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Linkin Park Font

Linkin Park’s newest album Minutes to Midnight has what I consider to be almost perfect cover art. The band is presented in a graphically strong yet photographically interesting way and there is an absolutely stunning logotype set above their heads. Said logotype is constructed from a relentlessly powerful typeface, with a treatment reminiscent of the famous Metallica logo. It actually looks like the Metallica logo grew up, matured, got a job, and combed its hair but still has a solid core of attitude and rock.

So, because I was unable to find the answer through a simple Google search, tonight I attempted to answer the question “what is the name of the font on the cover of Linkin Park’s newest album, Minutes to Midnight?” So, what is the name of the font on the cover of Linkin Park’s newest album, Minutes to Midnight? The bottom line is, I still don’t know. Oh, and if you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a much larger version of this logotype on the cover I keep talking about.

The “What the Font?” tool at MyFonts.com, when fed this logo, concluded that the font is in the Futura family. I should have noticed this before, as Futura is a very famous font. Volkswagen has been using it since the sixties for its corporate font, and Stanley Kubrick loved to use it in super ultra heavy weights on his movie posters. For example, take a look at the poster for 2001: A Space Odyssey. The thing is, the weight of the font on this album art makes the Kubrick weight look skinny. This is ultra super hero thick.

Regardless of the font, the spiky modifications that were made to the letter forms are what really give the design its flare. I like it, it’s some font similar to Futura, and I’m going to leave it at that. Hopefully someone from the online world can build on what I have found.

UPDATE: Coveralia provides a larger version of the cover.

4 comments left

Comments

Richard Roche

i’m gonna have to disagree and say that’s a pretty horrible album cover. the super cheesy emo silhouette poses, and the metallica ripoff pretty much disgust me and would make me avoid buying the album if i hadn’t already developed a hatred for their music. (ok, i might be a little biased but bare with me) Now, futura is an awesome font, one of the best ever made actually. But, it seems so impersonal that it doesn’t feel like it belongs on an album cover. If the music is actually artistic and personal and meaningful, i feel like the cover should reflect that as well. But this cover comes off as more of an advertisement than an artistic visual representation. One cover i’ve been recently awestruck by was elliot smith’s “new moon” album cover, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8b/KRS455.preview2.jpg simple and clean, but much more personal and art-like. I could hang that up on my wall and feel more like i’m hanging up art than a giant advertisment.

Alexander Micek

It’s funny you mention that, Richard; I remember the first time I heard of these guys. The year was 2002, and I was sitting next to you in biology class. You mentioned that I really should listen to a band called “Linkin Park,” so in order to remember the name, I wrote down the text “Lincoln-Park.” I didn’t know any better.

As for looking like an advertisement, I think the album cover is exactly that. My point is that, working within the constraints of the goal of advertisement, the graphic artist responsible for the cover succeeded. I do, however, see your point.

Richard Roche

yeah, it all depends on what the goal is. i guess you could say the cover is very representational of the music in this instance. you could look at the hybrid theory cover and compare it to this new one and it paints a pretty clear picture of how they started off as innovative artists and turned into a commercialized boy band.

jess l

I personally like the album cover art. In my opinion, it’s very unique… just like all their stuff. I think it Shows their dedication at what they do. Very cool stuff.

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