Shamrock Highway Map
Contributed by David Smith on Feb 28th, 2019. Artwork published in
circa 1975
.
Vintage gasoline street maps (c. 1970s?), with all-caps Univers and Univers Condensed in arrows. The title appears to be in some version of Earth. While the odd G matches a sample included in Castcraft’s 1978 catalog, the forms for A, M, W are off. The gaps in H, Y, P might have been filled in. [edit: It’s Corporate, see comments]
8 Comments on “Shamrock Highway Map”
Actually, it’s Corporate, a phototype created by Roc Mitchell for Alphabet Innovations in 1971. It was listed alongside a semi-stencilled biform variant known as Corporate Image. It is based loosely on Microgramma Bold Extended (1952) or Eurostile Bold Extended (1962), both of which were designed by Alessandro Butti and Aldo Novarese.
Quad Typographers, Inc. included both typefaces in their 1974 catalog, renaming them as Limited and Limited View. Dan X. Solo also listed Limited View and another fully stencilled variant known as Preview in his Solotype Catalog.
If Castcraft also included Corporate Image (aka Limited View) in their 1978 catalog, this would explain why the sample is off, as it would have been the semi-stencilled biform variant.
In the early 1990's, Castcraft Software, Inc. digitized Limited View as part of their OPTIFonts collection, including new Open and Expanded versions. Jay Pierstorff also digitized Preview as Airlock, available from Computer Safari.
In 1999, Roc Mitchell digitized his original typefaces in a series of fonts known as Logos, LogoStyle and LogoText. These were sold online through Roc Mitchell Design at www.rocmitch.com, though this address is now defunct. Logos is the digital version of Corporate, whilst LogoStyle is the digital version of Corporate Image. LogoText appears to be a lighter version of Corporate, being available in 3 weights: Thin, Regular and Medium. Oblique versions were also available, for a total of ten fonts, as follows: Logos, Logos Oblique, LogoStyle, LogoStyle Oblique, LogoText Thin, LogoText Thin Oblique, LogoText, LogoText Oblique, LogoText Medium, and LogoText Medium Oblique.
Most would probably associate Corporate with the original 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System, which utilized the typeface extensively on its console and multitude of peripherals.
NOTE: Roc Mitchell’s Corporate and Corporate Image typefaces should not to be confused with the digitally available Corporate published by URW, produced by Phil Martin for Alphabet Innovations as a phototype sometime during the mid-to-late 70's. This new version by Martin may have been created as a possible replacement or companion to Mitchell’s.
Although the G’s are similar, Earth feels closer to a variant of Sol by Marty Goldstein and C.B. Smith, first published by VGC in 1973, or Handel Gothic by Donald Handel, first published in 1965.
Excellent! Thanks, Patrick.
Thanks, Patrick!
I love, love, love hearing of the history behind phototypes.
Great history, Patrick! One correction: Alphabet Innovations released Corporate and Corporate Image in 1971. Specimens here. The URW digital version is indeed different, with its angled cuts. I don’t know if it was first released in film, but URW gives it a 1985 release date.
Stephen, Patrick mentions the 1971 date for the original Corporate. If I understand correctly, he says that the revised version now available from URW was made by Phil Martin at Alphabet Innovations as early as sometime in the mid-to-late 70s.
Castcraft’s Encyclopedia of Phototype Styles from 1978 lists both Corporate (with alias Limited) and Corporate View (Limited View), but shows only the former. The other sample mentioned above is labeled “Eager (similar to Earth Biform)”, and apparently shows their clone of Gary Elfring’s Earth. I’ve posted scans of both samples to Flickr.
Oops, I overlooked Patrick’s first sentence!
Thank you for that sample of Eager. It’s the best sample of Earth I’ve seen – though still not a complete character set. But as you mentioned, Earth also had a variant known as Earth Biform which was listed in a few type catalogs, such as Photovision of Ca. Inc. and Andresen Typographics. I believe the sample of Earth shown in 1982’s Art Deco Display Alphabets: 100 Complete Fonts by Dan X. Solo is also actually a partial showing of Earth Biform.
The earliest date I have for Earth is mid-to-late 1974, based on an advertisement from Photovision of Ca. Inc. in an issue of U&lc (Volume 1, Number 3). I have not found any samples of it in use prior to 1974.
I cannot verify that Gary Elfring created the typeface in the 1970s. He claims it is an “original design” but the character set of his digital version could have simply been based on Dan X. Solo’s Earth Biform sample from 1982. Surely the original creator would have named it Earth Biform and also released a digital version of the original Earth alongside it, no?
As for the other Corporate, released digitally by URW, it definitely had a pre-digital release, most likely in phototype form. Certainly existed before 1982 as it was used in the opening titles to Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. Roc Mitchell’s Corporate/Corporate Image typefaces were licensed to Alphabet Innovations and the other Corporate does not appear in the 1974 A.I. Index Vol 1–8 catalog, therefore I believe it was probably created sometime after Phil Martin set up TypeSpectra in 1974, possibly to compliment or replace Roc Mitchell’s.
Hi Patrick, thanks for this info! The image you included got mangled. I post it here: