Neville Brody’s FF Harlem (1993) is based on lettering he drew for the poster to A Rage in Harlem, a 1991 crime film set in the 1950s. With the counters that freely move around inside the letterforms, it can be read as a typographic translation of jazz music.

Harlem can here be seen in use on the cover of a CD with music by and an interview with Bunk Johnson (1889–1949), a jazz trumpeter from New Orleans. The album was compiled and produced by Johnny Parth for Document Records. The catalog number uses another design by Brody: it’s the Art Deco sans Insignia. (The label logo combines all-lowercase Futura Display and tracked caps from Futura Bold.)

Compare Harlem to Allen Abstract, an early 1960s typeface with similar characteristics – which was used for a jazz record cover.

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Two widths from Armada, an early design by Tobias Frere-Jones, paired with FF Harlem by Neville Brody, for the cover of Swagger. The debut studio album by the Celtic punk band Flogging Molly was produced by Steve Albini and released with SideOneDummy in 2000.

[More info on Discogs]

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.

Logo for the 2013 edition

In 1995, Anita Kern designed the visual identity for the Salzburger Jazz-Herbst, a jazz festival in Salzburg, Austria. For the logo, she paired Neville Brody’s energetic and off-the-wall FF Harlem (1993) with the posh Bauer Bodoni.

In its 18th year, the identity is still in use, and Vienna-based kerndesign is still responsible for the creation of booklets, programs, ads and other related material. That’s quite an impressive continuity!

Salzburger Jazz-Herbst 1996

Salzburger Jazz-Herbst 2004

Salzburger Jazz-Herbst 2005

Salzburger Jazz-Herbst 2008

Cover of the booklet for the 15th Salzburger Jazz-Herbst in 2010