Posterama font family

Overview

The Posterama™ typeface family is a true journey through space and time. Posterama sets an evocative flavor to visualize an entire century of futuristic reference points from art, architecture, poster design and science fiction into one family.

The first siblings of the family were designed in 2007 as a branding typeface for Jim Ford’s band. The band was called “Duchamp,” and Ford designed the face to reflect the spirit of the artist’s work from the opening decades of the 20th century. Bones of the design can be seen in the Futura® and Gill Sans® typefaces. The fledging family was used for posters, album covers and other branded material. Gradually additional time-sensitive stylistic sets grew into the full Posterama family. As it neared completion, another Monotype type designer, Karl Leuthold, collaborated with Ford to complete the suite of designs.

Between the years and the letterforms, themes are drawn from 20th century history, art, design, architecture, economy, war, pop culture and science fiction. Posterama Text is the base family. It has the most robust character set including upper and lowercase glyphs and pan-European language support (including Greek and Cyrillic). Note: all the other Posterama variants described below do not have lowercase letters or Greek and Cyrillic support.

Posterama 1901 recalls the decoratively geometric style of Art Nouveau from the turn of the 20th century. Letterforms such as the slender, snaking 'S', the high-waisted 'E' and the underlined 'O' revive the spirit of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the designers of the Viennese Secession.

Posterama 1913 pays homage to the Armory Show, or 1913 Exhibition of Modern Art, which brought the revolutionary work of European artists such as Picasso, Duchamp and Kandinsky to the US for the first time to the shock and astonishment of press and public. Near-abstract, angular characters such as the 'A', 'E' and 'N' hint at cubism's jagged and clashing planes.

Posterama 1919 uses a small, but important, variation to set a tone when the Bauhaus was founded, and the surge in radical European typography that followed. The straight-sided, roundheaded 'A' adds a flavor of 1919 - this style of 'A' can still be seen in the Braun logo, designed in 1934. Posterama 1927 captures the year of Metropolis, The Jazz Singer and Paul Renner's pioneering, geometric Futura typeface from 1927, which had a profound influence on design in the US and Europe.

Posterama 1933 - With its low-waisted, sinuous designs, the Posterama 1933 typeface family echoes lettering of the Art Deco period, which in turn had its roots in Art Nouveau, the key influence on Posterama 1901. The two fonts make a great team and can be used interchangeably.

Posterama 1945 features a few Cyrillic characters to conjure up an era when Russian art and political posters made their mark in cold war propaganda, espionage and also giant aliens and monsters. Posterama 1984 takes its typographic influences from George Orwell's classic novel, publicity for the dystopian action and sci-fi movies (Blade Runner, Videodrome and Terminator) and games like Space Invaders and Pac-Man that made an impact at that time.

Posterama 2001 was inspired by Stanley Kubrick's science fiction masterpiece, which made extensive use of the Futura typeface. Posterama 2001 finds its cosmic orbit with its nosecone-style 'A' from NASA's much-missed 'worm' logotype. There's an echo, too, in Bauhaus designs from as early as 1920, whose minimalist, geometric lettering also featured a crossbar-less 'A'.

For the many cases where an all-cap setting is appropriate, Posterama provides a wide palette that encourages typographic play. It has the familiar charm of iconic design throughout the 20th century, and can transform seamlessly to accommodate a different mood or theme. Posters, wordmarks, headlines, and sub heads are all within it’s print range, while Posterama shines as a branding and display typeface for interactive projects. – fonts.com

In 2019 we reviewed the set of fonts provided with Office identifying stylistic gaps. The result of that effort was the addition of over a hundred new fonts, including classics like Avenir Next LT Pro and Walbaum along with contemporary designs like The Hand, Sagona and Modern Love. These new fonts are available in most Office applications and have been used in a range of new templates.

Licensing and redistribution info

• Font redistribution FAQ for Windows
• License Microsoft fonts for enterprises, web developers, for hardware & software redistribution or server installations

Products that supply this font

This typeface is also available within Office applications. For more information visit this page.