Help me categorize "The Limits of Control" poster

June 24, 2009 10:27 AM

Typography/DesignFilter: Help me categorize "The Limits of Control" poster

I stumbled across the Limits of Control trailer, and really loved the poster featured on the page. They've released a fuller poster with a photo of the main actor, etc; however, I'm now enamored with the look of this text and would like to know what descriptors I should be using to describe it (I tried to google it, but didn't even know what terms to use).

Or better yet, where have you seen examples of text similar to this?

Thanks a lot!

posted by nameless.k to media & arts (9 comments total)

It looks like a modified version of Futura Extra Bold. Gotham Ultra is another nice, similar one. It might be Avenir, too... I don't know if they have an Extra Bold version, but I assume so. Try WHATTHEFONT.COM.
posted by BirdD0g at 10:36 AM on June 24

whatthefont.com is useless for this kind of thing.

I'd rebuild this by using Futura Extra Bold and playing with any software that extrudes along the Z axis.
posted by zadcat at 11:11 AM on June 24

Are you just asking about the font/typeface, or other things too?

I think there's a pretty implicit reference to spy movies in that poster.
posted by roll truck roll at 11:36 AM on June 24

This post gives an educated guess about the font, if that helps.
posted by dropkick queen at 11:37 AM on June 24 [1 favorite]

sorry, I should have been a bit clearer. It's useful to know the font, but I'm also interested in the overall look . . .the extruded Z axis, and the all-caps. It seems like this is an old convention in promotional materials and I was wondering if there was a name for the style. Thanks for the other input on fonts, I'm a newb to typography and any info helps.
posted by nameless.k at 11:48 AM on June 24

Heh, if you want to know about the overall look, you might want to ask over here, since this poster seems very, very influenced by them.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 2:54 PM on June 24

"Extruded" is what I would call that effect of simply extrapolating thickness straight out of a 2d shape, such as text. But I can't think of a specific name for extruding it all the way in to the distance like that, though I'm sure it is a fairly common effect.
posted by lucidium at 3:00 PM on June 24

To me it slightly recalls the style of the Empire State Building era — a futurist/art deco/Metropolis feeling. I have a vague memory of this actually being called empire style, but I don't think that's correct, is it?
posted by argybarg at 6:17 AM on June 25

No guys, seriously, the design in question is all but ripped from Invisible Creature, check it out.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 6:20 AM on June 25