ITC CuppaJoe & ITC Ludwig

Nick Curtis’s love affair with typography began when he was barely past adolescence, in a neighborhood alley of East Dallas. On a routine patrol for tossed treasures, he came across a type specimen catalog: a big, fat green binder displaying hundreds of fonts! He was hooked. Curtis’s career has taken him from production art to graphic design to art direction, but type has always remained his graphic passion, especially the provocative designs produced from the late 19th through the early 20th centuries.

Curtis’s inspiration for ITC CuppaJoe comes from Art Deco lettering, but not from the typical sources. Depending upon your age—or your interest in early twentieth-century package design—ITC CuppaJoe might look familiar. Its foundation is the label art for Bokar, A&P’s premium coffee during the 1930s. Curtis built on the gently sweeping curves and bold angular strokes of the original coffee-can lettering to create a distinctive typeface that commands attention. Rich, full-bodied, satisfying—now that’s a ITC CuppaJoe!

ITC Ludwig
Giuseppe Errico

ITC Ludwig has an edge. It’s nervous, tense—maybe even a little scary. Drawn by Italian designer Giuseppe Errico, ITC Ludwig refuses to be confined to a traditional baseline. Its twisted lowercase ‘g’ and an ‘e’ that could double as an upside-down ‘a’ both add to the design’s spooky personality.

As a young man, Errico studied to be a fine artist. He became a graphic designer only after a “long reflection period,” he says. His early training is evident in many of ITC Ludwig’s suggestive qualities. There is far more to this face than cranking up the “distort” knob in Fontographer. Reflection and personal expression are at its core.