The Great Moon (Hoax)

From Offshore Press:

On Tuesday, 25 August 1835, New York newsboys were shouting out a sensational headline for everyone to hear: “Life discovered on the moon! Forests, lakes, animals and even men-like creatures observed by British scientists!”

It was the day when tabloid newspaper The New York Sun began publishing a fictional account of lunar discoveries supposedly made by Sir John Herschel. The narrative, which continued over six days, listed a series of amazing astronomical breakthroughs and revealed one stunning achievement in detail: The discovery of life on the moon. Because nobody could proof the opposite in 1835, the articles caused enormous excitement throughout New York and were republished in the whole U.S. and even in Europe.

Since for the first time in history a media story reached and fascinated such a wide audience at the same time, the moon hoax is considered to be the first mass media event — and the first truly sensational demonstration of the power of mass media to create a truth in its own right.

In 2015, graphic designers Isabel Seiffert & Christoph Miler teamed up as Offshore Studio to design and publish a reprint of this story. Juxtaposing vintage photography and retro-inspired 3D visualisation, the book is set in SangBleu OG Sans, with titles in all-caps SangBleu OG Serif. Two limited-edition posters were also screen printed in silver and black to announce the title and the birth of Offshore Press. The book is available at Lulu and on the publisher website.

SangBleu OG Serif & Sangbleu OG Sans are part of the SangBleu OG typeface, available from Swiss Typefaces.