Gig poster for the October 28th 1998 tour stop of Janet Jackson's 1998 world tour at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

This post contains a concert handbill, a poster, a backstage pass, and a T-shirt for Janet Jackson's 1998 world tour. This was Janet Jackson's third concert tour, and spanned 125 shows between April 1998 and January 1999.

The tour was in support of her 1997 album Velvet Rope, which spawned six singles, including “Got ’til It’s Gone” and “I Get Lonely”.

In the tour logo, “Janet Jackson” is set in Crucible, while “World Tour 1998” is set in Mata.

Tour merchandise from the 1998 World Tour

The posters for the film Equilibrium directed by Kurt Wimmer use the typeface Mata. The film was produced by Dimension Films and Blue Tulip Productions.

We see here various posters made for this dystopic science fiction film released in 2003. They portray the three main actors, Christian Bale, Emily Watson, and Taye Diggs. The central figure is law enforcement officer John Preston, played by Christian Bale. The style of the poster was quite common for films like this one from around the early 2000s, with a play of light and dark as well as focus. The type treatment leans into this futuristic aesthetic, too, with the chrome texture and the glow effect.

So is the use of Mata: the same typeface can be found in use for a film released the year before: Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man.

The original PlayStation 3 logo used Mata, with few design changes to the typeface.

According to Wired (via CVG) and Engadget, Kutaragi, the former chairman and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, insisted on using the Spider-Man typeface (i.e. Mata). It may be one of the first design decisions for the console.

According to Engadget, Sony’s Teiyu Goto claims that “when looking at the PS3 in profile, you can see that the contour is rounded. Instead of inventing a typeface from scratch, with all the risks that entail, it was preferable to borrow one from Spider-Man, for whom Sony has the rights.”

The Playstation 3 logo was updated after 2009.

Mata Condensed Bold (top) compared to the original Playstation 3 logo (bottom). The letterforms of the latter were made bolder and slanted. While the spur in the center of Y was shortened and the stub terminal on L removed altogether, other letters like P and N got extra spurs.

The posters for the Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi use a customized Mata. Shown here are various posters made for the first installment in the superhero series from 2002, starring Tobey Maguire, alongside Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, and James Franco; produced by Columbia Pictures, Marvel Enterprises, and Laura Ziskin Productions; and distributed by Sony Pictures. The poster designs are credited to Vox and Associates as well as Creative Domain, with photography by Peter Tangen.

The letterforms of Greg Samata’s 1993 design were modified to varying degrees. In addition to the obliquing and the chrome effect that is common to all text, R and Y got shorter spurs (see “FOR” and “MAY”), and the 1 (in “JUNE 14”) a shorter nose. The Spider-Man logo was further customized, with spurs on the top of P and N. The same customized Mata was later reused by Sony for the PlayStation 3 logo.

One Sheet poster (27″×40″)

One Sheet poster (27″×40″)

Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn, a.k.a. the Green Goblin

“1979” was released in 1996 as the second single from the Smashing Pumpkins album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Accompanied by an award-winning video, it became the band’s highest-charting single.

The artwork stands in stark contrast to the retro design of the album, with its elaborate romantic collages and the Victorian typeface. The look of “1979” is very much contemporary, i.e. 1990s. Paul Elledge’s cover photo shows the band members on rollerskates, posing in front of the neon sign of a “game room / party room” – apparently a reference to the front and back covers of Linda Ronstadt’s Living In The U.S.A. The photography uses a combination of long-exposure plus flash, resulting in an aesthetic that is reminiscent of the spontaneousness and embraced imperfection of lomography. The extrawide techno typeface is Mata. The only published typeface design by Greg Samata was released with T-26 in 1995.

Both the Mellon Collie album art and the “1979” single were designed by Frank Olinsky. When Olinsky asked band leader Billy Corgan why he had chosen him, “he said he owned quite a few CDs that I had art directed/designed and he liked that I didn’t have one style that I imposed on all my projects. Rather, he felt that each was a good design that fit the particular recording.” [2009 interview] These releases are a case in point.

[More info on Discogs]

Jewel case with front cover.

Jewel case with back cover. The track numbers and the credits are set in a quintessential 1990s typeface, Conor Mangat’s Platelet (Emigre, 1993).

Open jewel case with compact disc.

Promo poster, pairing Mata with Futura.

Compact cassette (side A) with front cover.

Compact cassette (side B) with back cover. Mata is paired with Platelet.

Front cover of the vinyl release of the “1979” mixes, featuring a globe (or disco ball) with the SP heart logo.

Back cover of the vinyl release of the “1979” mixes.