One way to get the feel of any period in graphic design is to look at the logos of the era. Bold type, hard lines, outlines, and swashes were common ways to “beef up” otherwise simple designs. The PBS logo was designed in 1976, the Kiss logo in 1974, and the Avant Garde magazine logo in 1967. Avant Garde was an exclusive design to the magazine, but in 1970 it was released as a commercial product and quickly became the defining typeface of the ’70s decade.
Until the ’70s, type design and type setting were greatly limited by technology. Truly unique and interesting display and logo type was often drawn by hand. And if you didn’t have those skills or time, then the choices were limited.
In the ’70s there were two new technologies widely in place that gave designers more choices, not just in type styles, but in how type was set. This was the decade when designers started taking more control of their own typesetting.
Both processes made type cheaper, which was the key to expanding the market so more type designs could find an audience. The ’70s was an era of fashion extremes, music extremes, political extremes, and graphic design extremes.
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