# What is this graphic design style? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 14, 2007, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-graphic-design-style/395832 "2007-03-14T01:22:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![neorxnawange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f4b2a3/32.png) [@neorxnawange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neorxnawange)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-graphic-design-style/395832/1 "2007-03-14T01:22:22Z")
Pizza parlors like to use this style on menus and signs and the new [HP Computer is Personal Again](http://www.hp.com/personalagain/us/en/index.html) ads also show some elements of it. There are lots of pointing fingers, like those mentioned in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=411858&highlight=pointing) , and the text is printed but made to look handwritten and uneven. Sometimes the text is printed in what looks like an old-western font. It seems to be a definite style, and I would call it pizza parlor style, or old-timye, or something, but do graphic artists have a name for this particular type of style? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-graphic-design-style/395832/2 "2007-03-14T01:36:34Z")
[QUOTE=neorxnawange] Pizza parlors like to use this style on menus and signs and the new [HP Computer is Personal Again](http://www.hp.com/personalagain/us/en/index.html) ads also show some elements of it. There are lots of pointing fingers, like those mentioned in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=411858&highlight=pointing) , and the text is printed but made to look handwritten and uneven. Sometimes the text is printed in what looks like an old-western font. It seems to be a definite style, and I would call it pizza parlor style, or old-timye, or something, but do graphic artists have a name for this particular type of style? [/QUOTE] In the first link they way it is layed out on the hand, I would call it hippie/trippy style. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-graphic-design-style/395832/3 "2007-03-14T01:48:35Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] In the first link they way it is layed out on the hand, I would call it hippie/trippy style. [/QUOTE] Actually, it has more of a '50s look than '60s. And the “hippy” period wasn’t big on serifed letterforms. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-graphic-design-style/395832/4 "2007-03-14T01:51:19Z")
I don’t know if there’s a name for it, but the first thing that came to mind was the website (and general branding) for [Magic Hat beed](http://www.magichat.net/). It also is reminiscent of Monty Python. ---
**Author:** ![Crescend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Crescend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescend)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-graphic-design-style/395832/5 "2007-03-14T01:55:04Z")
The font that it is laid out in seems very familiar. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it on a number of movie posters - I want to say “Harry Potter”, but those posters had a different font. It’s definitely associated in my mind with “magic” and/or “whimsy”, though. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-graphic-design-style/395832/6 "2007-03-14T02:03:06Z")
I think it’s a 60’s faux western look. Think spagetti western. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-graphic-design-style/395832/7 "2007-03-14T02:17:31Z")
That HP ad reminds me of the [opening sequence](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-PbwJ0VXhs) to **My Three Sons,** which started in 1960. The cover of \*\*[An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer](http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1099369/a/An+Evening+Wasted+With....htm) \*\* (1959) has a similar feel. So I guess that makes it a late 1950s thing. I’m just asking my gf, who has been a professional book and graphical designer for 30 years, what it’s actually called if anything. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-graphic-design-style/395832/8 "2007-03-14T02:19:32Z")
Wonkavision. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-graphic-design-style/395832/9 "2007-03-14T02:54:10Z")
I makes me think of an elongated Monkey Chunks font. > **[Monkey Chunks Font | dafont.com](https://www.dafont.com/monkey-chunks.font)** > > Monkey Chunks Font | dafont.com Or any sort of faux chiseled font. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-graphic-design-style/395832/10 "2007-03-14T03:17:54Z")
[QUOTE=Askance] I’m just asking my gf, who has been a professional book and graphical designer for 30 years, what it’s actually called if anything. [/QUOTE] She calls it Retro. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-graphic-design-style/395832/11 "2007-03-14T05:11:50Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] Actually, it has more of a '50s look than '60s. And the “hippy” period wasn’t big on serifed letterforms. [/QUOTE] I think that if you go back and look at a bunch of Allman Brother and Grateful Dead posters, you will see mostly serifed fonts of one type or another. The linked fonts don’t look exactly like 60s-70s letterforms, but they do seem conciously aware of them. My first impression was a slightly modern take on 60s and 70s fontography. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-graphic-design-style/395832/12 "2007-03-14T11:19:35Z")
Couild it be some variant on [shag style](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=391446)?