TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Fri Dec 13 00:48:53 EST 2024

FONT RECOGNITION VIA FONT MOOSE

LUC DEVROYE

ABOUT

Dave West

Type designer of the photolettering era (1960s) whose work is slowly but surely being digitally revived by Nick Curtis, and by Photo-Lettering, the House Industries subsidiary that bought the PhotoLettering Inc type collection. FontShop link. His typefaces:

• The slightly psychedelic typeface West Banjo. Nick Curtis's Fiddle Sticks (2007) is based on this typeface. For another digital revival, see Plinc Banjo (2017, Mitja Miklavcic at House Industries.
• Elephant Gothic, a fat deco face. Remade by Nick Curtis as Elephunky NF (2011).
• Nick Curtis believes that Stymie Black Flair may also be due to him, and he based his Tutti Paffuti NF (2007) on the latter face.
• African Queen was revived by Curtis as Djibouti NF (2007), a minimalist tribal African alphabet.
• Nickelodeon. Revived by Curtis as Lily Hilo NF (2008).
• Barnum Block (Western face), done in 1960 at PhotoLettering Inc. This became Cg BarnumBlock at Compugraphics. The Compugraphics collection is now sold by Monotype. See also PL Barnum Block.
• Behemoth (1960, PhotoLettering): a slab serif. This too became a Compugraphics face, Cg Behemoth Semi Condensed. See also PL Behemoth Semi Condensed.
• Bubble Gum (late 1960s). This bubblegum / cartoon font was finally digitized in 2011 by Jess Collins for House Industries, and is now called Plinc Bubblegum (2021).
• Futura Casual inspired Nick Curtis to draw Occidental Tourist NF (2010).
• Walnetto Casual (Photolettering) is another psychedelic face. For a digitization, see Nick Curtis's Jackalope NF (2010). West Barnum Ultra, designed by Dave West and digitized by Ben Kiel&Adam Cruz at House Industries in 2011, was film no. 5494 in the original Photo-Lettering archive.
• West Thud.
• West Kerpow, a comic book typeface, late 1960s. This was digitized in 2011 by Allen Mercer at House Industries as Plinc Kerpow.
• West Italiano, or simply Italiano. A Bodoni-style italic. In 2015, Steve Ross and Ken Barber at House Industries digitally revived this typeface as Plinc Italiano.
• West Emperor Script. A connected didone script.
• West Nouveau Compact (Pyschedelitype 5619 in the PLINC collection of 1968). See, e.g., Pyschedelitypes (Alphabet Directions No. 8), Photo-Lettering, Inc., 1968. In the Curvy Block Lettering style of Viennese secessionist Alfred Roller. The same face appears in Castcraft's Encyclopedia of Phototype Styles (1978) as Cetus Black.
• West Fifth Dimension (1971), an Alfred Roller-inspired psychedelic typeface that was shown in PLINC's Alphabet Thesaurus Vol. 3 (1971).

EXTERNAL LINKS
Dave West
 [Designer info]
Monotype link
MyFonts search
Monotype search
Fontspring search
Google search

INTERNAL LINKS
Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ African fonts ⦿ Photo and film type era ⦿ Psychedelic types ⦿ Nick Curtis ⦿ Western fonts ⦿ Modern style [Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum, Thorowgood, Computer Modern, etc.] ⦿ Comic/cartoon fonts ⦿ Circus fonts ⦿ Bubblegum typefaces ⦿