When the font stood still! A celebration of type in Space for Apollo 11

To celebrate NASA’s, and humankind’s, anniversary of Apollo 11 the Design Museum devoted its latest #FontSUnday thread to type in space.

From Polish posters of Solaris through the iconic title design of Alien to Stanley Kubrick’s exploration in typography during his 2001 space opus, Twitter celebrated the iconic anniversary in pure typographic brilliance reminding us stories and fonts that are part of our common pop culture references, the ones which dictate our visual language on Earth and beyond.

Michael Bierut has interesting info regarding the typography in 2001. “As a graphic designer, I was interested to learn from the Guardian article that Kubrick was obsessed with typography, with a special affection for Futura Extra Bold” writes Bierut. “This font is so strongly associated with 2001 that I was surprised to realize that it appears only in the promotional material for the movie; the main titles are a kind of cross between Trajan and Optima, and I regret to say this is as horrible as it sounds. In space, however, all is forgiven” he notes.

For a more thorough investigation of type in Space, we dare you to enter Dave Addey’s Typeset in the Future. The site -and book- breaks down every bit of type launched in Space in iconic sci-fi films such as 2001, Alien and more.

“Alien's 1978 teaser poster was part of a series of concepts by Hollywood legend Bill Gold that played with the typography of ALIEN” writes Dave Addey 

“Typography and font choice are often used to create a sense of futurism in movies. Indeed, it’s got to the point where you can set your calendar to FUTURE simply from the presence of Eurostile Bold Extended on the wall of a passing spaceship. This site is dedicated to typography and iconography as it appears in sci-fi and fantasy movies and TV shows” writes Addey who insists that his project “isn’t really about typography at all. It’s about storytelling through design.”

For more space-in-type adventures Typeroom has plenty to offer as well.

How Apollo 11 launched Futura to the moon

NASA celebrates its space odyssey milestones with two logos and beyond

From Alien to Seven: 7 times typography ruled the silver screen

Launching! NASA’s long-forgotten design manual is yours to own

In the meantime enter Twitterverse and remember, in Space no one will hear you scream but EVERYONE will see your design.