In spite of the vast number of faces available, advertisers in this popular men’s magazine rely on relatively few types.

In a man’s magazine, the advertisers favored roman types over sans-serifs in both display and text composition. For display, out of 59 full-page ads, 14 romans were called upon in 32 advertisements, with 9 sans-serifs selected for 17 ads. For body type requirements, there were 13 roman faces in 35 ads and 6 sans-serifs in 21 ads. Just a scattering of other styles were used beyond these two categories, giving less variety than one might expect.

Typesetters’ specimen books are crammed with types, but the advertisers seem to rely on but a few to carry the big message. This apparent reluctance to try something new makes life difficult for the hanging committees of the various art directors’ shows looking for fresh new typographic approaches. Certainly no trend is making itself visible, and the crystal ball doesn’t seem to forecast any changes in the immediate future.

Display Types


Text Types


This article first appeared in the “Typographic Scoreboard” column of the December 1965 issue of The Inland Printer.