The Cooper Black comeback

When I was a young chief sub on the Evening Despatch in Darlington, 30 years or so ago, I was nominated for a design award and off I went to a swanky hotel in the Smoke. When I didn't win I collared the judges in the bar and asked why the winner's portfolio was better than mine. "Ahh," one of them said. "We liked your pages, confident use of pictures, good white space, big impact ... but you could have used more modern typography."  "Like what?" I asked. "Look at all the winners they said ... they all used Cooper Black."
We didn't have Cooper Black in our caseroom. Just Century Bold, Times, Bodoni, Garamond, Clarendon and a selection of sans faces including Tempo (the font The Sun still uses today) and Univers. So I could only look on as the newspaper world fell in love with Cooper Black. 

The Sunderland Echo - Cooper Black titlepiece

Everyone from the Liverpool Echo to The Sun decorated their pages with it. The Sunderland Echo even used it for its titlepiece. 

It wasn't just newspapers either. I thought it looked pretty cool on the album cover of the 1971 Doors' album LA Woman but when it was hijacked by TV programmes - Dad's Army, Cheers and Mash included - often in yellow caps, it lost its coolness altogether. 

It was an Old Style serif which seemed to have been drawn by a child. Its O sat at a peculiar angle, the cap A was definitely distorted and the lower case f looked like a deformed chess piece. 

You couldn't use it as a text face (it fills in under around 14pt) and it didn't have a great headline count either. But the newspaper world loved it ... briefly. For some reason, when the computers came along, it disappeared from newspapers almost as quickly as it appeared. It was occasionally used on ironic features about 70s and 80s fashion, but that was it.
Now though, the font is enjoying a bit of a revival ... and I don't just mean easyjet and Garfield making it synonymous with orange.

Modern bands, such as Marina and the Diamonds and The Black Keys, have adopted the font. And tee-shirts declaring a love for Cooper Black are for sale online (although I have never seen anyone wearing one in real life). 

So I was fascinated to receive the brilliant Visual History of Cooper Black (at the top of the page) which Fibers sent me this week. Very smart, stylish and informative. I have long grown out of my blind dislike for Cooper Black. It reminds me of my youth, can have impact on posters and is bold and effective on artwork and tee-shirts. But I still draw the line at using it in newspapers. It was never, ever, really a newsprint font ... despite what those misguided 1980s' design judges believed. 
Thanks to @fibers for the nice graphic.

Ten thoughts about the Sun on Sunday

There really are no big surprises. The Sun on Sunday is just the same as the Sun on Saturday (and not too different from every other day). The typography, design, tone and masthead are all instantly recognisable. Even Dear Deidre has had to give up her day off. Fabulous magazine is so much a direct lift that it still carries yesterday's dateline. There are subtle differences though. I doubt a weekday Sun would devote five early pages to the Amanda Holden interview ... and there isn't a single nipple in sight. This is definitely not a resurrected News of The World, this is The Sun. It's a safe post-Leveson tabloid newspaper, that will do its job of filling a gap in the popular Sunday market. I was hoping for something newsier, something that had a meaningful investigation, that set the agenda for the week. But the Murdoch strategy is clear. If you have the market leader six days a week, why not seven? It will no doubt sell ... and as journalists we should applaud any newspaper launch. Anyway, for those of you with nothing better to do, here are my ten random thoughts on today's first issue.

i) There isn't a F*** Me Doris or Cor F*** Me story - or even a truly classic Sun headline. The cleverest is 'HERE COM&S THE SUN' about the Beatles' song being chosen for an M&S advert. After that, 'Piggy Beck ride,' above a picture of Harper Seven on her dad's shoulders, is about as good as it gets. 

ii) The most graphic headline of the day is without doubt 'I heard splash ... it was Amanda's blood hitting floor'. Woah. Good headlines should build pictures ... but I wasn't quite ready for this one.

iii) Katie Price may have many attributes, and written many books, but maintaining a compelling column is one of the hardest things to do - even for accomplished journalists. Employing celebrities, sports people and politicians as columnists is usually to provide an insight into their exclusive world. But do Sun readers really care that Ms Price doesn't like Rachel Johnston, that she would like to have met Marie Colvin and that her name doesn't guarantee a table reservation in some restaurants? Needs to step up the game. 

iv) There may be no Page 3 girl, indeed there are no nipples at all, but there is still a semi naked Kelly Rowland on Page 3 and plenty of glamour shots, not least Holly Willoughby in a leather studded catsuit.    

v) There is one small surprise - the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, joining the ranks of the Sun's columnists. He quotes Alexander Pope and rages against unemployment. He also provides the non-sequitur of the week. His penultimate paragraph of his main piece reads: "Ours is a God of second opportunities. With that in mind, live in hope, free from fear and embrace every day that God puts before you with confidence." This sage advice is then followed by: "And if you can buy The Sun seven days a week, even better." Well, it made me laugh.

vi) As usual, one of the biggest reasons to buy the Sun is the sport or, to be more precise, the football. The Goals Plus supplement is 28-pages with every league game covered. The graphics and stats are just what you need for a bit of Sunday morning analysis. I trust Roy Keane will shake off his leash once in a while.

vii) Putting seven-day TV listings in the main paper is far from ideal. TV watchers may hang on to a mag throughout the week but Sunday's newsprint will be  pretty dog-eared by Tuesday.

viii) For typographical geeks the Sun persists with Tempo for news display, which is not only clean with impact but gives a good headline count. Far more interesting though is the Cooper Black fest in the features section. It used to be the Sun's news font - so a little bit of heritage continues. The white serif text on red on Page 15 of Fabulous is asking an awful lot.

ix) There is plenty of mainstream advertising ... so any worries about companies wanting to disassociate themselves from the paper will have evaporated. Looks like the Sun on Sunday is here to stay

x) Finally a woman's perspective ... a quick conversation with my female colleagues indicates that Fabulous is one of the best newspaper magazines around and well suited to a Sunday. They particularly like the two pages of shoes (sigh). They are also impressed with the depth of the main paper, with plenty going on for women after the centre spread. Best quote: "Nancy Dell'Olio on style ... do me a favour."