A very throwback late 70s/early 80s promo campaign for John Mayer’s 2021 ode to yacht rock with his full length album Sob Rock. Album titles are facilitated by Akzidenz-Grotesk Condensed. Secondary type for the ad campaign was mostly Kabel Black for copy. Dry transfer favorites like Frankfurter Highlight, Yearbook, Microgramma, and ITC Garamond make occasional appearances. postly Design by Jeremy Dean. Photography by Carlos Serrao.

[More info on Discogs]

Variation of an existing merch tagline by Online Ceramics

During the 1970s, cultural shifts saw a rise in the popularity of the occult and the psychedelic. This wasn't just a movement confined to underground scenes or countercultural pockets—it permeated mainstream consumer goods too, even those targeted towards children.

This Astrology kit was part of Mattel’s fortune-telling line, “Mystique”, and uses an eclectic mix of colors and typefaces to create a sense of play and magic. The series logo is in lowercase Neptun. Astrology uses Davida for the title.

This blend of commercialism and countercultural wasn't exclusive to Mattel during this era; brands like Hallmark, Burger King, Heinz, and even Shell adopted themes and aesthetics resonant with the interest in the esoteric.

See also Mystique Fortell Cards and Mystique Palmistry.

The horoscope wheel features Neptun, two weights of Marschall, Gutenberg, Folio, and Univers.

In addition to some of the previously mentioned typefaces, the Lunar Cycle Disk has Ultra Bodoni Italic and what looks like Alternate Gothic.

During the 1970s, cultural shifts saw a rise in the popularity of the occult and the psychedelic. This wasn't just a movement confined to underground scenes or countercultural pockets—it permeated mainstream consumer goods too, even those targeted towards children.

This Palmistry kit was part of Mattel’s fortune-telling line, “Mystique”, that use an eclectic mix of colors and typefaces to create a sense of play and magic. The series logo is in lowercase Neptun. Palmistry uses Victoria for the title.

This blend of commercialism and countercultural wasn't exclusive to Mattel during this era; brands like Hallmark, Burger King, Heinz, and even Shell adopted themes and aesthetics resonant with an interest in the esoteric!

See also Mystique Fortell Cards and Mystique Astrology.

The Character Computer Chart uses Folio breitmager for the title. “Mystique Palmistry” combines Othello and Times New Roman. The copy is set in Century Schoolbook. Labels are in Helvetica caps, numerals come from Folio Extra Bold and Torino Italic.

The transparent hand sheets are labeled in Folio with biform alternates. Headlines are in Marschall.

Source: www.amazon.co.uk License: All Rights Reserved.

Poster for The Velvet Vampire, featuring Moon Flair, Toronado Interlock, Franklin Gothic Condensed, Univers, Neue Auora VIII, and News Gothic Condensed.

The Velvet Vampire is a 1971 American vampire film directed by Stephanie Rothman. It was distributed by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, and put on a double bill with Scream of the Demon Lover, a 1970 Spanish-Italian horror film by José Luis Merino and originally called Ivanna. The posters and other promotion for the two films feature strong imagery – and some lesser known typefaces.

The title typeface for The Velvet Vampire is called Moon Flair. This all-caps face with “Shotgun” counters is shown by Lettergraphics in their 1976 catalog (but not yet in the 1969 edition), without designer credits. Digital interpretations include Velvet Teen (Pink Broccoli, 2008) and Velvet Vampire (GautFonts, 2019). Both fonts are based on the material designed for the film, and hence are not faithful to the original beyond the glyphs featured in this use.

“She’s waiting to love you … to death” is set in another anonymous design from the Lettergraphics library – this phototype company was located in Culver City, California, and hence in close proximity to Hollywood. Toronado Interlock was shown already in 1968. There likewise is a digitization by Pink Broccoli, under the name Troubled PB (2019).

Source: www.amazon.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Poster for Scream of the Demon Lover, featuring Burst Caps, Marschall, Neue Aurora IX, and Venus Condensed.

On the poster for Scream of the Demon Lover, the title is set in Burst Caps. Again, this is a phototype design of unclear origin. The bold sans-serif caps with burst pattern in each glyph appear in Lettergraphics’ 1976 catalog. There are digizations by David Rakowski (as Starburst, 1990) and, more complete, by Dan X. Solo as Burst (1999).

“A walking corpse lusts for revenge” probably is in Monmart, which was the name Lettergraphics used for their phototype adaptation of Marschall. Other aliases for this German design from 1905 include Elefante and Domingo.

Shout-out to John Michael Cozzoli for sharing images of the double bill press book on Zombos’ Closet.

Source: www.zomboscloset.com From Zombos’ Closet by John Michael Cozzoli. License: CC BY-NC-ND.

Pages from the press book for The Velvet Vampire and Scream of the Demon Lover. “2 new smash chiller attractions from New World Pictures” is set in all-caps Akzidenz-Grotesk.

Source: www.zomboscloset.com From Zombos’ Closet by John Michael Cozzoli. License: CC BY-NC-ND.

Pages from the press book for The Velvet Vampire and Scream of the Demon Lover, with lobby stills. “Order from National Screen Service” uses Helvetica.

Source: www.zomboscloset.com From Zombos’ Closet by John Michael Cozzoli. License: CC BY-NC-ND.

Pages from the press book with ads for The Velvet Vampire and Scream of the Demon Lover. “Order from National Screen Service” uses Akzidenz-Grotesk Italic.

Source: www.zomboscloset.com From Zombos’ Closet by John Michael Cozzoli. License: CC BY-NC-ND.

Pages from the press book with ads for The Velvet Vampire and Scream of the Demon Lover. The title of the latter is here also set in Artistik. “Double the shock” uses Ad Lib.

The title card features all-caps Roberta with a perspective drop shadow.

Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp is an early 1970s comedy series featuring a cast of chimpanzee spies. It was produced by Sandler-Burns-Marmer and first aired on ABC on September 12, 1970. From Fabulous Sebastian’s review for DVD Purgatory:

Children’s television in the sixties and early seventies was bizarre. Really bizarre. I don’t know if drugs were involved, but reflecting on shows like Batman, The Magic Roundabout, Banana Splits, HR Pufnstuff, and even Sesame Street, makes me think they were. And in large quantities. Perhaps the oddest of them all was Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp, which was produced from 1970 to 1972. Mike Marmer and Stan Burns, probably inspired by the success of Get Smart (where they were writers), Planet of the Apes, and Mr Ed, had the idea to create a spy series using talking chimpanzees. The cost of creating costumes and sets in perfect scale for the apes made it the most expensive Saturday morning children’s show of its time. And it looks fantastic for the effort.

The show centred around Link and his love interest, the glamorous Mata Hairi, who were spies for APE (Agency to Prevent Evil). APE were in a continual war with CHUMP (Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan), headed by Baron von Butcher (voiced by Bernie Kopell who played Siegfried in Get Smart). Each show also included Lance and friends performing as The Evolution Revolution, who were the coolest band of the time (much cooler than Josie and the Pussycats or The Monkees).

The Agency to Prevent Evil (A.P.E.) wordmark uses City Bold with faux small caps, set on a curve and framed by bananas.

Roberta appears again for the secondary title card.

The squarish sans-serif caps with rounded corners used for the logo of C.H.U.M.P. (Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan) appear to be custom lettering.

Among the accompanying merchandise was a metal lunch box produced by Thermos (1971). Here, the “Lance Link” wordmark uses Bauhaus Geometric Shaded (Photo-Lettering, 1970). This precursor to ITC Bauhaus (1975) was drawn by Ed Benguiat, who also helped to develop the title graphic for Planet of the Apes in 1968. [House Industries] “Secret Chimp” is set in Broadway Condensed. Link is shown together with Mata Hairi and his boss, Commander Darwin.

The reverse side of the lunch box shows Baron von Butcher, the Duchess, and another CHUMP villain.

Lancelot Link also had a band, The Evolution Revolution, which released one self-titled album (Dunhill/ABC Records, 1970) of psychedelic bubblegum pop music, with a cover design by Douglas Carr. [More info on Discogs] The typeface chosen for the band is Marschall (also known as Domingo), used in all caps.

Gatefold of Lancelot Link And The Evolution Revolution. Photography by Mike Marmer and Allan Sandler.

Title card from a music video. In the show, the band was introduced by Ed Simian, a riff on Ed Sullivan.

Happy 80th birthday, John Lennon!

Shaved Fish is a compilation album by Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band, issued in October 1975 on Apple Records. The front cover is divided into twelve fields, one for the album title – in Bruce Mikita (Bruce, 1867), originally known as Rustic Ornamented Shaded and later as Ornamented No. 1048 – and one for each of the eleven songs. The titles are all shown in different letter styles, some featuring calligraphy/lettering and typewritten text, others using a range of display typefaces. Art direction and design by Roy Kohara, with illustration by Michael Bryan.

[More info on Discogs]

Contains a preface and the novels Talatala, 1943; Tropic Mood, 1933; Aboard The Aquitaine, 1936. Translated from the French by Stuart Gilbert, Paul Auster, and Lydia Davis. Marschall, released in 1905, saw a bit of a resurgence in the 1970s. Its exotic, vine-y presence is a perfect fit for this collection.

Cassette release for Tatsuro Yamashita’s Pocket Music, released in 1986 on Moon Records.
The cover uses stretched Marschall — or more likely a later release of the same type under the name of Domingo. On the cassette, most information is set in Futura. The sans serif and the Japanese type on the cassette spine are unidentified.

Art Direction: Kenichi Hanada
Artwork: Kyozo Hayashi

[More information on Discogs]

This book describes each of the surrealist Spanish director’s movies. Published by Tantivy Press, London/ A.S. Barnes, New York, 1973. The book cover combines phototype versions of Marschall (maybe Solotype’s Elefante) and Veronese. The interior is set in Caledonia, with headings in Ludlow’s Cameo.

Full page of the book showing chapter titles

Closeup of chapter titles