Testimonio (1970) movie poster

Poster designed by René Azcuy Cárdenas for Testimonio, a Cuban documentary directed by Rogelio París (1936–2016).

Among the revolutionary changes that phototypesetting brought was the possibility to easily produce outlined variants of a typeface – of any typeface. Outlined faces were common in the previous technologies of metal or wood type, too, but the options were limited to those (few) that were cut in outline. Karlgeorg Hoefer’s Headline is a late addition to this group, and among an even smaller set of metal typefaces that came in matching solid and outlined (or open, in German: licht) styles. Issued by Ludwig & Mayer in 1964 as display extension of the Permanent series, the sister styles were advertised together, with mid-word changes between Headline and Headline licht. In the poster design, Azcuy utilized the two styles to typographically echo the image of a thumb leaving a fingerprint.

Born in 1939, René Azcuy Cárdenas attended the renowned art school in Havana. From 1964 to 1983, he was active as a graphic designer, and created posters for the Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC). He was a founding member of Prográfica and a correspondent for ICOGRADA (now ico-D) in Cuba. In the 1990s, he served on the jury of the Second International Biennial of the Mexican Cartel and on the organizing committee of the Fourth International Biennial of the Mexican Poster. In 2002 Azcuy was awarded the José Guadalupe Posada medal for his contribution to the training of graphic designers in Mexico where he was teaching at the time. Azcuy died in 2016. Learn more about Azcuy and his work at Art-Sôlido and the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich.

(via Brandon Schaefer)