Patrick Cowley – Mechanical Fantasy Box album art
LP cover (front)
Motter Tektura is used for Mechanical Fantasy Box, a collection of 13 unreleased songs by Patrick Cowley (1950–1982), recorded between 1973 and 1980, and released by Dark Entries Records in October 2019.
The double vinyl LP comes housed in a black and white gatefold jacket designed by Gwenaël Rattke featuring a photograph by Susan Middleton, an essay from bandmate Maurice Tani, and an 8.5×11″ insert with notes. […] [It is] released in tandem with Cowley’s homoerotic journal of the same title. […] — Dark Entries Records
Tektura was designed by Othmar Motter in 1974. It was popularized through the use by Reebok (1976), Apple (1977), or Trapper Keeper (1978), and later also appeared for the logo of audio software producer Steinberg. The sci-fi face is a brilliant choice for a throwback to the late 1970s/early 1980s in general, and for a pioneer of electronic dance music in particular.
It comes with a number of unusual letterforms, like the single-legged A or the headless S. Its w/W might be the hardest to swallow (unless you happen to aim for a pretzel-themed identity). This album cover features not one, but two substitutes for the unwieldy glyph. The artist’s name includes a customized form with diagonals that might have been made from a double v. The track list on the back cover shows another, simpler, and more convincing approach: The w in “breakdown” is an upside-down m.
Read more about Cowley and the Mechanical Fantasy Box.
LP cover (back)
Softcover. Tektura’s descending s is hyper-extended to form an underline.
The text face used in the journal is ITC Korinna.
Hardcover, made in a limited edition of 100 copies.
1 Comment on “Patrick Cowley – Mechanical Fantasy Box album art”
What a cool design! One of the best uses of Motter Tektura I’ve seen.