One of the earliest of the 1970s Bauhaus-inspired phototype
faces, Blippo Black was designed by Joe
Taylor for FotoStar, as part of their Facsimile Fonts range.
Taylor described his design as “a black version of Burko Bold” by
David L. Burke, and named Blippo
Black by his boss, Robert Trogman, in 1969. [Joe
Taylor] [Bob
Trogman] Blippo Black came with
various alternates, some closer to Burko’s shapes.
[Typeshop 1973]
The Blippo family spans more styles: Light, Medium,
Bold, Black, and [Black] Outline. [Berthold 1974] The Bold appears to be a
copy of
Burko Bold as shown in a 1969 annual. The two lightest
weights, Light and Medium, are virtually identical to VGC’s
Harry Thin and
Harry Plain. FotoStar’s Film Font Digest
(post-1981) shows a
Blippo
Fat, which matches Harry Fat.
Mecanorma had
a version for dry transfer lettering in two weights (Bold and
Black). Castcraft’s Poppo Black is a copy of
Blippo Black, with
virtually the same alternates. [Castcraft 1978] See also More…
One of the earliest of the 1970s Bauhaus-inspired phototype faces, Blippo Black was designed by Joe Taylor for FotoStar, as part of their Facsimile Fonts range. Taylor described his design as “a black version of Burko Bold” by David L. Burke, and named Blippo Black by his boss, Robert Trogman, in 1969. [Joe Taylor] [Bob Trogman] Blippo Black came with various alternates, some closer to Burko’s shapes. [Typeshop 1973]
The Blippo family spans more styles: Light, Medium, Bold, Black, and [Black] Outline. [Berthold 1974] The Bold appears to be a copy of Burko Bold as shown in a 1969 annual. The two lightest weights, Light and Medium, are virtually identical to VGC’s Harry Thin and Harry Plain. FotoStar’s Film Font Digest (post-1981) shows a Blippo Fat, which matches Harry Fat.
Mecanorma had a version for dry transfer lettering in two weights (Bold and Black). Castcraft’s Poppo Black is a copy of Blippo Black, with virtually the same alternates. [Castcraft 1978] See also Eden / Morry.
Digital versions by Bitstream, Mecanorma, URW, Linotype, Elsner+Flake, mostly of the Black only, and without any of the many alternates. URW’s version spans six styles; Black D (Display), Black P (Poster), Black Outline P, Stencil D, Black Relief, and Black Rounded. Linotype’s also includes the Stencil, which has bridges on ‘OoQ08’ and wider bridges overall. Bauhaus 93 is a copy of the Black. Brandish is a digitization of the Bold (Fontbank, 1993).
Wood Type Customs has a wood type version of the Black, confusingly named Bauhaus.
