Video may have killed the radio star, but the script typefaces that typify radio’s Golden Age are very much alive—resurrected by the digital pen of nostalgic type designers.
Responding to a market affection for retro sentimentality, designers are paying homage to hand-lettered commercial logos created for mid-century appliances and packaging.
Freehand 575 and House Industry’s Las Vegas Fabulous are more recent examples of brush-based revivals, but Magnus Rakeng’s Radio was one of the first.
Nearly a decade old, Radio is an ephemera script that blends calligraphic and brush-based traditions, lending itself to both formal and casual formats. Many different inspirations contributed to this versatility. Rakeng reflects, “Radio has its roots in American commerce, old Norwegian design, rosemaling (decorative folk painting), and a dash of viking art.”
ANNA MALSBERGER