Well, we all use fonts in our everyday lives – even if we are merely below average computer users. Have you ever thought about why you choose one font over another when you type a letter, a document or a resume for that matter? What is that about a certain font type that makes it ‘just right’ for the job at hand? Let us try and answer this, and more questions in the body of this article. 

 

 

As you can well...

After a previous introduction of the Googie architecture (read the "Googie: Custom Fonts Accompanied Funny-Sounding Architecture" article if you didn't do it yet) we couldn't be more excited to delve a little deeper into one of the most famous places on the Earth - Las Vegas.

 

Las Vegas brings to the mind images of a dark sky against neon signs. If you choose to delve a little deeper into exactly...

As the 1940s came to a close and architect John Lautner drew up designs for a number of coffeehouses in Southern California, he unsuspectingly created a new genre with a funny name that would be duplicated as well as disparaged for decades to come. Googie architecture, named for the Lautner-designed Googies Coffee House in Los Angeles, would catch on in post-war America for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the dawning of the Atomic Age and a burgeoning fascination with space flight. The futuristic style would influence not...

How Fonts Affect the Subconscious Mind

Well, we all use fonts in our everyday lives – even if we are merely below average computer users. Have you ever thought about why you choose one font over another when you type a letter, a document or a resume for that matter? What is that about a certain font type that makes it ‘just right’ for the job at hand? Let us try and answer this, and more questions in the body of this article. 

 

 

As you can well imagine, books were at first hand written (before printing presses were even present)… once printing technology became practically applicable, it was obviously more productive to use mechanics rather than manual labor to print! BUT a drastic change in the then-time user interface could have had negative effects on the business of selling books, and hence, the first fonts to be used for printing were handwriting-like, which provided a logical transition to the printing era.

 

Handwriting-like fonts:1 "Soul handwriting" font, 2 "I'm fashionista!" font, 3 "frank handwriting" font, 4 "Contribute" font


This could well be the first instance where ‘the psychology of fonts’ was ever put into practice. But today, times have changed; people have accepted the fact that books are definitely not hand written! But this is the reason because the handwriting fonts are always so much used and work so well again in a lot of different printed and online projects.


So where does this leave a publisher or a printer with the choice use of fonts (or even a web designer for that matter)?  Having gone just a little way into this article, if you have read between the lines then you already know that a font with a gothic style speaks of years gone by; they are apt for content that is intended to take the reader ‘back in time’, or maybe pose as a factor that sends across a subliminal message of ‘timelessness’. 

 

Have you heard of people (even psychologists) who claim to be able to predict personality traits of a person they have never met, simply by looking at their handwriting? Well, to validate that handwriting experts can do this even to a marginal degree is beyond the scope of this article. What is interesting though is the very idea that a writing can leave such an impact on the viewer!

Is it logical to assume then, that the choice of fonts too, have a lasting effect on your audience, subconsciously though it may be. If you were using a pen to write a letter on an emotional subject close to your heart, the increased pressure that you apply on paper can increase the boldness of the writing, and somehow help convey the emotion that you feel. Would it make sense then, to consciously alter fonts when typing out such content? The use of bold and italic fonts is many a time applied for this very impact.


Did you ever consider the fact that the background and age group of your readers has a direct effect on their receptivity of the fonts that you choose? Fonts tend to affect ‘readability’ of the text itself, and they are broadly divided into fonts that have ‘tails’, called serifs, at the tops and bottoms of the letters (or serif fonts), and fonts ‘sans’ without the tails.

 

1_Serif font (with tails/serifs): Book Antiqua, 2_ Sans Serif font (without tails/serifs): Verdana

 

Today we see many variations of both categories, and hybrids as well. In general, serif fonts are considered more readable that the ‘sans’ types. This could possibly be thanks to generations of people that have grown up as kids learning to hand-write before they ever used a computer – and it will be interesting to see what happens next, with the current generations who are more comfortable with a  keyboard than a pen!

 

Coming back to our discussion on the choice of typefaces, it may be safe to say that most adults on the planet today may feel a certain affinity towards reading handwriting-like fonts. That said and done, studies have shown that uncommon fonts somehow have the effect of improving user understanding of the text on hand. Could this be because of the fact that the reader is forced to concentrate harder on a font that is not very familiar to say handwriting? On the other hand though, fonts that are too hard to comprehend could easily throw the readers’ concentration and interest completely away from the text! In today’s age of extremely short attention spans, this could prove to be quite a reality! 

 

The longer that your text piece is, the more is the possibility of varying emotions being portrayed through the writing (say for example a novel); and therefore more are the chances of requiring different font types to portray different emotions. If you are vey new to the idea of fonts sending across emotional signals, just browse through a novel – why is the title a particular font? Why do western novels have that classic western font? Why does the author choose to italicize certain parts, and to have other parts of the text in bold fonts?  Another example that proves the use of fonts to convey emotions, could be children’s books – they almost always have large, friendly looking colorful fonts. Even toddlers who cannot read yet enjoy simply looking at the large curving fonts. This proves beyond doubt that the visual appeal of the font is independent of the content itself, although both need to work hand in hand to create the desired impact on your audience. 

Fonts and exclusive vintage insipiration from original pictures of Las Vegas.

After a previous introduction of the Googie architecture (read the "Googie: Custom Fonts Accompanied Funny-Sounding Architecture" article if you didn't do it yet) we couldn't be more excited to delve a little deeper into one of the most famous places on the Earth - Las Vegas.

 

Las Vegas brings to the mind images of a dark sky against neon signs. If you choose to delve a little deeper into exactly why this image of Las Vegas is what remains imprinted into a collective consciousness, you realize that neon signs at night are what have been amongst the most defining factors of this image. We gather this from movies, photographs, magazines and other visual data. 

 

Having a closer look at the content of the neon signs in this collective mental image objectively, you begin to realize that the impact does not really owe its success to the nature of the fonts alone; in fact most of the fonts that you see in classic Las Vegas Images seem simple and almost predictable. The most prominent attribute is, the fact that brightly back lit text at nights are definitely more prone to having a successful impact as compared to the very same sign boards in broad daylight. Life in Las Vegas being known for its night life, the neon signs were a sure win in the given scenario! 

 

Also, let us not forget the fact that what we call ‘predictable’ fonts today were not so common place in the 50s and 60s! Neon itself was new to the world, and simple fonts of course fit the bill where an outdoor billboard is concerned. On outdoor sign boards, you would want your fonts to be easy to read, quick to comprehend, and hard to forget – simple fonts against a contrasting background just fit the bill! 

 

We're glad to show you something unusual with these wonderful ORIGINAL Las Vegas pictures. We're very happy and proud to share them with you....and we feel the original vintage scenario gives exceptional inspiration to learn how to convey the same emotional feel to your project!

 

Original Las Vegas casino's, as they were being built, in 1953-54 and nightime photos of the Casino Lights in the mid 1960's.

 

Binion's Horseshoe

Binion's Horseshoe

 

Golden Nugget, Las Vegas

Golden Nugget

 

Downtown Las Vegas

Downtown Las Vegas

 

Las Vegas Strip

Las Vegas Strip

 

Las Vegas, Nevada. October 31, 1954. Lucky Strike Club, Downtown.

Lucky Strike Club Casino

 

Las Vegas, Nevada. October 31, 1954. Pioneer club Casino, Downtown.

Pioneer Club Casino

 

The Thunderbird Hotel Casino at night, Las Vegas, NV. Oct 31, 1954.

Thunderbird Casino

 

Last Frontier Village at night, Las Vegas, NV, 1954.

Last Frontier Village

 

The Sands Hotel Casino at night.

Sands Casino

 

Moulin Rouge Hotel, June 1955.

Moulin Rouge

 

Boulder Club Casino. Downtown Las vegas, oct 31, 1954.

Boulder Club Casino

 

El Rancho Hotel Casino, Las Vegas, NV. Oct 31, 1954.

El Rancho Vegas Casino

 

The Algiers Hotel, Las Vegas, NV. Oct 31, 1954.

Algiers Hotel

 

The Silver Slipper Casino, Las Vegas, NV, 1954.

Silver Slipper Casino

 

Last Frontier Village, Las Vegas, NV, 1954.

Last Frontier Village

 

Stardust Casino, 1955

Stardust Casino

 

Showboat Casino about to get built in Las Vegas, july 1954.

Showboat Casino

 

The Flamingo Hotel Casino, Las Vegas, NV.

Flamingo Casino

 

The Sands Hotel Casino.

Sands Casino

 

Moulin Rouge Hotel Casino, Dec 1954.

Moulin Rouge Casino

 

Thunderbird Hotel Casino, Las Vegas, NV. Oct 31, 1954.

Thunderbird Casino

 

We want say a big thanks to califboy101 who permitted reproductions of their publications on our website.

If you want see some more unusual pictures visit his flickr account here or click on the image below

Googie: Custom Fonts Accompanied Funny-Sounding Architecture

As the 1940s came to a close and architect John Lautner drew up designs for a number of coffeehouses in Southern California, he unsuspectingly created a new genre with a funny name that would be duplicated as well as disparaged for decades to come. Googie architecture, named for the Lautner-designed Googies Coffee House in Los Angeles, would catch on in post-war America for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the dawning of the Atomic Age and a burgeoning fascination with space flight. The futuristic style would influence not only fellow architects, but graphic artists as it rippled across the country and became prevalent in other American cities such as Las Vegas, Miami and Wildwood, New Jersey.

 

Vintage Las Vegas sign

The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign Photo by: Pobrien301

 

Bob's Big Boy restaurant in the Toluca Lake area of Burbank, California. Photo by Minnaert

 

It was Douglas Haskell, a critic and editor, who first coined the term “Googie architecture” after seeing the Los Angeles coffeehouse and writing about it in a 1952 article in House and Home magazine. The style is also sometimes referred to as Populuxe, Doo-Wop, Coffee Shop Modern, Mid-Century Modern, RayGun Gothic, Jet Age and Space Age. While Lautner started the trend with coffeehouses such as Googies and Coffee Dan's, other architects -- Douglas Honnold, Martin Stern Jr., Stephen Kanner and partners Louis Armet and Eldon Davis, among them -- were soon influenced by the style and applied it to design all sorts of commercial enterprises, such as gas stations, motels, bowling alleys and other roadside businesses.

 

Vintage Bel Air sign

Bel Air and Caribbean Motel signs in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey. Photo by Smallbones

 

The Growth of Googie Architecture

Although it had an aesthetic that anticipated a future filled with rocket ships and atomic energy, Googie architecture was driven by America's growing dependence on the automobile, teenagers that were emerging as a consumer group and suburban sprawl that began to shift centers of commerce from traditional downtown areas to outlying neighborhoods. Previously nondescript landscapes were soon populated with exaggerated buildings that had upswept roofs, rocket and flying saucer shapes, neon lighting and extensive plate-glass windows. Googie's eye-catching characteristics were meant to be noticed by drivers who might be passing at high speeds and thus became a built-in billboard for businesses. Sharp and severe angles, rounded domes, prominent geometric shapes; and modern materials such as glass, concrete and steel typified the genre.

 

 Vintage Las Vegas sign

Old Neon and Googie signs from Reno, NV. Photos by Jillian Northrup

 

“Googie, with its extremes, metaphorical qualities and humor has always been hard to categorize,” according to Chris Jepsen, creator of the website Googie Architecture Online. "Like obscenity, Googie is hard to define, but we know it when we see it." If you have ever flown into Los Angeles or visited Seattle, Washington, you've undoubtedly seen Googie architecture. The iconic Theme Building at LAX airport is an example, as well as Seattle's famous Space Needle, which was built for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. And while the style is inherently American, there are a few European examples, such as the atomic silhouette of Brussels' Atomium, built for the 1958 World's Fair.

 

Los Angeles airport

The theme restaurant and control tower at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Photo by Michael Zara

 

Atomic Seattle Space Needle

Brussels' Atomium - Belgium. (left) Photo by JeanM1 . The top of the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington. (right) Photo by Cacophony

 

The atomic model of a nucleus surrounded by orbiting electrons was just one of the motifs that became prevalent in Googie architecture. Boomerang, palette, and kidney shapes were common, as were amebic blobs, starbursts, circles and diamonds -- anything that evoked science, space or movement.

 

Googie Signs and Fonts Were Integral to Overall Design

Signage was as important to distinguishing the genre as the architecture itself. Often highlighted in neon, Googie signs were created using bold, chunky block letters of differing colors often accompanied by other letters in script; they were sometimes elongated, angular or rounded like the architecture and, again, embellished with scientific symbols: stars, satellites, atoms, planets. Other characters were offset by their creators who enclosed them in geometrical patterns such as parallelograms, almond shapes, harlequin diamonds or obtuse triangles that denoted arrows.

 

 Vintage Las Vegas sign

Old Neon and Googie signs from Reno, NV. Photos by Jillian Northrup

 

It was not uncommon for Googie architects to have a designer on staff who created lettering specifically for the signage on a construction project, according to architect Alan Hess, author of Googie Redux: Ultramodern Roadside Architecture. In an interview from his Southern California home, the cradle of Googie architecture, Hess said the importance of signage to a Googie project cannot be underestimated and fonts were integral to the overall design of a building.

 

“They weren't just picked out of a catalog, that's for sure,” Hess said. “Googie as modern architecture was a fully integrated, total piece of design; so the structure, the function and the signage -- including the fonts -- were all intended to be a total piece of art. The fonts were a key part of that; and, of course, it wasn't just on the sign. It was on the menus and the lettering on the waitresses' uniforms -- everything.”

 

Old Sandman sign

Old Neon and Googie sign from Reno, NV. Photos by Jillian Northrup

 

He cited the integrated design of Pann's and Ships restaurants in Southern California as prime examples of the overall Googie methodology. Other quintessential Googie signs helped light up Las Vegas in the 1950s and '60s. The iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” roadside sign is one of the best examples of an existing Googie archetype; another was the original sparkling beacon that adorned the Stardust casino and hotel, which was demolished in 2007.

 

Old Las Vegas Sturdust

Stardust Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevaa, USA. Neon sign at the Las Vegas Strip by night, 1990. Photo by Henning Schlottmann (User:H-stt)

 

When it was designed by the Young Electric Sign Company and installed in 1958, the original Stardust sign exploded in light, color and form on the Las Vegas strip. The freestanding roadside marquee displayed the hotel's name in angular, jagged letters surrounded by a firmament of glittering stars circled by an orbit ring. The main signage on the building itself depicted a solar system with the Earth at its center. In part inspired by the Russian satellite Sputnik, rays of neon and electric light shot out from the 16-foot globe in all directions and other Plexiglas planets spun amidst a sea of neon starbursts. Over the years, the original sign was replaced and the Jetsonian font was substituted with a more contemporary Futura typeface.

 

Font Designers Capture the Retro Googie Look

Such signs were usually hand-designed without today's modern conveniences of computers, printers and plotters. The then-futuristic lettering would soon inspire typeface designers to create similar display fonts. Those available to graphic designers today are usually referred to a "retro" or "vintage" fonts. Other fonts such as a geometric sans like Futura combined with a slab serif like Clarendon are also thought by some designers to evoke the look and feel of 1950s design.

 

 Vintage Las Vegas sign

Old Neon and Googie signs from Reno, NV. Photos by Jillian Northrup

 

Preservationists Strive to Save Googie Structures

In its infancy, Googie architecture captivated consumers, but was criticized and ridiculed by the architectural establishment for being lowbrow and vulgar. The negative response from his peers was enough for Lautner, who started his career as an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright, to distance himself from the genre; he devoted most of his remaining career to residential architecture.

 

By the mid-1960s, as space flight became a reality and visions of a utopian future changed, Googie architecture fell into decline and as time passed many of the original examples of the style were demolished, much to the dismay of enthusiasts and preservationists. Googies Coffee House itself was razed in 1989. But in recent years, architects, historians, designers and scholars have expressed a newfound appreciation for the genre and preservation efforts to save remaining structures are ongoing.

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