this is also visible in a lot of old magazine ads, because they were put together with phototypesetting.
This style of light doesn't really appear in animation anymore. You know it when you see it -- it's bright, hot and almost dangerous.
Our new issue explores the tricks behind it, and how one artist has revived the look for the digital age: animationobsessive.substack.com/p/dangerous-...
Our new issue explores the tricks behind it, and how one artist has revived the look for the digital age: animationobsessive.substack.com/p/dangerous-...
February 14, 2026 at 8:33 AM
this is also visible in a lot of old magazine ads, because they were put together with phototypesetting.
Seems like old phototypesetting machines could indeed stretch, squash and slant letters. TIL.
These machines didn't exactly look *intuitive* however!
These machines didn't exactly look *intuitive* however!
1969 MERGENTHALER LINOTYPE LINOTRON 505 PROMO FILM PHOTOTYPESETTING PRINTING SYSTEM WD00065
YouTube video by PeriscopeFilm
youtu.be
July 17, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Seems like old phototypesetting machines could indeed stretch, squash and slant letters. TIL.
These machines didn't exactly look *intuitive* however!
These machines didn't exactly look *intuitive* however!
its one of those "reviving a Japanese typeface from the 80s because Super Eurobeat used it" kind of days
August 4, 2026 at 7:42 PM
its one of those "reviving a Japanese typeface from the 80s because Super Eurobeat used it" kind of days
Typesetting was a highly skilled and in-demand profession that was guild and then union-controlled and excluded women through the late 1800s, and then mostly until the invention of phototypesetting…when it was rebranded as closer to secretarial, women came on board, and were paid 50% as much.
January 1, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Typesetting was a highly skilled and in-demand profession that was guild and then union-controlled and excluded women through the late 1800s, and then mostly until the invention of phototypesetting…when it was rebranded as closer to secretarial, women came on board, and were paid 50% as much.
Davis and Mackenzie – both experienced designers – created Letraset as a cheaper alternative to phototypesetting, to help speed up the design process. From humble beginnings in an old factory behind Waterloo station Letraset eventually swept across the design world!
December 1, 2024 at 2:40 PM
Davis and Mackenzie – both experienced designers – created Letraset as a cheaper alternative to phototypesetting, to help speed up the design process. From humble beginnings in an old factory behind Waterloo station Letraset eventually swept across the design world!
However it took some time for Letraset to be taken seriously by designers. Phototypesetting was the industry norm. What Letraset did do was popularise and democratise the world of typefaces and encourage many people to start their own careers in graphic design.
December 1, 2024 at 2:48 PM
However it took some time for Letraset to be taken seriously by designers. Phototypesetting was the industry norm. What Letraset did do was popularise and democratise the world of typefaces and encourage many people to start their own careers in graphic design.
Some classic 80s phototypesetting in that first pic.
A/D: "Tighter. make it hurt"
Typeface: Century Old Style
A/D: "Tighter. make it hurt"
Typeface: Century Old Style
The TRS-80 Model 4 P (in your picture) is "Portable" only in the sense that it can be moved...at 26 pounds!
😰
I preferred the Toshiba T1000, which had a clicky keyboard which made typing a breeze, and 2.5 hour battery life. I would take notes at the back of class 🥵 *clak-clak-clak*
#retrocomputing
😰
I preferred the Toshiba T1000, which had a clicky keyboard which made typing a breeze, and 2.5 hour battery life. I would take notes at the back of class 🥵 *clak-clak-clak*
#retrocomputing
October 19, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Some classic 80s phototypesetting in that first pic.
A/D: "Tighter. make it hurt"
Typeface: Century Old Style
A/D: "Tighter. make it hurt"
Typeface: Century Old Style
I believe it only exists as phototypesetting templates and as physical specimen in her papers held by the special collections at the Yale library
February 24, 2026 at 2:21 AM
I believe it only exists as phototypesetting templates and as physical specimen in her papers held by the special collections at the Yale library
Two notes: First: the Franklin Gothic isn't dead-on because phototypesetting would've resulting in imperfect letterforms vs. the digital version today.
Second: I was reminded of the extremely cursed late-90s/00s font, which I think is ITC Quorum. We should kill it with fire.
Second: I was reminded of the extremely cursed late-90s/00s font, which I think is ITC Quorum. We should kill it with fire.
August 25, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Two notes: First: the Franklin Gothic isn't dead-on because phototypesetting would've resulting in imperfect letterforms vs. the digital version today.
Second: I was reminded of the extremely cursed late-90s/00s font, which I think is ITC Quorum. We should kill it with fire.
Second: I was reminded of the extremely cursed late-90s/00s font, which I think is ITC Quorum. We should kill it with fire.
In the days before affordable desktop publishing, and when commercial phototypesetting machines cost the price of a two-bedroom house, I’d right-align columns by typing everything twice: first to count how many spaces remained; a second time to redistribute them across each line.
5/6
5/6
January 16, 2025 at 10:22 AM
In the days before affordable desktop publishing, and when commercial phototypesetting machines cost the price of a two-bedroom house, I’d right-align columns by typing everything twice: first to count how many spaces remained; a second time to redistribute them across each line.
5/6
5/6
Novaform, designed by Moritz Kleinsorge of Identity Letters, reworks 1970s phototypesetting-era geometric type. weandthecolor.com/novaform-fon...
#font #fonts #typeface #typography #design #graphicdesign
#font #fonts #typeface #typography #design #graphicdesign
August 24, 2026 at 8:27 AM
Novaform, designed by Moritz Kleinsorge of Identity Letters, reworks 1970s phototypesetting-era geometric type. weandthecolor.com/novaform-fon...
#font #fonts #typeface #typography #design #graphicdesign
#font #fonts #typeface #typography #design #graphicdesign
I think here he's using an electronic typewriter or word processor to produce text that will be scanned (phototypesetting), but he's not sure about the best way to line-break "ceremony at the library". Each time, he adds some nonsense to stretch the line to a different length
April 18, 2026 at 8:12 AM
I think here he's using an electronic typewriter or word processor to produce text that will be scanned (phototypesetting), but he's not sure about the best way to line-break "ceremony at the library". Each time, he adds some nonsense to stretch the line to a different length
Apparently there was a version with that weird ‘e’, can’t say I ever saw it when I was phototypesetting in the late 80’s-early 90’s.
August 19, 2024 at 9:46 AM
Apparently there was a version with that weird ‘e’, can’t say I ever saw it when I was phototypesetting in the late 80’s-early 90’s.
Here's mine:
1. Why music historians get everything wrong about grunge
2. How the refrigeration cycle works
3. The mysterious case of [Person] who went missing from [Place]
4. What phototypesetting in the 80s was like
5. Weird shit caused by infrasound
1. Why music historians get everything wrong about grunge
2. How the refrigeration cycle works
3. The mysterious case of [Person] who went missing from [Place]
4. What phototypesetting in the 80s was like
5. Weird shit caused by infrasound
January 31, 2024 at 5:24 PM
Here's mine:
1. Why music historians get everything wrong about grunge
2. How the refrigeration cycle works
3. The mysterious case of [Person] who went missing from [Place]
4. What phototypesetting in the 80s was like
5. Weird shit caused by infrasound
1. Why music historians get everything wrong about grunge
2. How the refrigeration cycle works
3. The mysterious case of [Person] who went missing from [Place]
4. What phototypesetting in the 80s was like
5. Weird shit caused by infrasound
It was done using phototypesetting, where the words are projected onto photographic paper. The paper gets prcessed (like film from a camera) then is cut and pasted onto a backing board where the layout is designed by the artist. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
March 16, 2025 at 2:17 AM
It was done using phototypesetting, where the words are projected onto photographic paper. The paper gets prcessed (like film from a camera) then is cut and pasted onto a backing board where the layout is designed by the artist. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
(Well, to be a bit more accurate, the Times New Roman on your computer is the original design with some small modifications to make the character widths match up with the character widths of Times Roman which was based on the Linotype phototypesetting version of the face and adapted to digital by
March 13, 2024 at 1:46 PM
(Well, to be a bit more accurate, the Times New Roman on your computer is the original design with some small modifications to make the character widths match up with the character widths of Times Roman which was based on the Linotype phototypesetting version of the face and adapted to digital by
We spent a day sorting at the C.C. Stern foundry recently. I started in phototypesetting & later got to play with physical type. I studied book arts in college & did binding too.
www.metaltype.org
www.metaltype.org
C.C. Stern Type Foundry
www.metaltype.org
July 23, 2026 at 4:22 AM
We spent a day sorting at the C.C. Stern foundry recently. I started in phototypesetting & later got to play with physical type. I studied book arts in college & did binding too.
www.metaltype.org
www.metaltype.org
My superb high-school journalist teacher, Sue Barr, hired me as the typesetter of the newspaper at some point. I was paid maybe $30 per issue? Amazing in the mid-1980s. We had phototypesetting equipment. But she was a visionary. She had the school buy a very early Mac and PageMaker 1.0.
February 19, 2026 at 10:36 PM
My superb high-school journalist teacher, Sue Barr, hired me as the typesetter of the newspaper at some point. I was paid maybe $30 per issue? Amazing in the mid-1980s. We had phototypesetting equipment. But she was a visionary. She had the school buy a very early Mac and PageMaker 1.0.
First one I ever used, the LinoType Comp/Set 500 phototypesetting workstation
September 8, 2026 at 11:36 PM
First one I ever used, the LinoType Comp/Set 500 phototypesetting workstation
I will never forget meeting, at a Phototypesetting shop (yes, really), the person who wrote the "G, G, G, Gerrard..." roofing ad jingle sung by John Rowles. I also won't forget it as had driven from Penrose to Mt Eden because the art needed one more capital 'T'...
March 17, 2026 at 5:17 AM
I will never forget meeting, at a Phototypesetting shop (yes, really), the person who wrote the "G, G, G, Gerrard..." roofing ad jingle sung by John Rowles. I also won't forget it as had driven from Penrose to Mt Eden because the art needed one more capital 'T'...
Moore Computer perhaps fontsinuse.com/typefaces/73...
Moore Computer in use
Moore Computer was designed by James H. Moore of Typographic House, Boston [Cristen Moore-Abdow] and released for phototypesetting by VGC in 1968 [Splorp]. Jaspert describes it as an alphabetic extens...
fontsinuse.com
August 12, 2026 at 8:34 PM
Moore Computer perhaps fontsinuse.com/typefaces/73...
"It was pre-computer, so in-house at our creative disposal we had sheets and sheets of Letraset, an in-house phototypesetting machine, a vinyl lettering machine, a huge room-sized stat camera, paste-up and drawing art supplies, and the ability to fabricate 3M custom transfers for props."
October 18, 2024 at 5:42 PM
"It was pre-computer, so in-house at our creative disposal we had sheets and sheets of Letraset, an in-house phototypesetting machine, a vinyl lettering machine, a huge room-sized stat camera, paste-up and drawing art supplies, and the ability to fabricate 3M custom transfers for props."