Typography 1 - PC - February 26th

Analyze

I’m going to focus on the Gauntlet word. It is display. All the letters are caps. There is no ascender but there are 4 descenders located on the “G”, the “A”, the “N” and the final “T”. There are 3 ligatures. They are located between, the “A” and the “U”, the “T” and the “L”, the “E” and the final “T”. All the brackets and counters have the same sector or portion shape.

Classify

Display/Logotype

Serif

Gothic

Define

The overall look for the shapes is sharp and clean. There are 3 different gradient color layers for each letter. It gives a 3D effect to each letter. The overall look allows a good legibility only for big sizes.

Comment

Gauntlet is a beat-them-all game located into a dungeon and we are in 1986, release year of adventure or heroic fantasy movies like Labyrinth. Actually, Conan the Barbarian is not so far. So I think that the designer wanted to give a feeling of strength and magic to this font.

Analyze

The lettering is also display. I’m going to divide my analysis in 2 parts.

BAD: All letters are caps and have descenders. The “B” and the “D” have an ascender. The “B” and “D” counters have the same shape.

DUDES: All letters are caps and are located between the base and the cap line. The aperture of the “U”, “E” and “S” seem identical. The edges of each letter are a mix of sharped and rounded shapes.

Classify

Display/Logotype

Sans Serif/Serif

Define

The BAD letters seem being made with a paint spray which give theme a urban or street aspect. The DUDES letters are thick very thick and strong and look very strict. The proportions allow a good legibility for big sizes. The BAD letters look small caps comparing to the DUDES letters.

Comment

We are in 1988. Bad Dudes is a beat-them-all game where you control a street fighting character. The logotype expresses this concept in a really good way. Indeed, the red BAD letters represents the junk or the urban lost part of a city. On the opposite the DUDES letters represents the law enforcements team or cops or the former prisoner who turned into a boy scout.

Analyze

I’m going to focus on Final Fight. The lettering is display. All letters are x-height, except for the cap height F. There are descenders on the 2 “F” and the “g”. There are ascenders on the 2 “F”, the “l”, the “h” and the “t”. The counters are all very tight and rounded.

Classify

Display/Logotype

Serif

Define

The legibility is good thanks to the color choice inside the letters and also on the white stroke. We can see a continuance on each word, especially on the Fight word. Everything is a matter of opposite elements: fire and water in the shape, fire and water in the colors.

Comment

The year is 1989, which implies the dusk of the 80’s and the dawn of the 90’s. The handy work is replaced by the graphic design work. I think that the designer intention was to set another milestone on the videogame identity.