“Libby for Mayor” lawn sign (2014)
Lawn sign spotted by Frank Grießhammer.
Ed Benguiat’s ITC Souvenir (1970) was one of the most popular typefaces of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1977, Mark Simonson wrote about the fate of successful typefaces, exemplified by Souvenir:
Great! Yawn. Next?
Here’s something that happens all the time. A new typeface appears. First, some big agencies start using it. Then more and more people become aware of it, and because of the demand more and more type-setting places start carrying it. Before you know it, it’s the most popular typeface in the country. Then, little by little, people get tired of looking at it and the popularity levels off. Around this time, it is “discovered” by mediocre-to-poor designers who proceed to drive it into the ground through over-use. Take the typeface above. It’s called Souvenir, a French word meaning “to remember”. It’s only a few years old, but many designers are already trying to forget it.
Fast forward to 2014. By then, ITC Souvenir was no longer ubiquituous, and had shaken off most of the negative connotations. It was a just neat chubby face again, with the added benefit of being familiar to many eyes. That’s why it could serve Libby Schaaf in her successful campaign for the 2014 Oakland mayoral election.
