Typsettra – hand-lettered wordmark, Dave Thomason, c1975

In commercial design, hand-lettering was almost always photographed, with the resized print then assembled into the advertisement. The original lettering – usually showing signs of white gouache touch-up – was rarely seen and, all too often, discarded.

Each lettering artist had their own techniques, but a common approach was to begin with a sheet of heavy tracing paper. Artists would first sketch the word in pencil on one side, then flip the sheet over to refine the design on the back, repeating this process until they achieved the desired look. To add stability, they would glue the tracing paper onto a medium-weight card using rubber cement. The texture of tracing paper provided the right ‘tooth’ for both pen and brush work, making it an ideal surface for inking.

Once inked, fresh lettering appeared crisp against the white background of the glued tissue paper. However, over time, both the rubber cement and tissue paper would discolor, turning yellow and revealing the original white touch-up paint. Among lettering artists, few required as little touch-up as Thomason.

Thanks to Albert Macchiusi, we also have a ‘zinc’ type-high block of the word that would be used for letterpress printing. Notably, the strokes on the plate appear heavier than in the original artwork. This was a common practice when reducing the size of the art – weights were often increased photographically, and skilled camera operators could produce highly accurate reproductions at various sizes for printing. – Rod McDonald