While in my search for popular ads, I came across this ad that originated between the 1960’s and the 1970’s. While I was unable to identify the direct designer for this particular ad, I was able to track down a website (Buttercup Bungalow) that had this ad, as well as others that were published in the same era, compiled into one website. Through this site, I was able to identify the model in the ad as Jean Shrimpton, who was a famous English model in the 1960’s.
Typeface 1 – Decorative
The first typeface that I would like to introduce (one of many) on this ad, is the decorative typeface. This particular typeface is probably the most distinctive and the easiest to identify. I would like to point out how dated the decorative typeface looks. Among many other factors in this ad, this part helps to identify the era that this ad was made. It has a sort of regal, royal, lace-like texture behind the characters that one might recognize as being old English. Along with that, the characters seem to take on a more romantic approach by curving at the ends.
Typeface 2 – Slab Serif
This specific typeface is bold, weighted and authoritative. You can tell it is slab serif by the vertical stress, by the way it has very little or no thick/thin transition in the strokes, and if there were lowercase letters, there would be serifs. Along with the typeface, which has a strong readability to start with, the designer made the characters all caps which, in this case, draws attention to the company that this ad is originating from.
Contrast
The contrast between these two typefaces are quite obvious. First, the curvature at the end of the characters of the decorative typeface are present, whereas in the slab serif typeface, they aren’t at all. Second, the difference between the thickness of the two characters on both of the typefaces is apparent as well. The decorative typeface has thinner characters that give the wording an almost airy look. Contrasting to that, the slab serif typeface has thick, heavy, monoweighted characters that weighs down the image, and in my opinion the eyes of the viewer as well so that they are directed to the company who produced the ad.
Conclusion
This particular ad jumped out at me and intrigued me first, because of the old style of the ad, and second because there are so many differences in typeface, color, weight, direction, size, and even structure. While this ad is on the verge of being too busy, almost too distracting to get the main point. The contrast between all of the different elements brings it all together. I wish I knew who the designer was, but I feel that they understood the design principles well and they applied them in a unique manner that really brings this ad together.
Ky Designs 