Klaabu book and cartoons
Klaabu is a fictional creature created by Estonian artist and author Avo Paistik. The egg-shaped character appears in animations and books from the late ’70s and early ’80s, when Estonia was still occupied by the Soviet Union.
The book Klaabu was published in both Estonian and Russian language editions. The Soviet-era typeface Zhurnalnaya Roublennaya appears to have been used for the body text in both editions, taking advantage of the corresponding Latin and Cyrillic components for Estonian and Russian, respectively. The title on the cover of both editions uses an adaptation of the Bullion typeface. Paistik’s name is set in what looks like Akzidenz-Grotesk, though it switches between the Regular weight for the Estonian edition and the Medium weight for Russian.
The Klaabu character was also featured in three fantastical, dialogue-less, short animations, each using different, distinctive typefaces as the basis for their title lettering. Klaabu (1978) continues the use of Bullion-like lettering from the book. Klaabu, Nipi ja Tige Kala [Klaabu, Nipi and the Angry Fish] (1979) uses Pump. Klaabu Kosmoses [Klaabu in Space] (1981) – the longest and arguably strangest of the trilogy – uses Data 70.
