Harlem Song marketing and album

6 Comments on “Harlem Song marketing and album”

1. Stephen Coles says:

   Jan 19th, 2016 9:28 pm

   This is a fun mix of type inspired by screen printed and wood type posters of yore. The red shadow on Radio doesn’t work so well, though.

2. Stephen Coles says:

   Jan 19th, 2016 9:34 pm

   The main type appears to be inspired by Dimensional, a Photo-Lettering design by Dave Davison (see also Double D NF). As a reference to the frequent flipping of marquee lettering, the ‘M’ is a rotated ‘W’.

3. Florian Hardwig says:

   Sep 6th, 2017 8:51 pm

   

   Davison Dimensional (above) may have been modeled after a typeface cast by Besley (Fann Street Foundry) in c.1860. The two letters reproduced as #210 in Nicolete Gray’s Nineteenth Century Ornamented Typefaces (2nd ed., 1976) are shown below.

   

4. Florian Hardwig says:

   Oct 20th, 2018 5:30 pm

   See also 5 Line Gothic Cond. Octagon Shade (Wells & Webb).

5. Stephen Coles says:

   Mar 24th, 2019 8:34 am

   Here’s another 19th-century appearance:

   

   Maybe it’s time for a new entry for the source typeface.

6. Florian Hardwig says:

   Jul 6th, 2021 8:45 am

   There’s a new entry now, under the name Octagon Gothic Condensed Shaded. It’s a generic entry for all 19th-century versions, including Besley’s foundry type and the wood type cuts.

   For Harlem Song, Gail Anderson referenced one such source: The version she used is David Rakowski’s freebie Tejaratchi (1992), which is based on the 19th-century design, not PLINC’s Davison Dimensional. In the latter, O isn’t quite straight-sided, E has a longer middle bar, A has a larger counter, etc. I’ve updated the typeface credit.

   Romanian manufacturer Wood Type Customs offers a wood type version of Octagon Gothic Condensed Shade.