November 23rd, 2020

CYOA: Returning to Retro

All these images
have one thing in
common:
Cooper Black.
This is a typeface. It’s not like Arial
or Times New Roman, it’s strange and
quirky like Comic Sans but without
the sacrilegious connotations. How
does Cooper Black make you feel?
Instructor: Martin Habekost

Do you feel nostalgic, maybe a sense

of comfort, perhaps recalling a time
where you’ve seen this but can’t quite
remember? I believe that this is how
anyone born after the 1980s feels
when looking at this typeface. Grow-
ing up in the ‘Age of the Internet’ I’ve
come to notice the repeating design
trend of:

Retro.
You may call it throwback or vintage
but this repeating trend is seen
everywhere, in album covers,
Wordcount: 1281

(ridiculously) expensive vintage

clothing stores, those bootleg rap
t-shirts from urban outfitters,
period-piece tv-shows/films, the list marketing, and print layouts for widely-known companies
goes on and on. I believe that intro- like Packard Motor Car Company and Anheuser-Busch
ducing Cooper Black to the new Breweries (McDaniel, 2015). Cooper worked particularly
generation of designers is necessary. well with hand-drawn lettering for advertising before
The 100 year-old nostalgic aesthetic transitioning to type and designing the typeface Cooper Old
and iconic image needs to continue Style. In Neil Macmillan’s An A-Z of Type Designers, he
thriving in the new trends of design. notes that this typeface was “the first type with a round serif
History and the model for many heavy round-serif types to follow”
This iconic typeface was created by (Macmillan, 2006). The round-serifs’ uniqueness caught
GCM110 - 011

Oswald Bruce Cooper (hence the the eye of Barnhart Brothers & Spindler Type Foundry,
name, Cooper Black), a design- approaching Cooper to create an entire family, triggering
er and calligrapher from the Frank the creation of Cooper Black (Scott, 2017). After
Holme School of Illustration (Macmil- Cooper Black’s creation in 1922 (Heck, 2017), it became
lan, 2006). Cooper founded a design an instant success; being used in newspaper and large
firm that focused on typography, format advertisements. It became a trendy and versatile
typeface for many different industries, such as automotives, coming to the conclusion that it works
medicine, consumer electronics, and retail grocers (Cas- best when it’s independent from any
well, 2020). Like all trends that instantly surge in popular- other elements. In terms of the type
ity, Cooper Black became overused and was abandoned anatomy, Cooper Black consists
in the 1940s. Linotype’s evolution to phototype and the of shallow descenders, tall cap height
creation of dry-rub transfer during the 1950s helped change and x-height, creating minimal con-
graphic design trends, giving the designer more creative trast between capital/lowercase let-
freedom and versatility unbound by the structured format ters (Heck, 2017). The effectiveness
of linotype. Cooper Black became a staple in dry-rub in legibility allows this typeface to
transfers, returning to the advertising industry and become more lenient with unique
entering the world of entertainment, featured heavily in quirks and design aspects, through
album covers, movie posters, and pop culture magazines the extravagant use of curves and
(Heck, 2017). Cooper Black’s entrance into art and pop unique counterforms. Bethany Heck,
culture in the 1950-1970s continues to be an influencer of a specialist in typography, remarks
designs in 2020, predominantly used for retro and Cooper Black’s completely rounded
nostalgic aesthetic. bottoms of each letter is completely
unconventional as a straight bottom
“the first type with a round ser- creates legibility for each line; this
if and the model for many heavy allows Cooper Black to be “very for-
giving to irregularities… the fact that
round-serif types to follow” Cooper doesn’t necessarily need to be
laid in a straight line to look good is an
advantage” (Caswell, 2020). Cooper
Black began as a serif, but its iconic
use led it to being referred to also as
a display font. Connotations associat-
ed with serif fonts include “tradition,
respectability, reliability, and comfort”
while display fonts are associated with
“friendliness, uniqueness, expressive,
amusing” (Hunt, 2019). These con-
notations are very fitting for Cooper
Black but you might be asking why
they feel fitting. The answer’s in font
psychology.
What Made Cooper Black So Popular?
The key to Cooper Black remaining relevant in design “for far-sighted print-
for the past (almost) hundred years lies in its original
purpose. Oswald Cooper famously quoted that Cooper
ers with near-sighted
Black was made “for far-sighted printers with near-sight- customers”
ed customers” (Heck, 2017), implying that his intentions for Font Psychology
the typeface were to maintain legibility for medium-large To understand what makes a good
format designers and readability for customers in handheld font, we must understand font psy-
formats, effective at any size. This quote refers to chology and its impact on the brain.
Cooper Black’s width, weight and the invasive appear- Gestalt Theory (a theory reliant on the
ance it imposes on the given medium. Throughout the pe- basis that “the whole of anything is
riod of Cooper Black’s oversaturation in storefront signs greater than its parts” (Encyclopaedia
and advertising, many designers were able to create charac- Britannica, 2020)) explains that peo-
ter in a company’s branding by simply sticking their text on ple will constantly attempt to perceive
a colored background and calling it quits. This approach to individual aspects as a whole through
applying Cooper Black is still used today, designers still subconscious connections. Within the
design industry, this has to be con-
stantly considered when applying
elements into designs and typefaces,
in order to create a cohesive message
within the design (Peate, 2018). Es-
sentially meaning that every detail
matters in a design. For example, a
brand and logo design needs to have
synergetic shapes, color scheme, fonts
and layout to become successful and
stand out.

Nick Kolenda, an author and re- all things, but in typography, this is how emotions towards
searcher of subconscious psychology, certain typefaces or fonts are formed. With Cooper Black,
describes the series of stages that a I immediately recognized it but was clueless as to where I
viewer will experience when looking saw it, why I thought of it as retro and nostalgic, and why
at a font. The physical features of a I was drawn to it. These questions are often inserted into
font are noticed first, the features the audience’s minds, combined with the connections made
mentioned earlier like height, thick- creates a ‘collective meaning’ that they can’t particularly
ness, and weight, and other general describe. Through sensory experience of the font over time,
attributes of the font are needed in the individual’s opinion on a font design becomes more rig-
order to make subconscious connec- id, evaluating a font based on whether or not the presenta-
tions through context. When that tion caters to their own opinion. The audience’s judgement
font is seen in the future, their origi- of the design can be based on evaluating the font first, then
nal impression of the font is shifted, the context or vice versa (Kolenda, 2020). Understanding
becoming firmer if the future situation this is very important for designs as it will act as a guideline
is similar, obscured if the situation is when choosing a specific font for designs, the control and
different, and creates new connections influence it has on the design is fundamental if the designer
(Kolenda, 2020). This is obviously to wants to create an effective piece.
 Conclusion References
The physical attributes and psychology Caswell, E. (2020, June 18). Why this font is everywhere. Re-
behind Cooper Black caused it to trieved November 23, 2020, from [Link]
survive almost 100 years in the graphic eos/21294395/cooper-black-pop-culture
design industry. Although there was a pe-
riod where it was used for low-effort and Encyclopaedia Britannica (Ed.). (2020, May 26). Gestalt psychol-
unsophisticated applications, Cooper ogy. Retrieved November 23, 2020, from [Link]
Black’s foundations and structure as a com/science/Gestalt-psychology
typeface reveals its effectiveness in design.
Its large cultural impact and history will Heck, B. (2017, September 11). Cooper - Designed by Oswald
benefit designers that choose to use it as Cooper. Retrieved November 23, 2020, from [Link]
the connections and familiarity revolving [Link]/cooper/
around Cooper Black will draw larger
audiences to the design. The use of Hunt, T. (2019, October 21). A Pro Designer Shares the Psychol-
Cooper Black should be taken advan- ogy of Font Choices [Infographic]. Retrieved November 23, 2020,
tage of during the recent trends of retro from [Link]
and vintage designs, implementing this graphic/
subtly and correctly will benefit any confi-
dent designer’s piece of work. Kolenda, N. (2020). How to Choose the Right Font (According to
Science). Retrieved November 23, 2020, from [Link]
[Link]/font-psychology/

Macmillan, N. (2006). An A-Z of type designers. New Haven: Yale

University Press.

McDaniel, M. (2015, June 29). Bertsch & Cooper image col-

lection. Retrieved November 23, 2020, from [Link]
[Link]/collections/surveys/chicago/chicago-history-museum/
bertsch-cooper-image-collection

Peate, S. (2018, February 09). Font Psychology And Typography

About Inspiration In Logo Design. Retrieved November 23, 2020, from
the Author: [Link]
Jacob Chan is a GCM student at ration-in-logo-design/
Ryerson University. He is a first year
student with zero Adobe InDesign Scott, M. (2017, October 17). Cooper Black - Oswald Bruce Coo-
experience, per (1921). Retrieved November 23, 2020, from [Link]
finished the design of the maga- com/fgd1-the-archive/cooper-black-by-oswald-bruce-cooper-
zine excerpt at roughly 8:37am. d5a3df7e5020
He’s learned many things about vv
typography and is quite frankly,
excited for Typography 230!