The Kind You Will Like...

Comments

[Listener James from Westwood]

I recently visited ephemera treasure-trove lileks.com, whereupon he reprinted a number of ads in the style of the one above (in the Institute for Official Cheer section), all from men's magazines (the kind you will like). 95% of them featured the same typography and style as this ad -- Futura Book and Futura Bold text, maybe a little Helvetica Narrow thrown in, a small drawing of the product, the old addresses before the pinko ZIP code system. As a graphic designer/type geek, I got to thinking about what sort of standard -- written or unwritten -- had arisen to steer the development of these ads. Did they all come from the same source? Was there a lone designer, stripping lines of copy up on his drafting board, sketching out spy cameras and personal massagers and mail-order chinchillas in India ink and on deadline, using his or her hard-won typographical skills on these countless little ads for dangerous or fraudulent product, with no instructions from the boss on how to lay them out except to cram a shitload of 'em onto a page? I miss the world where you could find ads like these in profusion.