
Typography of “Alien” (2014) - pareidolia
https://typesetinthefuture.com/2014/12/01/alien/
======
rdtsc
I really like these kinds of articles. I would have never noticed most of
these details.

Enjoyed the carefully thought out icon design:

[https://typesetinthefuture.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/alien...](https://typesetinthefuture.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/alien_semiotic_01_full.jpg)

Cryogenic vault -- the blue triangle pointing down to a stick figure. Photonic
system -- has the letter F shaped by what looks like fiber optic channels.
Radiation hazard is great too -- a stick figure dead on the ground, with the
sickly bright orange color filling the top of the square.

Then not all details could be consistent of course. And the whole self-destuct
French vs English instruction bit was funny.

Then the completely off the wall stuff-- 70s psychadelics creeped into the
keyboard design, that was fascinating. What else would you put on a self-
destruct computer console than "SHAKTI EXCESS", "PADME" and reference to a
phychadelic trip?

~~~
yolesaber
If you are into industrial and globalized signage / semiotics, do yourself a
favor and check out the Symbol Sourcebook -- [https://www.amazon.com/Symbol-
Sourcebook-Authoritative-Inter...](https://www.amazon.com/Symbol-Sourcebook-
Authoritative-International-Graphic/dp/0471288721)

Some of the symbolism they use for computer operations are fascinating

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msane
Another great aspect of the first two Alien movies is that the musical score
is very sparse and subtle. Those films don't need to use constant music to
tell the viewer what to think or feel or notice, which is an amazing effect on
it's own.

~~~
nostromo
Fun fact about the score to Aliens. There's an iconic song towards the end
called Bishop's Countdown.

[https://youtu.be/TX1rxPBTyEY?t=1m](https://youtu.be/TX1rxPBTyEY?t=1m)

It has been recycled over and over again, particularly in trailers. It's like
the Wilhelm Scream... once you start looking you'll start noticing it (and its
homages) constantly.

[https://youtu.be/dZ0dH5qv1mA?t=1m23s](https://youtu.be/dZ0dH5qv1mA?t=1m23s)

[https://youtu.be/-bBay_1dKK8?t=59s](https://youtu.be/-bBay_1dKK8?t=59s)

[https://youtu.be/jdl6eAIx2K4?t=1m35s](https://youtu.be/jdl6eAIx2K4?t=1m35s)

[https://youtu.be/67oe0_s9EIw?t=45s](https://youtu.be/67oe0_s9EIw?t=45s)

[https://youtu.be/1608jthc2VM?t=1m20s](https://youtu.be/1608jthc2VM?t=1m20s)

~~~
lucidguppy
Reminds me of mars
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmk5frp6-3Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmk5frp6-3Q)

~~~
AceJohnny2
I love Mars (worth noting Holst wrote it between 1914 and 1916), it's jaw-
dropping to discover all the references that John WiIliams was inspired from
for Star Wars' music...
[https://youtu.be/5pM2SozsyPE](https://youtu.be/5pM2SozsyPE)

Also, obligatory Venture Bros reference ;)
[https://youtu.be/K0iTfasIpLc?t=1m34s](https://youtu.be/K0iTfasIpLc?t=1m34s)

------
ZanyProgrammer
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only programmer who doesn't have an interest in
typography.

~~~
chrisseaton
When I read articles about typography I feel like I'm reading pseudo science.
They change something to do with kerning or whatever and then say it's better.
Why is it better? It's not a falsifiable claim!

When I write an article saying I'm doing something better in code I need to
demonstrate it empirically.

Maybe that's not a reasonable way to read a design article though.

~~~
jfoutz
Off the top of my head, there are a couple of examples that might change your
mind. Freeway road signs. They need to communicate what lane to be in to a
broad range of drivers, in stressful situations, very quickly. You should
never notice a good interchange sign. a quick glance is enough to know you
need to be in the second or third lane. A bad sign leads to bad driving, or a
missed exit, depending on the aggression of the driver.

Airport signage is another pretty good example. I always look for the little
man/woman symbols with an arrow pointing to the restrooms. I've missed signs
that actually say "Restrooms ->" because there's so much visual clutter in
airports. And i'm usually tired and a bit stressed out about making my
connection.

Perhaps it is pseudoscience. In this context, I'd be willing to agree it's all
just learned conventions. I'd argue, studying those conventions, and
exploiting them is more than nothing though.

You should never remember a good sign. it's noticed, used and forgotten. You
will always remember a bad sign.

~~~
jschwartzi
As an example of bad signage, the sign for the I405 north exit on I5 south in
Washington always confuses me because the road curves across a hill, and at
the distance where you should be changing lanes, the sign is aligned with the
second lane from the left. It's not until you're passing under the sign that
you can see the lane it's indicating, which is actually the far left lane.

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vegabook
This is a brilliant angle on an defining movie, the fairly flippant (and
genuinely amusing) tone of the article belying very serious and in depth
research. Indeed as a hobbyist font nut, I'm inspired to whip out Illustrator
to try and recreate some of the designs so well detailed here. The self-
destruct keyboard alone is a gem, the graphics on which are a perfect example
of the transition period from 70s to 80s design themes. Bravo for bringing a
37-year old movie so effectively back to life from such an original
perspective. Wish I had seen this in 2014.

~~~
vermontdevil
Be sure to read the blade runner version on that site. It's great as well!

~~~
argaldo
For the lazy web:
[https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/](https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/)

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izacus
If you want to admire more of the typography and great aestetic of Alien, the
2014 game Alien: Isolation is perfect for that.

It pretty much encourages you to explore it's decomissioned (and of course
Alien infested) Sevastopol station, which is lovingly built to mirror the
original movie aestetic and it's full of terminals and other lore pieces :)

~~~
brohee
As much as I loved the art direction, which I can only qualify as terrific, I
greatly disliked the "running from closet to closet" gameplay...

~~~
mikestew
I have probably a couple of hours into that game, before I got bored and gave
up. In those few hours I have not seen a single alien. It's as if the game
studio forgot the title of the game.

~~~
brohee
Oh AFAIK there is only one and you get to see quite too much of it considering
you cannot really fight it, and the running from hiding place to hiding
place...

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amasad
Reminds me of a similarly awesome blog deconstructing user interfaces in
scifi: [http://www.scifiinterfaces.com/](http://www.scifiinterfaces.com/)

------
rdtsc
The dissection of another classic -- Blade Runner on the same site:

[https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/](https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/)

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rsync
Sigh. I thought (before I saw the "2014") that this was finally a new
typesetinthefuture post.

I would love to see new entries there.

~~~
eudox
This month:
[https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/](https://typesetinthefuture.com/2016/06/19/bladerunner/)

~~~
tamana
Is he making an off joke when he claims that all the replicants are
animatronic, not played by human actors? Or were there animatronic heads used
in the movie?

~~~
combatentropy
I'm hoping it's his dry sense of humor. He's also pointing out how the
replicants have a problem with red-eye: "it's unfortunate that the producers
couldn't find a way to work around such a simple photographic bugbear." In
fact the filmmakers took great pains to add this golden glow to the
replicants. It's no accident at all. In the Final Cut DVD, they talk about how
they did it. I'm sure that Dave Addey watched this bonus feature, as
analytical as he is. He mentions Harrison Ford's eyes catch this glow at one
point, saying, "How strange! I'm sure it won't turn out to be significant."
This must be more dry humor, because there's also the fan theory that Deckard
is a replicant after all.

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timmytokyo
Here's the video of the title sequence:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUtk96wURLE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUtk96wURLE)

~~~
ghostDancer
[http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/alien/](http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/alien/)

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tgb
I found the typography of Interstellar interesting, if only because it may be
the first time humanity has ever seen serifs in space.

~~~
brute
From the Alien article:

> _This is most unusual, if only for being a serif (rather than sans-serif)
> on-screen computer font in a sci-fi movie._

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Pxtl
For moon, it's no wonder there's so much similarity - they heydey of space
travel was he '80s, so Moon goes for a deliberately '70s and '80s vibe. You
see this again in The Martian, where somehow by coincidence his only
entertainment is Disco and Zork.

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ionwake
It is oddly comforting to read this blog post, and compels me to post that,
this is because a selection of the images, specifically the typographically
focused ones, have been my default image posts on some boards for the passed
couple of months. If it is a coincidence, one can see why, it is a beautiful
film.

------
jetcata
I also noticed the grammatical mistake on MU/TH/UR's screen after
interrogation: it should have been 'Ensure', not 'Insure'!

~~~
privong
> I also noticed the grammatical mistake on MU/TH/UR's screen after
> interrogation: it should have been 'Ensure', not 'Insure'!

"Ensure" and "insure" are both valid words/spellings for this. The use of
"insure" is far less common, for this meaning, though. Both include "to make
(something) sure, certain, or safe" in their definitions:

[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ensure](http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/ensure)

[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insure](http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/insure)

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panic
Great article, but I have to laugh at the "hamburger" menu which slides the
entire screen over just to show two links.

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lowbloodsugar
Is there a word to describe the kind of person who gets a hard-on when reading
this kind of stuff? I'm asking for a friend.

