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Betty Davis – They Say I’m Different album art, Just Sunshine Records logo

Contributed by Elise Carlton on Jul 4th, 2020. Artwork published in .
Vinyl release, front cover
Source: www.discogs.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Vinyl release, front cover

They Say I’m Different is the second studio album by Betty Davis (b. 1945). It was released in 1974 on Just Sunshine. The cover was designed by Ron Levine, with art direction by Bill Levy and photography by Mel Dixon. Kaisik Wong designed the costume.

The jagged caps are from Sini Aztec, designed by Anthony Sini and offered by Photo-Lettering in solid and outlined styles. In 2011, Jess Collins digitized it for House Industries. The track names and other small print is in Trade Gothic Bold Extended.

[More info on Discogs]

Vinyl release, back cover
Source: pantherecords.com The Collector. License: All Rights Reserved.

Vinyl release, back cover

Adaptation for a CD (?) re-release, with bigger type in two lines, stacked and justified
Source: www.amazon.de License: All Rights Reserved.

Adaptation for a CD (?) re-release, with bigger type in two lines, stacked and justified

Center-aligned credits in  Bold Extended, from the inner gatefold
Source: styrous.blogspot.com Photo: Styrous. License: All Rights Reserved.

Center-aligned credits in Trade Gothic Bold Extended, from the inner gatefold

The Just Sunshine Records logo as seen on the labels uses an outlined style of , with orange fill and set on a curve. The black text appears to be in an adaptation of , with some of its alternate glyphs. [Edit: Bryson Stohr identified it as .]
Source: styrous.blogspot.com Photo: Styrous. License: All Rights Reserved.

The Just Sunshine Records logo as seen on the labels uses an outlined style of Nelson Cumulus, with orange fill and set on a curve. The black text appears to be in an adaptation of Vogue, with some of its alternate glyphs. [Edit: Bryson Stohr identified it as Sans Serif (VariTyper).]

The distributor’s line uses .
Source: styrous.blogspot.com Photo: Styrous. License: All Rights Reserved.

The distributor’s line uses Optima.

Typefaces

  • Sini Aztec
  • Trade Gothic Extended
  • Nelson Cumulus
  • Sans Serif (VariTyper)
  • Optima

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3 Comments on “Betty Davis – They Say I’m Different album art, Just Sunshine Records logo”

  1. I don’t know if that’s an adaptation of Vogue; I looked through a 1960s Varityper type specimen book and spotted a face called Sans Serif. To me, at least, the letterforms of the Bold weight seem to match up with the text on the records. It would probably be a good idea to compare the former with the latter to make sure and to avoid any unintentional mistakes.

    Specimen: archive.org/details/varityp… (pages 218–221 show specimens of the Bold weight.)

  2. I haven’t received a response yet, so I’ve directly compared the text on the record to specimens of a Varityper typeface called Sans Serif, and the bold weight appears to match the text on the vinyl records.

    “They Say I’m Different”, Betty Davis’ name, and “Stereo JSS-3500” appear to be set in the 10-point size: archive.org/details/varityp…, whilst everything else appears to be set in the 7-point size: archive.org/details/varityp…. It’s worth pointing out that this typeface displays noticeable differences depending on the size.

    The Vogue credit should be replaced.

  3. Done. Thank you!

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