4 ms·

I don't know about The WELL these days, but yes it came out of the Whole Earth Catalog and Whole Earth Truck Store culture in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I

I don't know about The WELL these days, but yes it came out of the Whole Earth Catalog and Whole Earth Truck Store culture in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I remembered the Truck Store was in Menlo Park near the train station, got curious and looked it up. This MoMA page has some fun facts: https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/AccesstoTools/ https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/AccesstoT... In more recent years it was a flower shop: https://www.google.com/maps/place/558+Santa+Cruz+Ave,+Menlo+Park,+CA+94025/@37.4540124,-122.1827246,3a,75y,313.82h,87.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_xpEM17RzGbmYkErs09yNQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x808fa4ae4b967a5b:0x2db02ee68d1838f2!8m2!3d37.4541829!4d-122.1829861 https://www.google.com/maps/place/558+Santa+Cruz+Ave,+Menlo+... And now it is torn down for new construction. Somewhat fittingly, the current Google Street View has a truck driving by in front of the vacant lot: https://www.google.com/maps/place/558+Santa+Cruz+Ave,+Menlo+Park,+CA+94025/@37.4539694,-122.1826833,3a,75y,311.38h,89.57t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s5q58C8f8t8qZ7BmkQccHiA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D5q58C8f8t8qZ7BmkQccHiA%26cb_client%3Dsearch.gws-prod.gps%26w%3D86%26h%3D86%26yaw%3D305.7693%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192!4m5!3m4!1s0x808fa4ae4b967a5b:0x2db02ee68d1838f2!8m2!3d37.4541829!4d-122.1829861 https://www.google.com/maps/place/558+Santa+Cruz+Ave,+Menlo+... Pop quiz! (Actually I'm genuinely curious.) Can anyone name the typeface used in the FUNCTION and Whole Earth Truck Store headings in the MoMA page? I used to know it well (pun intended) but have forgotten its name. Back in those days, you used to buy fonts by the sheet. A sheet of rub-on lettering that is. The sheet had characters that were slightly sticky underneath. These were on the back side of the sheet. I mostly used Letraset and Mecanorma sheets. You would place the sheet so the next letter you wanted was lined up where it should be over the page you were making, and then rub over the letter with a burnishing tool until it came loose from the font sheet and stuck to the paper underneath. Update! I found these newfangled things called "Google" and "Wikipedia". (Well - pun intended again - I guess I already blew my cover with those Street View links.) Anyway, the typeface was called Windsor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_(typeface) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_(typeface) One more thing... Here's a great photo of Stewart Brand and the gang at the Truck Store: https://twitter.com/longnow/status/1058035963354583041/photo/1 https://twitter.com/longnow/status/1058035963354583041/photo...

DonHopkins 5y ago
>You would place the sheet so the next letter you wanted was lined up where it should be over the page you were making, and then rub over the letter with a burnishing tool until it came loose from the font sheet and stuck to the paper underneath. Then the web came along and used up all the "w"'s!
- Stratoscope 5y ago
  I hated it when I ran out of a letter late at night and University Art was closed! You are right, I remember the old radio commercials. They chewed up all the w's and spat them out: "Please visit our World Wide Web Site at aitch tee tee pee, colon, forward slash, forward slash, double-you double-you double-you, period, example, period, see oh emm, forward slash, info, period, aitch tee em ell."
jamal-kumar 5y ago
i used to love letraset for doing art with
- Stratoscope 5y ago
  It was so much fun! I mostly did more mundane things like my business cards and letterhead. But still... Seeing something go directly from my brain onto paper, with the help of these magical rub-on letters and symbols and a little bamboo burnishing tool? There was nothing else like it.
giantrobot 5y ago
> Pop quiz! (Actually I'm genuinely curious.) Can anyone name the typeface used in the FUNCTION and Whole Earth Truck Store headings in the MoMA page? I used to know it well (pun intended) but have forgotten its name. ... > Update! I found these newfangled things called "Google" and "Wikipedia". (Well - pun intended again - I guess I already blew my cover with those Street View links.) Anyway, the typeface was called Windsor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_(typeface) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_(typeface) Damn I just saw your update, I was going to chime in with that! Such a cool looking font for print.

DonHopkins 5y ago

>You would place the sheet so the next letter you wanted was lined up where it should be over the page you were making, and then rub over the letter with a burnishing tool until it came loose from the font sheet and stuck to the paper underneath. Then the web came along and used up all the "w"'s!

Stratoscope 5y ago
I hated it when I ran out of a letter late at night and University Art was closed! You are right, I remember the old radio commercials. They chewed up all the w's and spat them out: "Please visit our World Wide Web Site at aitch tee tee pee, colon, forward slash, forward slash, double-you double-you double-you, period, example, period, see oh emm, forward slash, info, period, aitch tee em ell."

jamal-kumar 5y ago

i used to love letraset for doing art with

Stratoscope 5y ago
It was so much fun! I mostly did more mundane things like my business cards and letterhead. But still... Seeing something go directly from my brain onto paper, with the help of these magical rub-on letters and symbols and a little bamboo burnishing tool? There was nothing else like it.

giantrobot 5y ago

> Pop quiz! (Actually I'm genuinely curious.) Can anyone name the typeface used in the FUNCTION and Whole Earth Truck Store headings in the MoMA page? I used to know it well (pun intended) but have forgotten its name. ... > Update! I found these newfangled things called "Google" and "Wikipedia". (Well - pun intended again - I guess I already blew my cover with those Street View links.) Anyway, the typeface was called Windsor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_(typeface) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_(typeface) Damn I just saw your update, I was going to chime in with that! Such a cool looking font for print.