Type Cast

November 10, 2022 2:23 PM

You could win a bar bet with this one: Friz Quadrata has appeared in more episodes of Law and Order than any actor...because Friz Quadrata is the show's title font across all its incarnations. On the big screen, some directors use the same typeface for titles across multiple films: John Carpenter and Albertus, Ingmar Berman and Florida (free knockoff here!), Stanley Kubrick and Futura, and (sorry) Woody Allen and Windsor.

Some other “type casting” examples:

Christopher Nolan has used Univers four times, although shouldn't he have used Gotham for the Dark Knight films? You can be certain of some W I D E L E T T E R S P A C I N G even if he goes serif.

If you want to mimic Jean-Luc Godard’s intertitles there’s a free font for that.

A lot of type designers have paid homage to Saul Bass, here’s a list.

Back to TV, here’s a really well researched article on typography in The Prisoner, which used a modified Albertus. (You can get the modified font here if you want to make your own “Questions Are A Burden To Others” poster.)

And those lovingly glowing red letters in the Stranger Things title sequence are from ITC Benguiat, the “Stephen King” font.

Finally, no discussion of type in film would be complete without mentioning Papyrus.

Further reading:
Fonts In Use in Film / TV category
Art of the Title
10 Auteurs and the Typefaces They Love (some things incorrect, but I did get some links out of this)
Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

posted by Ishbadiddle (19 comments total)

In addition to Stanley Kubrick, Wes Anderson uses Futura a lot, but apparently not exclusively.
posted by nushustu at 2:30 PM on November 10, 2022 [3 favorites]

Outside of Law & Order, Friz Quadrata‘s other famous usage is…the Black Flag logo.
posted by Ian A.T. at 2:42 PM on November 10, 2022 [8 favorites]

If the bar bet was "Which font has been on TV the most," then Homer Simpson is probably the winner (what is it now, over 600 episodes?)
posted by Hardcore Poser at 2:56 PM on November 10, 2022 [3 favorites]

There are over 4,000 episodes of Sesame Street, though I can't speak to any particular font usage.

I think there are some soap operas with even higher episode counts, but if I had to guess which font has been on tv the most, I'd probably pick one that's used in sports and/or news.
posted by box at 3:50 PM on November 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

Friz Quadrata was the flag type of my newspaper in the 80s, the Antioch Daily Ledger for those keeping score at home.
posted by cccorlew at 4:14 PM on November 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

The one that's been on screen the longest, continuously, is probably some anonymous chargen bitmap font displaying NO SIGNAL on a disconnected monitor

(for the kind of idea: self link, cw: loud pink noise - NO SIGNAL)
posted by scruss at 4:17 PM on November 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

I feel compelled to post this:
Trajan is the movie font
posted by cccorlew at 4:17 PM on November 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

It's defunct, but see also the blog Typeset in the Future. (On postview, I see that's a "previously")
posted by adamrice at 4:26 PM on November 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm very fond of the way The Prisoner used the same font (Albertus) for the credits and in the village.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 5:55 PM on November 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

I vote for the font from the WeatherStar4000, shown continuously for nearly 25 years. (Grab a copy here)
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:43 PM on November 10, 2022 [4 favorites]

This post was well composited. All sorts in a well designed form(e). I'll chase myself out.
posted by Zedcaster at 6:58 PM on November 10, 2022 [3 favorites]

Apparently (of course I had to look it up) the show with the most episodes is the German animation Sandmännchen, clocking in at 22,200 episodes. I don’t know if they’ve been using the same font since 1959, though.
posted by Ishbadiddle at 8:10 PM on November 10, 2022

My favorite appearance of Friz Quadrata is when I see it on the cover of one of my medicine bottles!
posted by traveler_ at 10:11 PM on November 10, 2022 [7 favorites]

I love Benguiat -- that sweeping capital "A" is so recognizeable -- and love seeing it all over the place, like on the side of a semi truck in a logo or the font on a generic brand of frozen vegetables.

I finally looked up how to pronounce it and based on the creator's name it's "ben-gat".
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:10 AM on November 11, 2022 [3 favorites]

Yasujiru Ozu had a definite style he used for his title credits.
posted by ob1quixote at 7:14 AM on November 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

My biggest regret is getting rid of two type books, I don’t even remember why: the spiral bound Letraset catalog from the mid 70s and Photo-Lettering’s One Line Manual of Styles, especially since a good chunk of current fonts are copies without attribution.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:03 AM on November 11, 2022 [3 favorites]

Which font has been on TV the most

Jeopardy! has been using ITC Korinna for clues since 1984. And a lot of other game shows and sitcoms of the era used it for credits as it was one of the better options that came with the Chiron titlers.

And before that, there was vidifont.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:28 AM on November 11, 2022 [2 favorites]

ITC Korinna is also the Capcom logo!
posted by Ishbadiddle at 10:08 AM on November 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

For us GenXers, ITC Benguiat was also the font used on the cover of the Choose Your Own Adventure books. That's what I will always associate it with.
posted by replayer at 4:13 PM on November 13, 2022 [1 favorite]