Each phase of the counterculture is marked by its own styles of type, but
all the faces that evoke the counterculture genre have one thing in common:
they’re anything but plain. For the most part, counterculture type styles
tend to be distressed, a reflection of social unrest that drives antiestablish-
ment style. Mod typefaces of the 1960s show quirky, unbalanced distor-
tions of more common faces, often extended sans serifs. The influence of
science fiction shows itself in geometric faces with graphic linear detailing,
hybrid upper- and lowercase character sets, futuristic, glyphic inclusions,
and so on. The mod street style is exuberant and sometimes comical,
reflected in typefaces in which the letters are canted at various angles
along the baseline or change in overall height or width from character to
character. Late 1960s and 1970s psychedelia introduces organic, rounded,
amorphous shapes in typefaces that carry Art Nouveau fluidity to an extreme
and often test the limits of legibility. 1970s and 1980s punk and new wave
are represented by jagged, dirty distortions from poor photocopying, cutting,
and pasting, usually performed on a sans-serif base, as well as highly
stylized fonts that sometimes refer back to the 1920s and 1930s—often
very condensed or very extended, with decorative geometric details or
inclusions. Rave culture of the 1990s finds expression in typefaces with
futuristic, experimental, almost techno digital structures and shifting,
rhythmic proportional changes among the characters.
From the mods of the 1960s and the flower children of the 1970s to
the punks and ravers of the 1980s and 1990s, the counterculture has
had a profound impact on the visual language of recent times. Subversive,
outrageous, young, and energetic—antiestablishment design for the
street drives popular design in type and color.
Event Poster top, and detail
Kenzo Izutani Office Corp.
Tokyo Japan
Counterculture
Time
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Context
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(Provision) Type Style Finder
L805.130 / 4108
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