Potrero

Visual anatomy & craft review

Letterform structure
of Potrero.

The headline takes the middle of the poster in outline caps with a yellow outer contour and a salmon inner fill, so each letter carries three values at once, and the same face returns above and below in solid salmon at a fifth of the size, which is how a period travel poster actually used one typeface. The letters are wide and square-shouldered, the S and the R curl their terminals slightly, and the O and the C stay nearly circular, all of which reads as mid-century signage rather than a novelty face. Spacing is tight so the contour of one letter nearly meets the next, which is what creates the continuous band of colour across the word. The ground is a flat illustration of palms, a tiki post, a mountain and water, printed in four flat inks with visible misregistration, and the whole thing is framed by a roughened edge, so the type has to hold against a busy field.

Retro, layered, travel, printed