Spotlight on 1970's Typography

SPOT LIGHT

NOVEMBER 2017 AUS & NZ $3.80

EXPERIMENTAL TYPOGRAPHY

TYPOGRAPHY THE 1970’S

The 1970’s were a time of change.

From bell bottoms to tracksuits, the fall of The Beatles to the rise of Elton John, pop culture was throwing off the previous decade and finding its own feet.

As the decade progressed, people and industries began to push the boundaries of their creation further.

Directors of films such as the Rocky Horror Picture show, the Godfather and Star Wars pushed

1970’S TYPEthe envelope of what had been done previously, and typographers of the time were no different.

Typography of the nineteen seventies utilised bold type with hard lines, outlines and the use of geometric and three dimensional shapes. Many typographers experimented with swash characters, the elongated tails on letters.

The letterforms were based on a number of influencing styles, notably

the swiss modern movement with its focus on simplicity and sans serifs, as well as the psychedelic colours, curves and optical artwork carried over from the 1960’s.

By the mid-seventies, all major typeface technologies were in full swing. These included the letterpress, casting machines, phototypositors/typesetters, computer and digital typesetters.

These new technologies allowed designers to experiment ever more with type, altering the placement, linework and structure of the letters in ways that were truly expressive and new.

Furthermore, the proliferation of four colour offset printing presses allowed for greater distribution 2

of work and faster turnaround times for printed design, which in turn led to wider audiences.

The period saw the creation of many influential typefaces and the rise of the designers that created them. Typographers and designers such as Herb Lubalin (ITC Avant Garde), Edward Benguiat (Bauhaus) and Tony Stan (Garamond iterations) led the way for conceptual typography, with many of their fonts still in use today.

Lubalin and Benguiat worked together on the publication U&lc which showcased experimental typography that pushed the boundaries of what was seen as acceptable in printed design and was widely noted as the precursor to the magazine, ‘Emigre’. Benguiat also created some of the eras most iconic typefaces, ITC Benguiat and Bengiat Charisma. These display typefaces are most commonly used today when designers want to recreate the feeling of the 1970’s.

Grizzly, a typeface created by Tom Carnese and Ernie Bonder, became popular in advertising for its easy to read format, smooth curves and sharp lines, while Fruitiger, created in 1976 by Adrian Frutiger, was adopted by the TV show ‘Scooby Doo’ and is still used

- An Era in the production today. Many of the fonts created during the decade are still commonly used and include American Typerwriter and Souvenir.

It is safe to say that typographers of the time really did push the boundaries of design and have made a lasting impact with their work.

Insert: ‘The Whiz Kids’ experimental typography based on the work of Herb Lubalin, 1970-1980

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