Dave Addey

@addey.com

484 Followers 395 Following

Curator of Typeset In The Future. Author of http://typesetinthefuture.com/book, from Abrams Books. Mashes up songs at @mashupsandbangers.com. 'Terrifyingly, wonderfully geeky' – Gizmodo.

A photo of an Apple TV interface, showing a poster for a movie called “The Drama”. The movie is categorised as a drama.
A screenshot from Google showing an AI Overview result for a search about Sarah Connor’s iconic monologue from Terminator 2. After an extended preamble about the monologue and its iconicness, the monologue quoted in the AI result is “something went wrong with this response.”
A screenshot from an article from Earth.com, saying: "Would octopuses build vast underwater cities and come onto land wearing breathing apparatus to shoot a deer? We've no way of knowing," he says. No one predicted that ancient primates would slowly turn into bipedal humans with advanced technology.
A close-up of page 187 from the book “Guinness World Records 2026”. The focused text snippet reads “Most ubiquitous sci-fi typeface. The distinctive outlines of Eurostile - a sans-serif font developed by Aldo Novarese in 1962 - can be seen in at least 37 sci-fi feature films. Its popularity was celebrated by American designer Dave Addey in his 2018 book Typeset in the Future. Notable examples of Eurostile include the user interfaces for the HAL 9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the logo of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation in the Alien franchise, and the labels on the DeLorean Time Machine in Back to the Future and its sequels.”
A still of a grinning Xenomorph from an episode of Alien: Earth, with two thumbs up from a person in front of it.
A pair of signs for “Sun Design Center” in Cupertino. The capital letter “N”s are rotated 180 in one sign when compared to the other.
Typography is an incredibly powerful way to visualize the future in sci-fi. Moviemakers regularly take advantage of this fact and set their calendars to "FUTURE" simply by slapping some Eurostile Bold Extended on the side of a passing spaceship. Indeed, Eurostile has become so effective at establishing a time frame in the future that whenever I see the typeface in real life - which happens a lot in my adopted home of California - I assume I've been transported to some futuristic dystopia in which a local nursing home is really a sinister government facility for scientific experimentation. Photo of Idylwood Care Center, in Sunnyvale, California. The existence of a secret underground cybernetics laboratory was unconfirmed at the time of printing.
Examples of visual and stylistic similarities between Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers (1997) and Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda film Triumph of the Will (1935).
Starship Troopers takes it a step further, into something that's actively propaganda. How did your experience as a documentary maker, particularly
The main difference with Starship Troopers, in terms of how it tells the story, is that both RoboCop and Total Recall have a protagonist who
There's a line in Starship Troopers, in the schoolroom, where Rasczak says, "We explored the failure of democracy, how the social scientists brought our world to the brink of chaos."
In Total Recall, and also in RoboCop, there seems to be a blurring of lines between corporations and governments, with OCP contracted to run the police force, and Federal Colonies running Mars. And privatized presidents and all that stuff. Yes. A lot of that thinking came from the original writers; it was already in the script. When I came to RoboCop, coming from Europe and not knowing much about American politics, I'm certainly not the one that invented that. Although I understood it when I read it. I think I was much more informed about the United States when I was doing Starship Troopers than when I was doing RoboCop. In RoboCop, I think all these political things were based on Reagan's development of Reaganomics, which I had only read about, living in Holland. And if you see the connections between government and politics, with Jones saying, "We are the military," it's the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower talked about at the end of his presidency. This connection of interwoven goals of government and military ... that was not something that I brought to the movie; that was already there.
Front cover of the US edition of The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, by Sydney Padua.
A photo of a TV showing a freeze-frame from Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. The photo shows Wallace zooming through a transparent water pipe on the outside of his house, with his little plasticine bum pressed up against the glass. In the bottom left corner is some text saying “Executive Producers Sarah Cox, Peter Lord, Carla Shelley”.
The front cover of “Be Funny Or Die”, by Joel Morris.
A sign from the back of a hotel room door that reads: You are in Room 0249 Fire Department: 911 Alarm sounds like: WHOOP-WHOOP followed by voice-instruction. Fire Alarm looks like: STROBE LIGHT.
An ad from "Vogue" magazine, Nov 1966, for "The Watch Of The Future". This watch was designed by Hamilton Watches for the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey". The ad shows a close-up of a model wearing the watch, with their arm bent and their hand by their shoulder. The model is wearing a shiny metallic long-sleeved top. The ad's text reads: 2001 – THE WATCH OF THE FUTURE …and, in a way, the watch of the present. Small way – just three in the world. But if it happened thrice, it could happen again, in time. Watch for it; it's called the 2001 and it was designed especially for Stanley Kubrick's new film, "2001: A Space Odyssey." A big, bold, way-out-in-orbit watch with about 2001 things going for it. Good looks: a circular dial in a case of satin-finished chromium 1½ inches wide, with black plastic band, Velcro closing. Good works: at one end of the case are three small windows which show the month, day, and Greenwich mean time. The movable bezel is marked in twelve hour divisions – this can be set to indicate time elapsed or future time to elapse. And at one corner of the case is a small red button that controls the alarm system. Watch of the future – for men, for women, by Hamilton. Silver ski pullover by White Stag.
A scan of an advert from the August 1968 issue of "Seventeen" magazine. The ad is for Wells jewelry, showing a selection of items of jewelry inspired by the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey", by Stanley Kubrick. The ad reads: "Now and forever… Wells in real silver and gold. Galaxies of brilliance from the world of Wells… inspired by "2001: A Space Odyssey". Real cultured pearls, carved ivory, genuine jade, tiger eyes, clusters of charms, all in real silver and gold. Scintillating. Discover the galaxy for you."
A Magic Eight-Ball, showing the message "SIGNS POINT TO YES".
A full-page ad from the August 1968 issue of “Seventeen” magazine. The ad is for a leather handbag designed by John Romain, as a tie-in for the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Stanley Kubrick. The ad shows a female model wearing brown leather pants and a brown leather sleeveless waistcoat over a mustard long-sleeve top and purple opaque tights, with red leather loafers. She has a beige tight-fitting hat on her head over short hair, with a few curls of hair sticking out. She is floating in space over an unknown planet with her arms and legs outstretched, with the sun to her right in the distance. She is holding a red John Romain handbag in her left hand. In the bottom right hand corner of the ad is the text “A total look to the future”, followed by the signature “John Romain”. Below the signature is the text “Earthly beauty. A total concept in leather as exciting as the beyond… inspired by the imagination and beauty of “2001: a space odyssey”. Tomorrow’s look today, crafted for you by the inimitable John Romain.”
A scan of a double-page ad from the August 1968 issue of "Seventeen" magazine. The ad is titled "out of this world knits… inspired by 2001: a space odyssey". The ad is for a range of clothing by US clothing company JP's, as a promotional tie-in for the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Stanley Kubrick. The ad shows four female models wearing 1960s shift dresses in red and white, paired with white tights and colored shoes. Some of the models are wearing hats. In the background is a large photo of the Moon. The models’ limbs are bent in unusual angles, as if they are floating in space above the Moon. Down the side of the ad is a list of American retail stores that stock the JP's clothing range.
A scan of a double-page advertising spread from the August 1968 issue of Seventeen Magazine. The ad reads "out of this world knits… inspired by 2001: a space odyssey". The ad is for fashion dresses by JP's, a clothing company. The ad features photos of four models floating in space above the Moon. The models are wearing 1960s shift dresses in red and white, with hats, white tights and shiny shoes. The models have their limbs bent in unusual shapes, as if they are floating in space. Down the right hand side of the ad is a list of US stores where 'Out of this world' knits could be purchased.
Photo of a closing title card from the movie “The Substance” (2024), showing the text “Substance font design: Gilles Pointeau”, in all caps. The text is set in the narrow, condensed sans-serif typeface that Pointeau designed for the movie’s eponymous black-market drug, known in the movie as “The Substance”.