weiss, which has been Passport’s brand typeface since the self-titled debut album.

[More info on Discogs]

Klaus Doldinger passed away 16 October 2025. Rest in peace.

After the long anticipated font update from v0.1 to v0.2, Harald Peter Ström could finally add a CV to his personal website. Before that, the designer of Konst & Teknik used Electric Blue only on his front page. He requested the urgently needed diacritics on Future Fonts right after the release of version 0.1. “Guuuuys, i love this so much but my name doesnt work properly… any chance of a scandi version soon featuring åäö ÅÄÖ ? /peter stroem”

Font Spectrum’s Daniël Maarleveld and Edgar Walthert just have been really busy with other thing to finish the entire set of accents. Just dropping a few Middle European ones, as a patch, did not seem right for everyone else.

Recently, Harald Peter Ström added an animated loader to his CV page which makes use of the transforming abilities of variable fonts. The loader revolves through the weights in a wave motion.

The Index and Work pages use Weiß-Antiqua for everything. The bouncing “2025” device that references the iconic DVD logo screensaver has numerals from ABC Walter Neue.

When entering the website, all the pills rotate before they find their horizontal position. The background color changes according to the width of the browser window. If one does note interact with the page, everything gets blurry.

The animated GIF was made with a QuickTime screen grab and then made into a GIF with the help of ezgif.com

CV page of Peter Ström, entirely set in Electric Blue. The bottom of the page is faded out and gets thicker on scroll – one of the advantages of variable fonts.

The index with Harald Peter Ström’s work features Weiß-Antiqua (URW’s digitization).

Another sub-url called work.peter.stream. Weiß-Antiqua is one of the classic typefaces that still looks en vogue thanks to its slightly eccentric details.

The Unbidden, front cover [More info on ISFDB]

In 1975 and 1976, Pyramid Books published American editions of three collections of horror stories by British author R. Chetwynd-Hayes that had previously been published in the UK: The Unbidden (February 1975), Cold Terror (March 1975), and Terror by Night (June 1976). The cover art is by Polish-American artist George Ziel. The typographer is uncredited.

The titles and back cover taglines use Bordonaro Vampire. The front cover taglines, author’s name, and blurbs on the back covers use Weiss.

The smaller bits like the publisher’s name and serial number and price use Trade Gothic (or maybe the largely identical News Gothic).

Cold Terror, front cover [More info on ISFDB]

Cold Terror, back cover

Terror by Night, front cover [More info on ISFDB]

Terror by Night, back cover

Cover of the vinyl version

Released on 23 September 1985, The Wishing Chair is the second album by American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs, and their first release on a major label, Elektra Records. The cover design is credited to T&CP Associates and the band itself. It uses Weiss for the typography.

[More info on Discogs]

Cover of the CD version

This album with Polish folk songs was recorded by the Mazowsze Choral Ensemble and Orchestra and released on Vanguard Records in 1958. From Discogs:

Mazowsze (in Polish “Państwowy Zespół Ludowy Pieśni i Tańca ‘Mazowsze’” – “State Folk Group of Song and Dance ‘Mazowsze’”) is a famous Polish folk ensemble founded in November 1948, named after the Mazowsze region of Poland.

Under the leadership of Professor Tadeusz Sygietyński, their first public performance was in 1950. After his death in 1955, his wife, Mira Zimińska-Sygietyńska, took over leadership duties – a position she held until her own death in 1997.

The typeface used for the title is Weiss, used with alternating glyph colors. It’s combined with Weiß-Initialen II. The cover photography is credited to Ray Solowinski and Jules Halfant. Halfant – the art director of Vanguard – probably was in charge of the typography, too.

[More info on Discogs]

Food for Thought is the name of the second album by The J.B.’s, being released in 1972 by People Records, which was a subsidiary of Polydor. It features the singles “Pass the Peas” and “Gimme Some More”.

The design of the album utilizes a fully typographic approach: the title uses what appears to be Helvetica Inserat, which is contrasted with Ludlow’s Stencil, Weiss Extra Bold, and various different styles of Helvetica. News Gothic can also be seen on the back.

[More info on Discogs]

The SCM Corporation originated in 1886 under the name Smith Premier Typewriter Company. With the success of their Corona model in 1914, it was renamed to become the Corona Typewriter Company. Smith Corona was created when L. C. Smith & Bros. united with Corona Typewriter in 1926, with the former branch making office typewriters and the latter focusing on portables. In 1962, Smith Corona changed its corporate name to SCM Corporation and adopted the tribar SCM logo. At that time, the company had become a major supplier to the office equipment market, offering photocopiers, typewriters and calculating machines.

These ads for their electric portable typewriters were issued in 1979, when the calculator market was devastated by inexpensive electronic pocket calculators, and the typewriter market was being undermined by inexpensive imports from Asia. The copy highlights quality and good design, and advises against cheap models. It didn’t help: in 1986, SCM was taken over by Hanson Plc. In the early 2000s, Smith Corona eventually quit manufacturing typewriters altogether. Today, the company leverages its expertise in ribbons and thermal technologies in the growing thermal label market. [Wikipedia]

The headline and copy are set in Weiss. “Patented Correction Cartridge” is added in the bold italic style of Century Expanded and Times, respectively.

Volume 1, 1992

Creole Kings of New Orleans is a compilation of 1950s rhythm and blues music by New Orleans artists like Lloyd Price, Clifton Chenier, and Art Neville, from the archives of the record labels Regal, Specialty, and Ebb. It was published in 1992 and 1993 in two volumes, by Specialty Records in the US and by Ace Records in the UK.

The purely typographic covers feature a range of expressive typefaces, including three of Adobe’s early 1990s wood type revivals, Barbara Lind’s Poplar, Joy Redick’s Blackoak, and Kim Buker Chansler’s Birch, complemented by stars and manicules from Adobe Wood Type Ornaments.

[More info on Discogs]

Volume 2, 1993

The front panel and spine of the jacket feature text set in Weiss Initials No. 2. The Harper & Row publishers mark at the base of the jacket's spine is set in Eurostile.

Dust jacket designed by Frederick Cantor for the Harper & Row first edition of The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. The bestselling novel was adapted into the equally successful blockbuster film of the same name in 1973.

The front panel and spine of the jacket feature text set in Weiss Initials No. 2. The Harper & Row publisher's name at the base of the jacket's spine is set in Eurostile. The back panel of the jacket features text set in Electra.

The front and back flaps feature text set in Weiss Roman and Electra.

The gilt lettering on the hardcover's maroon cloth spine and the interior title page are set in Beton Open for the title, with additional text set in Beton and publisher's name in Electra.

Full view of the dust jacket. The back panel features text set in Electra. The front and back flaps feature text set in Weiss Roman and Electra.

The maroon cloth spine of the hardcover features gilt lettering set in Beton Open for the title, with additional text set in Beton and Electra.

The text of the interior title page is set in Beton with the title in Beton Open, and additional text in Electra.

Front cover

Swedish country singer David Ritschard's second album released on LP and as a limited edition version. The album title Blåbärskungen translates to "the king of blueberries" in Swedish. Artwork concept centers around a custom-made screen printed collectors plate with the artist portrait surrounded by a blueberry garland and the album title set in Weiss.

The inner sleeve and label are printed in blue monotone. The main text is set in Kennerley and information details in Helvetica. All the contributing musicians were scattered like blueberries between the lyrics.

The limited edition of the album comes in a handmade box from Norrmalms kartongfabrik in Stockholm with the title hot foiled in gold on the lid. It includes a numbered collectors plate, the album on LP, a piece of string and a note from the artist. 50 boxes were made.

Back cover

Inner sleeve

Limited edition box

Tudor Black in a bat-shaped silhouette for the cover of Die Fledermaus Overture, a record with classical music credited to the (non-existent) Imperial Viennese Concert Orchestra and released by Tops Masterpieces Records, USA.

Die Fledermaus (English: The Flittermouse or The Bat, sometimes called The Revenge of the Bat) is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II, which premiered in 1874. Tudor Black premiered at Miller & Richard in 1878.

The album additionally includes Träumerei, Op. 15, No. 7 by Robert Schumann, Barcarolle by Jacques Offenbach (both titles set in caps from Futura), and The Merry Widow Overture by Franz Lehár (set in Franklin Gothic Wide). Cover design by Horace Sadowsky (1924–1988). The album is undated, but it must have been issued after 1952, when Franklin Gothic Wide was released. The Tops Masterpieces logo combines Chisel and Weiss.

[More info on Discogs]

The cover for Alfred Brendel’s recording of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies combines a vivacious illustration of a folk dance with equally wild display typography. Weiss is paired with all-caps Crayonette and Saphir. The numbers of the included rhapsodies are set in yet another flamboyant face, Fontanesi. In sum, there’s too much going on. I feel the illustration could shine more with a less eclectic typography. While the cover art is by Frederic Marvin (1932–2013), the overall design is uncredited. It may have been provided by Vanguard’s art director, Jules Halfant.

[More info on Discogs]

The back cover is set in Times New Roman, with the title in Bulmer.

All-caps Weiss Bold with its distinctive top-heavy S and tightly spaced Palatino Italic for Susan Sontag’s I, etcetera. First published in 1978, this is the cover of the paperback edition by Vintage Books from the year after. “A collection of short stories by the author of Illness as Metaphor” is set in italic caps from Univers Condensed. Cover photograph by Thomas Victor.

Ludlow’s Tempo paired with lowercase Weiss against a pattern of snowflakes and ornaments, on the cover of an album with music by Jean Sibelius and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, recorded by the Vienna Tonkünstler Symphony Orchestra.

Tempo is used in the Black and Heavy weights, The latter can be easily recognized by its left-leaning s. The cover with the “cold” Finnish and the “warm” Spanish halves was designed by Curt John Witt. The image shows the Merit Records pressing (M1-8) from 1952. The album was also available with identical artwork from Plymouth Records (P10-8).

[More info on Discogs]

This leaflet advertised the fifth German edition of Edward Johnston’s Writing & Illuminating & Lettering from 1955. Published in English in 1906, the handbook was translated by Anna Simons, a former student of Johnston at the Royal College of Art, and first issued in German by Klinkhardt & Biermann in 1910. More editions followed in 1921, 1928, and 1936. Together with Simons’s work as a teacher, Schreibschrift, Zierschrift und angewandte Schrift had a great impact on the renewed interest in modern penmanship and lettering and the dissemination of Johnston’s ideas in German-speaking countries.

The front page of the leaflet is a reproduction of the book’s jacket. The title and the author’s name are shown in reverse on a brown open scroll, in Weiß-Antiqua and Weiß-Kursiv, the latter with several of its ligatures for ch and ft. The scroll is framed by an almost full set of Weiß-Initialen II including the alternate A and E, but skipping the J, in olive green. The typeface used for the text on the other pages likewise echoes the choice made for the book: It’s Stempel Garamond with italics and small caps. The Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB) has a digitization of the full book complete with the jacket.

Established in 1907 in Leipzig, Klinkhardt & Biermann relocated to Berlin in 1933 and again to Braunschweig in 1948. Co-founder Werner Klinkhardt (1882–1926) is a descendant of Julius Klinkhardt (1810–1881), the Leipzig-based publisher and type founder.

A synopsis of the book’s contents. Cf. the table of contents as included in the book.

Larousse Gastronomique is “the encyclopedia of food, wide and cookery” by Prosper Montagné (1865–1948). The culinary guide was first published in France in 1938 by Augé, Gillon, Hollier-Larousse, Moreau et Cie (Libraire Larousse), Paris. This is the US edition edited by Charlotte Turgeon and Nina Froud, and published by Crown Publishers, Inc. in 1961 (6th printing, 1965).

The cover features Weiß-Initialen III in white and is embellished by a band of fleurs-de-lys. The title page uses Weiß-Antiqua with Kursiv. The decorated faces used for the title are reproductions from the lettering on the jacket, which additionally has some Bodoni. The interior is set in Times New Roman with headings in Clarendon and running titles in Gill Sans caps.

Dust jacket of the 1961 edition.

Dust jacket of the revised American edition, 7th printing, 1988.

Weiß-Kursiv with some of its swash caps, but without the fancy ch ligature. The descending R and the top left terminal of y don’t match the showing on the index card by the Bauer foundry. This might be a hint that this is lettering based on the typeface. The weirdly narrow e and the short question mark stay true to the original, though.

Budd Schulberg’s novel What Makes Sammy Run? was first published by Random House in 1941. This is the cover of the Bantam Books edition from 1946.

United Artists Records, USA (1970).

If trendlist.org had been around in the 1970s, it might have had tags and trends like “revival”, “1900s style” and “pre-war printshop”, featuring this album cover for Traffic’s John Barleycorn Must Die. From subject and music genre to illustrations (advertising and printing stereotypes) and typefaces, everything about this album is a 1970s perspective on the late 19th, early 20th century.

The title and band name on the cover are set in a shaded variant of Rustic, an organic looking all caps typeface with shapes that mimic tree branches. The origins of Rustic are not entirely clear and nowadays it can be found under many names, with and without shadow.

The roman is a phototype version of Weiß-Antiqua, which is internationally better known as Weiss, or Weiss Roman. The design has been revisited and released under different names in the digital age. Messer is a recent reinterpretation by Inga Plönnigs, released through Future Fonts.

Back cover from a French release, set in Weiss.

The US release by United Artists Records had the front cover design on a background consisting of a photograph of burlap. The original UK by Island Records release featured a grey background. [Discogs]

Back cover, United Artists Records

A color photograph of the band inside the gatefold cover.

Detail

For the portfolio website of Berlin based artist management Shotview, agency YES employ a bold, compemporary aesthetic of loud and full-bleed images. While I’m sure the idea is to showcase the photography more than anything, what stands out to me is the use of all-caps Weiß-Antiqua. Here, it feels more like a Germanic companion to Canela rather than a relic of the 1920s.