Spy-Fi Typography
If you’re working on a secret agent themed design project and want a genuine retro feel without resorting to overstated curly serifs and slants, why not turn to the fonts used by the originals? We’ll start with a bit of James Bond:
From Russia With Love Poster
The second James Bond movie asked you to “Meet James Bond” in what I believe is a variation of Cooper Black. Note the single tiered ‘a’ in the poster, however, compared to the double-tiered ‘a’ in the sample below:
Cooper Black
The logo for Thunderball appears to be a variation of Rockwell Extra Bold:
Thunderball Poster
See below for a sample. I also believe that the thinner slab serif font on the Thunderball poster (”SEAN CONNERY”) is Rockwell Bold (not Extra Bold).
Rockwell Extra Bold
Going back to the literary source of James Bond, the Ian Fleming novels, we find a fine series of covers on the 60s-era Signet paperbacks:
Signet Thunderball Cover
The font used for the author name and title on the Signet books is reminiscent of Elephant, but isn’t quite. Luckily, we don’t have to try to discern what historic font was used, because enterprising Bond fan / font designer Jonathan Andrew Sheen has released the font Signet Fleming for both the PC and the Mac!
If TV spies are more of your thing, we can help you there as well:
Man From U.N.C.L.E. Logo
If you’re hoping to recreate a vintage U.N.C.L.E. business card, then you’ll want to turn to the font Decorated 035:
Decorated 035
If you’re creating signage for the small village town of Portmeiron:
Prisoner Title Screen
Then you’ll want to find a suitably modified version of the font Albertus. I’d suggest Mark Heiman’s Village, available at The Prisoner Online.
Village Font
If, on the other hand, you’re labeling chapeau boxes and umbrella stands…
Avengers Album Cover
…Then might I suggest the Original Avengers Font made by David K. Smith and available at Avengers Forever?
Original Avengers Font
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- Prisoner Title Screen
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- Avengers Album Cover
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- Original Avengers Font
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- Village Font
