“LL Cobra resulted from a playful adaptation of vernacular type
– a common obsession shared by many Lineto designers in the
Fontographer heydays. ‘Cobra’ was the brand name of a British
highstreet sportswear chain popular in the 1980s and 90s, until it
was bought out by JD Sports in 2000, and the arresting
white-on-green store signs and shopping bags disappeared for good,
and without trace.
The design of the company logo bore close resemblence to a
much-revered cult classic of low-brow type design, Ad Werner’s
Dubbeldik (Dutch for ‘Double Fat’, published by Mecanorma in 1972),
but with added crosshairs. Expanding the five geometric two-line
lettershapes to a full alphabet [incl. uppercase letters] didn’t
take Cornel Windlin long, and it was included in Lineto’s first
online font catalogue More…
“LL Cobra resulted from a playful adaptation of vernacular type – a common obsession shared by many Lineto designers in the Fontographer heydays. ‘Cobra’ was the brand name of a British highstreet sportswear chain popular in the 1980s and 90s, until it was bought out by JD Sports in 2000, and the arresting white-on-green store signs and shopping bags disappeared for good, and without trace.
The design of the company logo bore close resemblence to a much-revered cult classic of low-brow type design, Ad Werner’s Dubbeldik (Dutch for ‘Double Fat’, published by Mecanorma in 1972), but with added crosshairs. Expanding the five geometric two-line lettershapes to a full alphabet [incl. uppercase letters] didn’t take Cornel Windlin long, and it was included in Lineto’s first online font catalogue in 1998.” [Lineto]
The original LL Cobra came in two cuts, incl. uppercase letters and alternates for most characters. Discontinued in 2019 and revised in 2022 as LL Cobra VIP.
