Compacta (typeface)

{{Short description|Sans-serif typeface}}

{{Infobox font

| name = Compacta

| familyname =

| image = Compacta typeface specimen.png

| style = Sans-serif

| classifications =

| creator = Fred Lambert

| foundry = Letraset

| creationdate = 1963

| releasedate =

| trademark =

| based_on =

| aka =

| variations = Light, Regular, Bold, Black
Obliques{{cite web|url=http://www.linotype.com/276/Compacta-family.html |title=Download Compacta font family |accessdate=2013-05-02}}

}}

Compacta is a condensed sans-serif typeface designed by Fred Lambert for Letraset in 1963.{{cite web|url=http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/letraset/compacta/ |title=Compacta - Webfont & Desktop font |accessdate=2013-05-02}} It is visually similar to the typefaces Impact and Haettenschweiler, though Compacta has a distinctively square shape in comparison. Letraset was a dry transfer system, widely used by amateur or small-scale lettering projects, although many professional designers used it as well.{{cite web|last1=Lamacraft|first1=Jane|title=Rub-down revolution|url=http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/rub-down-revolution|website=Eye|accessdate=22 August 2015}} Compacta was Letraset's first original typeface design, and proved widely popular.{{cite book|last1=Loxley|first1=Simon|title=Type: the secret history of letters|isbn=9780857730176|pages=186}} Rights to it were acquired by Linotype and others, leading to it becoming available in other formats such as digitally.

File:Compacta Bold Letraset transfers.jpg

Compacta was reportedly designed to be similar to stencilled alphabets of the 1920s and to the 'much lusted-after' Schmalfette Grotesk, an upper-case only predecessor to Haettenschweiler, which had tended to attract attention among British designers but was not available in the United Kingdom.{{cite web|title=ITC Compacta|url=http://www.fonts.com/font/itc/compacta|website=fonts.com|accessdate=23 August 2015}}{{cite web|last1=Dempsey|first1=Mike|title=Schmalfette: Tall, dark and handsome|url=http://mikedempsey.typepad.com/graphic_journey_blog/2013/04/schmalfette-tall-dark-and-handsome.html|website=Graphic Journey|accessdate=22 August 2015}}{{cite web|last1=Dempsey|first1=Mike|title=Frederick Lambert: Graphic Design Britain|url=http://mikedempsey.typepad.com/graphic_journey_blog/2010/12/fredrick-lambert.html|website=Design Journey|accessdate=22 August 2015}} Impact was released slightly later for similar reasons.{{cite web|last1=Lee |first1=Geoffrey |title=Comments on Typophile thread |url=http://typophile.com/node/7921 |website=Typophile (archived) |accessdate=27 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050826182110/http://typophile.com/node/7921 |archivedate=August 26, 2005 }} Lambert taught typography at the London College of Printing as well as working for Letraset; he also curated the Graphic Design Britain anthology, as well as a book on lettering.{{cite web|last1=Dempsey|first1=Mike|title=Frederick Lambert|url=http://mikedempsey.typepad.com/graphic_journey_blog/2010/12/fredrick-lambert.html|website=Design Journey|accessdate=23 August 2015}}{{cite book|last1=Menten|first1=Frederick Lambert ; edited by Theodore|title=Letter forms : 110 complete alphabets|date=1972|publisher=Dover Publications|location=New York|isbn=048622872X|edition=American|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/letterforms110co0000lamb}}{{cite book|last1=Lambert|first1=Fred|title=Graphic design Britain 70|date=1970|publisher=Studio Vista|location=London|isbn=0289798418}} The style of lettering Compacta is based on has been called gaspipe.{{cite web|title=Tungsten|url=http://www.typography.com/fonts/tungsten/overview/|publisher=Hoefler & Frere-Jones|accessdate=24 August 2015}} It is also quite similar to the masthead of Private Eye (which is caps-only), designed by Matthew Carter around the same time.{{cite web|last1=Walters|first1=John|title=Matthew Carter's timeless typographic masthead for Private Eye magazine|url=http://www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/type-tuesday26|website=Eye|accessdate=24 August 2015}}{{cite web|last1=Carter|first1=Matthew|title=Carter's Battered Stat|url=http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/carters-battered-stat|website=Eye|accessdate=5 February 2016}} Carter would later design Helvetica Compressed for similar reasons.{{cite book |last1=Drucker |first1=Margaret. Re: essays by Johanna |last2=Mosley |first2=James |title=Typographically speaking : the art of Matthew Carter |date=2003 |publisher=Princeton Architectural |location=New York |isbn=9781568984278 |page=53 |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicksherman/16656369014/in/photolist-976eu9-9769qL-rnSfd7-mkF5g8-cJepi3 |edition=2.}}