Compacta is a condensed

sans-serif In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif (), gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than ...

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

Letraset Letraset was a company known mainly for manufacturing sheets of typefaces and other artwork elements using the dry-transfer lettering method. Letraset was acquired by the Colart group and became part of its subsidiary Winsor & Newton. C ...

in 1963. It is visually similar to the typefaces

Impact Impact may refer to: * Impact (mechanics), a large force or mechanical shock over a short period of time * Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US Science and technology * Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event * Imp ...

and

Haettenschweiler 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 descended from an upper-case ...

, 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, an upper-case only predecessor to

, which had tended to attract attention among British designers but was not available in the United Kingdom. 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. Its origins are in education for the printing and retail industries; it now specialises in media-related subjects including advertising, animation ...

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 format), 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 ...

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

Matthew Carter Matthew Carter (born 1 October 1937) is an English 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 music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

albums such as ''Aftermath'' and ''

12 X 5 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

'' and the Who's

I Can See For Miles "I Can See for Miles" is a song by the English rock band the Who, recorded for the band's 1967 album '' The Who Sell Out''. Written by guitarist Pete Townshend, it was the only song from the album to be released as a single. Composition "I Can ...

either use Compacta or are in a similar style, as does the first edition of ''

The Bell Jar ''The Bell Jar'' is the only novel written by the American writer and poet Sylvia Plath. Originally published under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas" in 1963, the novel is supposedly semi-autobiographical with the names of places and people change ...

''. 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 who originated in Liverpool and London in the late 1980s. Scottish people, Scottish musician Bill Drummond (alias Ki ...

on all their albums. British punk band

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band that singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto formed in Manchester in 1976. During their career, the band combined elements of punk rock, power pop, and pop punk. The ...

used modified Letraset Compacta lettering to create their logo. American

ska-punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones, making the genre ...

band

Streetlight Manifesto Streetlight Manifesto is an American ska punk band from New Brunswick Township, New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, formed in 2002. They released their debut album, ''Everything Goes Numb'', through Victory Records on August 26, 2003. The ban ...

used the font on their debut album ''

Everything Goes Numb ''Everything Goes Numb'' is the debut studio album by American ska punk band Streetlight Manifesto, released on August 26, 2003. It garnered critical acclaim, with critics commenting on the quality of the band's lyrics and their powerful energy. ...

'' and has been using the typeface on their social media account. From 1968 until 1981 in the UK, this font was used on

Westward Television Westward Television was the first ITV franchise-holder for the South West of England. It held the franchise from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward Television provided a popular, distinctive and highly reg ...

. Outside the UK, it was used as on-screen by

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

from 1991 to 1995, in the TV series ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American Drama (film and television), 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 Schwartz ...

'', the logotype to

Devo Devo is an American new wave band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs ( Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a No. 14 ...

'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 May 1961. Recording sessions took place on November 8, 1960, at Radio Recorders i ...

'', and in the logo of

Team Fortress 2 ''Team Fortress 2'' (''TF2'') is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation in 2007. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' Mod (video gaming), mod for ''Quake (video g ...

. This font has been used by the

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

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

team since 1993 as well as the logo typeface for ''

WWF SmackDown! ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE. It airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on USA Network in the United ...

'' from 1999 to 2001.

Notes

{{Reflist, 2

External links

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