Lmst

PLINC celebrating US Independence Day with 13 lines of bicentennial alphabets, 1977: https://fontsinuse.com/uses/61775/plinc-bicentennial-alphabets-specimen-page

#TypeSpecimen #PhotoLettering #IndependenceDay #FourthOfJuly #Fonts #Typography

Page 99 from the 1977 Alphabet Yearbook by Photo-Lettering, Inc. The text is set in thirteen stacked and justified lines, in eleven styles from nine typefaces. The specimen text is a parody of the opening lines of the United Stated Declaration of Independence and reads:

“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to use bicentennial alphabets, Photo-Lettering Incorporated presents the largest selection available. We hold these alphabet styles to be”

Design by Ed Benguiat with Tom Vasiliow

Scan courtesy of Alex Jay,. Source: http://alphabettenthletter.blogspot.com/2019/06/alphabets-photo-lettering-inc-catalogs.html

Today’s lettering on photo by Robert Collins on @unsplash. #photolettering #almahoffmannlettering #almahoffmannletters #almahoffmann

Ever heard of Bartley Campbell?

Ed Benguiat (graphic design and lettering), “Angelus Benevolus of Type Design Bartley Campbell Inspired Typography in The United States.” (see alt text for more), centerfold of PLINC: An Illustrated Typographic Journey, vol. 2, no. 1, Photo-Lettering Inc., New York, 1985.

#Lettering #EdBenguiat #PLINC #PhotoLettering #BartleyCampbell #VictorianDesign #TypeDesign #Typography

Center spread of a booklet unfolded, image is a seemingly stretched portrait of a mustached man in a 19th-century engraved style, framed with decorative borders, and scrollwork with the names of type designers: F. Goudy, J. Craw, Dwiggins, Benguiat, Herb Lubalin, Cooper, L. Bernhard, De Vinne (not really a type designer), M. Fuller Benton. The main title is quoted in this Mastodon post. At the bottom, in small print: An Edwardian doff of our stove pipe hat to Bartley Campbell (1843-1888), American theatre impresario, publisher and world class
entrepreneur. His insistence on the highest creative standards was evident in all the posters and playbills prepared for the promotion of his many enterprises. He personally supervised design, the use of color choice of paper and typefaces to attract notice and convey the essence of his productions. Similar attentions were applied to the books carrying his imprimatur, all planned to promote legibility and enhance reader comprehension. This passion for graphic quality, shared by such other notables of this period as Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe, served to popularize the work of many American designers. Plinc polled eight of today's foremost graphics creators, Seymour Chwast, Lou Dorfsman, Gene Federico, Lester Feldman, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand, Klaus Schmidt and Massimo Vignelli to help select the illustrious names that surround and illuminate this early patron of communications excellence.

This week I made a wild discovery: the original interlock display font used for the cover of “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak. I wrote about my “Safari” here: https://blog.threestepsahead.com/general/safari-where-the-wild-things-are-font/ @FontsInUse #typography #WhereTheWildThingsAre #MauriceSendak #fonts #fontsinuse #photolettering

“Where The Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak, book cover title set in Safari Medium Semi-Condensed font by The Headliners, shown with promotional postcard

Ed Benguiat, back cover of PLINC: An Illustrated Typographic Journey, vol. 2, no. 1, Photo-Lettering Inc., New York, 1985.⁠
⁠
#LetterformArchive #EdBenguiat #PhotoLetteringInc #PLINC #TypeDesign #Lettering #Calligraphy #Swashes #PhotoLettering

The word “PLINC” in an extra bold, italic, outlined lettering style with gobs of swash ornamentation.

The complete back cover from which the previous image is a cropped detail. In centered small text:

THANK YOU
MORRIS FULLER BENTON
LUCIAN BERNHARD
BARTLEY CAMPBELL
SEYMOUR CHWAST
OZ COOPER
PETER COOPER
JERRY CRAW
THEODORE DE VINNE
LOU DORFSMAN
BILL DWIGGINS
GENE FEDERICO
LESTER FELDMAN
JUDITH GARTEN
MILTON GIASER
FRED GOUDY
MARILYN HOFFNER
HERB LUBALIN
MR. PLINC
PAUL RAND
KLAUS SCHMIDT
SID TIMM
THE COOPER UNION
MASSIMO VIGNELLI
AND THE MANY
OTHERS WHO HAVE
ASSISTED WITI
THEIR HELP
AND ADVICE

[“PLINC” lettering]

DIRECTED,
EDITED
CREATED BY
ED BENGUIAT
PLINC-216E45TH ST•NYC10017•212-490-2345

Photo-Lettering, Inc. led the pack in expressive typography throughout the 1950s–1970s, supplying headlines for ads, albums, book covers, and magazines. On our blog, guest researcher Anne Galperin highlights the unsung contributions of the women of PLINC. https://letterformarchive.org/news/from-the-collection-the-women-of-photo-lettering/

#PhotoLettering #TypeDesign #TypeHistory #Phototype

It was a joy to work on this piece with Anne Galperin. As soon as I saw her essay on Betti Haft in @BriarLevit’s book I knew we had to expand on the search for @letterformarchive’s blog. (Sadly, nearly all these women were gone before Anne could interview them. Another reminder to talk to elder designers *now*!) https://letterformarchive.org/news/from-the-collection-the-women-of-photo-lettering/

#TypeDesign #WomenDesigners #Phototype #PhotoLettering #Typography

Narrow-format font catalogs. From condensed, to compressed, to ridiculous. 🤳@laureola
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stewf/52943712051/

#TypeSpecimen #Fonts #Typefaces #FontShop #Lettergraphics #Headliners #PhotoLettering #Linotype

Ed Benguiat, decrying the use of TNT (tight-not-touching) spacing commonly requested by Photo-Lettering customers. As I suspected, this is not a technique professionals like Ed really appreciated because it generally looks like crud.

#PhotoLettering #Phototype #Typography #1970s #1980s #GraphicDesign

“DO WHAT COMES NATURAL
As knowledgeable typographers, nothing is more disturbing to us than TNT on the specifications for a headline. We really don't know the exact origin of the term Tight No Touching, nor why it is used so extensively, but when producing display work that bears TNT, the craftsman is obliged to avoid any touching of letters in nearly every typestyle. This acts almost always as a command to the type shops to do less than their best work.
The graphic designer or type director usually turns to a typographer to produce the finished work, so it follows that the better each of the partners understands the other's needs, the better the end result. The more insight the typographer has about the clients objectives, the more he can contribute to an excellent job.
We are not in the habit of questioning our clients' instructions, but after half a century spent mastering and refining our craft we feel qualified to take issue with the indiscriminate requirement of TNT on so much of the headline work that comes our way. To insist on it without regard to the specific letter combinations in the wording involved is to be trapped by a typographic industry abbreviation that has too long outlived any purpose it mav have served, other than the making of headlines more illegible because of inconsistent spacing.”

“Now that we see ‘EYE to EYE’ we can now advocate the regular use of TOS (Tight Optical Spacing) instead of the use of TNT. To all who want the best in typo- graphics, it is obvious that TOS is an absolute must. Why not give your typographer the freedom to make his full contribution.“

Cover of PLINC: An Illustrated Typographic Journey, Vol. 2, No. 1 (ca. 1980)

When House Industries released a digital version of Photo-Lettering’s Benguiat Montage, they asked its original designer to do a voiceover for a delightful promotional video: https://vimeo.com/358911510

The early uses of Montage that Ed mentions, and many more, are up on Fonts In Use today. https://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/111777/benguiat-montage

#Phototype #PhotoLettering #Fonts #Typography #EdBenguiat #FontsInUse

#PhotoLettering

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