Johnny Dorelli & Catherine Spaak – “Così un uomo e una donna” / “Proviamo a innamorarci” single cover
May 29th is National Paperclip Day in the USA! Let’s celebrate with a use of the Paperclip typeface. The all-lowercase design was conceived by Dutch graphic artist Ad Werner (1925–2017) – who had studied under Gerrit Kiljan, Paul Schuitema and Piet Zwart, see his profile on Graphic Design Roots. Can you spot the constructivist influences?
Paperclip was issued for dry transfer lettering by Mecanorma in 1973. A year later, it appeared on the cover of a single by (then married) Belgian-Italian couple Catherine Spaak and Johnny Dorelli. The titles of the Italo-Schlager songs are rendered in ITC Avant Garde Gothic, also in all lowercase, tightly spaced, and with some of its alternate glyphs (e, v) and a modified c. The design is credited to “Reparto tipolitografico CBS-SUGAR”, i.e. the record company’s in-house design department in Milano, Italy.
