Who remembers rubdown Letraset, or even wet screen Letraset? This 341-page book is a fond visual look back at the product that made every user a typographer. The original 1959 idea was (fortunately) short-lived with a wooden frame holding a gauze that used a wet transfer system to create a line of type. The book has several pages about this and the various typefaces available.
Vastly superior to the wet version was the dry rubdown type from 1961 and Letraset took off, around the world, too. There are pages and pages showing the sheets, minus a few letters of course, non-type sheets of arrows, symbols, clipart and a showing of the various Letraset products like storage boxes, spray coatings, coloured tape, Pantone colour sheets and catalogues (apparently still selling well with online). One of the products I really liked was the sheets of Latin text making it possible to create quite credible-looking dummies for a leaflet, brochure or maybe magazine spreads.
A really smart move the company made was to introduce Letragraphica, issuing new typefaces on a subscription basis before they could be bought over the counter. The faces were either created by Letraset designers or licenced by international type companies. The arrival of the pc more or less killed off rubdown type though there is a small segment of the idea still available in craft shops.
The book is a lovely look back that will be pure nostalgia for designers of a certain age.
US
UK
No comments:
Post a Comment