Letraset – or sticky-on lettering
17/09/2011
A recent post about space-age typography made me wonder about the fate of Letraset, that rub-on lettering highly popular in the 1970s and 1980s, maybe a bit longer. Computer typography has made the process obsolete, as Letraset made hand-drawing of lettering obsolete. I remember using it and cursing when it failed to peel off from the backing plastic. It was a pain but when it did work it was quick.
Here are some of the fonts, taken at random, from a catalogue dated 1980 that I have in my collection.
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Gosh that brings back memories from the dim distant past, when I was Architectural drawing by hand, using pencil on transparent paper/film, then finishing using Rotring ink pens. Not only the Letraset letters in all manner of fonts but also all sorts of Architectural enhancements such as trees,( in Plan and Elevation), people, cars etc.I still have some Letraset hidden away in the old plan filing cabinet.
Hi Colin – yes, I’ve some old sheets ‘somewhere’. The catalogue I took those images from has heaps of pages of all the symbols they produced. How quickly things change. Kind regards John
Thanks for posting this. The ‘Bombere’ typeface in your sample won a major award in a contest Letraset sponsored in 1973. It was drawn (by hand, of course) by Carla Ward, a designer in Washington, DC. And I never saw it used anywhere!
Thanks for the comment Chris. I’d be interested to learn more about Carla Ward.