Compacta is a condensed sans-serif

typeface A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are thousands ...

Letraset Letraset was a company known mainly for manufacturing sheets of typefaces and other artwork elements using the dry transfer method. Letraset has been acquired by the Colart group and become part of its subsidiary Winsor & Newton. Corporate his ...

in 1963. It is visually similar to the typefaces Impact and Haettenschweiler, though Compacta has a distinctively square shape in comparison. Letraset was a

dry transfer Dry transfers (also called rub-ons or rubdowns) are decals that can be applied without the use of water or other solvent. The decal itself is on a backing material such as paper or plastic sheeting much like a transparency. The dry transfer is ...

system, widely used by amateur or small-scale lettering projects, although many professional designers used it as well. Compacta was Letraset's first original typeface design, and proved widely popular. Rights to it were acquired by Linotype and others, leading to it becoming available in other formats such as digitally. Compacta Bold Letraset transfers

Compacta was reportedly designed to be similar to stencilled alphabets of the 1920s and to the 'much lusted-after'

Schmalfette Grotesk Haettenschweiler is a sans-serif typeface in the grotesque style that is very bold and condensed. It is intended for headlines and display text. Schmalfette Grotesk Versions of the font that are now commonly used are descend from an upper-case onl ...

, an upper-case only predecessor to Haettenschweiler, which had attracted attention among British designers but was not available in the UK. Impact was released slightly later for similar reasons. Lambert taught typography at the

London College of Printing The London College of Communication is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It specialises in media-related subjects including advertising, animation, film, graphic design, photography and sound arts. It has approximately ...

as well as working for Letraset; he also curated the ''Graphic Design Britain'' anthology, as well as a book on lettering. The style of lettering Compacta is based on has been called gaspipe. It is also quite similar to the masthead of ''

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised for its prominent criticism ...

'' (which is caps-only), designed by

Matthew Carter Matthew Carter (born 1 October 1937) is a British type designer.A Man of Letters

around the same time. Carter would later design Helvetica Compressed for similar reasons.

Popular media

The dense, industrial appearance of Compacta was a popular genre in the early 1960s, and

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

albums such as ''Aftermath'' and ''

12 X 5 ''12 × 5'' is the second American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released in 1964 following the success of their American debut '' The Rolling Stones (England's Newest Hit Makers)'', is an expanded versio ...

'' and the Who's I Can See For Miles either use Compacta or are in a similar style, as does the first edition of '' The Bell Jar''. Compacta has remained popular on album covers, being used by

The KLF The KLF (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band formed in London in 1987. Bill Drummond (alias King Boy D) and Jimmy Cauty (alias Rockman Rock) began by releasing ...

on all their albums. Outside the UK, it was used as the titles and credits font for shows such as ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American action-adventure medical drama A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television) ...

'' and ''

The Six Million Dollar Man ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is r ...

'', as well as on-screen by

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and it ...

from 1991 to 1995, in the TV series ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American Drama (film and television), action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Sch ...

'', the logotype to

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau ...

's 2010 album ''

Something for Everybody ''Something for Everybody'' is the sixth studio album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2370, in June 17, 1961. Recording sessions took place on November 8, 1960, at Radio Recorder ...

'', and in the logo of

Team Fortress 2 ''Team Fortress 2'' is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' mod for '' Quake'' and its 1999 remake, ''Team Fortress Classic''. The game was rel ...

. This font has been used by the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

team since 1993 as well as the logo typeface for '' WWF SmackDown!'' from 1999 to 2001.

Notes

External links

Examples of Compacta in use
- Fonts in Use Sans-serif typefaces Typefaces and fonts introduced in 1963 Display typefaces Letraset typefaces {{typography-stub