"Computer"-style display typeface on documents from 1975/6.

Question

I thought this was custom lettering until I saw two unrelated examples. In the same vein as Countdown and Data 70, but clearly distinct. Several letters seem to have freely-mixable alternates ("E", "M", "O", etc). No luck in Letraset or Photo-Lettering's one-line guide. Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

Hi Ben, I haven’t found out about the origin of this design yet, but it went under the names Program at dry-transfer lettering manufacturer Formatt (shown in 1974), and is shown as Tuxedo in Dan X. Solo’s Art Deco Display Alphabets (Dover Books, 1982). It comes with 1–3 alternates for most alphabetic characters. Dick Pape made a digitization named DXS Tuxedo (2010). More info on Fonts In Use.

Comments

Thanks Florian! Looks right to me. Given the age of the documents, I assume these were done with the dry-transfer Formatt Program sheets.

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Absolutely possible. I can also imagine that a phototype version was around in the 1970s, from Solotype or another manufacturer, as Tuxedo or under a different name. Both Formatt and Solotype have a history of adopting designs from other sources, often under new names.