Mister 8

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

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Through July, or at least until I run out of things about which to talk, we’ll be looking at the Harry Palmer series of novels (in which the character doesn’t actually have a name), their author — Len Deighton, the films based on them, the star of those films — Michael Caine, and the television movies that followed. I will be re-reading the whole series of novels, re-watching the films, and giving my thoughts on all I encounter. I’ll inevitably be drawing heavily on the collection of Kees Stam, author of The Harry Palmer Movie Site, and Rob Mallows, creator of the Deighton Dossier, and other odds and ends that I’ve turned up over the years.

When considering the mise en scène of a film, one of the easy things to overlook is typography. But to the trained eye, the wrong typeface or improper kerning can be as infuriating as an onscreen guitar player who isn’t plugged into the amplifier. In the same vein, the proper typeface can enhance a scene, subconsciously letting the viewer know that the creators of the film put some thought into the stylish details.

For instance, here are a few directors renowned for their use of the classic typeface Futura Bold (the first six screengrabs are taken from typeface designer Mark Simonson, who has also written an incredible series on typefaces, anachronistic and otherwise, in cinema and television).

#1 – Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

#3 – Wes Anderson, The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

(My friend Amedeo, playing young Richie Tenenbaum in the still above, is all grown up and has a cool webcomic called Justitia — check it out!)

#3 – Sidney J. Furie, The IPCRESS File (1965) ???

Dalby’s office utilizes Futura Bold in much of the signage for their fake operations:

And I believe it’s Futura that provides the type for Palmer’s War Office field report:

The badguys, however, use what I believe is Gill Sans Bold to label their magnetic tapes:

Col. Ross has a bold, sans-serif typeface for the nameplate on his door (I don’t think this is either Futura or Gill Sans, but it’s in keeping with the same style):

And Dalby’s “Domestic Bureau” has, on the outside, a more traditional look:

I wish the credits and logos of the film had kept the same geometric, modern style, but instead are in a stencil typeface. I do like that red circle and the bold white letters that announce the title though:

Any ideas on what the unidentified typefaces might be? Let us know in the comments below!

EDIT: Mark Simonson kindly writes to offer his opinion that the brass sign is a version of Weiss Antigua (note the telltale u), and that the letters on the door seem similar to Beton.