FRINGE Type.

I’m sure you know all about the show by now and if you don’t, I imagine there’s better sources than here to get caught up (or if you really want to get involved, http://www.hulu.com has all the episodes thus far).

Let’s talk about the motion type sequences that set the theme in the beginning and throughout. Pardon the cruddy screenshots, but they will have to do!

Above is the opening titling sequence where, as you can see, the type comes together in pieces to form this nice 3-D bold word. Fellow blogger and classmate Corey T (http://www.shapesofsweetness.com) and myself have been pondering what typeface is being used here. I’m thinking some variant of Futura (condensed light maybe?), but any help there would be appreciated. Now, a glitzy titling sequence isn’t unheard of in shows these days, but what FRINGE might excel at is incorporating type within the show in way I haven’t seen.

From the show: Type in environment.

(I like and appreciate how the type is getting rained on just the same as the actual environment.–ed.)

(I believe the typeface within the show is Helvetica Bold. –ed.)

Regardless of what you might think or feel about this show, I mean, that’s just fucking cool. It makes a type nerd like myself coming back for more.

Although fucking cool, it just doesn’t measure up to the eerie awesomeness of the Panic Room opening credits. I thought I would share:

m welch

Rock the Casb-Ah my god…

I can say with a lot of confidence that The Clash are easily my favorite band. Combining that with a bad vinyl habit, I find myself seeking and picking up Clash LP’s from time to time. When I ran across a Lot on eBay that included the Rock the Casbah 12″ EP (1982) I didn’t think much of it, until I scoped the artwork on it. From them on, I was entranced with the need to own this if only to stare longingly at what could be the worst but arguably best cover art trainwreck to have ever occurred.

See for yourself:

You have to sit back and wonder whether the band was in on the discussions of the artwork at all or if by that point they just didn’t care. I don’t feel bad mentioning that Combat Rock (the long player this single comes from) was probably furthest from the Clash’s then pretty prominent (and in my mind, pretty great) aesthetic (Ok, Cut the Crap is kind of a trainwreck too). Oh, the 1980′s….

More Clash art:

m welch