Cooper Black is a heavily weighted, old style serif  typeface

Typeface

In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....

 designed by Oswald Bruce Cooper

Oswald Bruce Cooper

Oswald Bruce Cooper was an American type designer, lettering artist, graphic designer, and teacher of these trades.-Early life and education:...

 in 1921 and released by the Barnhart Brothers & Spindler type foundry in 1922. The typeface is drawn as an extra bold weight of Cooper Old Style. Though not based on a single historic model, Cooper Black exhibits influences of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and the Machine Age. Cooper Black was a predominant lettering style popularized by Oswald Bruce Cooper in Chicago and the Midwest of America in the 1920s, given typographic form. An earlier weight of Cooper's type designs, Cooper Old Style (later just "Cooper") was released first, though Cooper Black was what BB&S foundry was after. Cooper Black was advertised as being "for far-sighted printers with near-sighted customers", as well as "the Black Menace" by detractors.

Cooper Hilite

Cooper Hilite is a version of Cooper Black originally designed by painting white relief impressions onto a printed proof of Cooper Black. A messy version was released by the Russian type foundry Paratype

Paratype

Paratype is a technical term used in the scientific naming of species and other taxa of organisms. The exact meaning of the term paratype when it is used in zoology is not the same as the meaning when it is used in botany...

 in 1993. A detailed version that is a direct digital rendering of 'Oz' Cooper's original was released by the Wordshape type foundry in 2010. The Wordshape version is accompanied by a copy of Cooper Black that can be used to fill the incised spaces of Cooper Hilite with color via layering.

Cooper Black Italic

Cooper Black Italic is an italic variant, with swash characters as alternate characters.

A digitized version with swashes was first released by Wordshape as Cooper Black Italic Swash, designed by Ian Lynam Design. Wordshape's version includes alternate swash designs. Wordshape also released a non-swash version in 2010 that rivals previous versions by Adobe, Berthold, and others, though it is based on Cooper's original drawings in lieu of digitized versions of printed versions of Cooper Black Italic, as were previous versions.

Cooper Black Condensed

Cooper Black Condensed is a condensed variant, described by Cooper as 'condensed but not squeezed'. The condensed font is 20% lighter than the regular Cooper Black. Versions are available through many type companies such as Adobe and Wordshape.

Variants

Goudy Heavyface, Ludlow Black and Pabst Extra Bold were designed in response to Cooper Black.http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/bitstream/goudy-heavyface/

Soap, designed by Ray Larabie of Typodermic, is a uni-case variant based on Cooper Black.http://www.typodermic.com/46.html

Bitstream Cooper, designed at Bitstream in 1986, added interpolated light, medium, and bold styles, with the corresponding italics, to the existing black and old style weights. They vary from the originals in that they suppose intermediate weights would not have the same depth of character as the original weights of the typefaces. http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/paratype/cooper-bt/

Notable uses

• FK Željezničar Sarajevo crest.
• Once Upon a Time in the West
  Once Upon a Time in the West
  Once Upon a Time in the West is a 1968 Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone for Paramount Pictures. It stars Henry Fonda cast against type as the villain, Charles Bronson as his nemesis, Jason Robards as a bandit, and Claudia Cardinale as a newly widowed homesteader with a...
  
   during opening credits.
• Brain Bangley Edition of Asher Roth and Dj Wreckineyez Radical Magical Podcast
• The cover of Pet Sounds
  Pet Sounds
  Pet Sounds is the eleventh studio album by the American rock band The Beach Boys, released May 16, 1966, on Capitol Records. It has since been recognized as one of the most influential records in the history of popular music and one of the best albums of the 1960s, including songs such as "Wouldn't...
  
  , the Beach Boys
  The Beach Boys
  The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
  
   album
• The cover of LA Woman by The Doors
  The Doors
  The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
  
  
• The cover of On the Corner
  On the Corner
  On the Corner is a studio album by jazz musician Miles Davis, recorded in June and July 1972 and released later that year on Columbia Records. It was scorned by critics at the time of its release and was one of Davis's worst-selling recordings...
  
   by Miles Davis
  Miles Davis
  Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
  
  
• The cover of the David Bowie
  David Bowie
  David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
  
   album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
  The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
  The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is a 1972 concept album by English musician David Bowie, which is loosely based on a story of a rock star named Ziggy Stardust. It peaked at number five in the United Kingdom and number 75 in the United States on the Billboard Music...
  
  
• The cover of Brothers
  Brothers (The Black Keys album)
  Brothers is the sixth album and Grammy Award-winner of Best Alternative Music Album by American blues-rock duo, The Black Keys. The album was announced on March 2, 2010 by Pitchfork Media and became the band's third release from Nonesuch Records on May 18, 2010...
  
   by The Black Keys
  The Black Keys
  The Black Keys are an American rock duo consisting of vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer/producer Patrick Carney. The band was formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. As of October 2011, the band has sold over 2 million albums in the U.S....
  
  
• The cover of The Green Book by Muammar al-Gaddafi
  Muammar al-Gaddafi
  Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
  
  
• The logo for indie band Dodgy
• The standard font for all OFWGKTA
  OFWGKTA
  Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, often abbreviated OFWGKTA and also known simply as Odd Future or Golf Wang, is an alternative hip hop collective from Los Angeles, California...
  
  advertisements and logo.
• In It For The Money
  In It for the Money
  In It for the Money is the second album by Supergrass, released in 1997. NME called it "more fun than watching a wombat in a washing machine" and named it the 10th best album of the year. In 1998, Q readers voted it the 68th greatest album of all time, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at...
  
   by indie band Supergrass
  Supergrass
  Supergrass was an English alternative rock band from Oxford. The band consisted of brothers Gaz and Rob Coombes , Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey ....
  
  
• The most often used logo for indie/power-pop band Superdrag
  Superdrag
  Superdrag is an alternative rock band from Knoxville, Tennessee. The band had a hit with its 1996 single "Sucked Out" off their album Regretfully Yours, for which a video clip was broadcast regularly on MTV...
  
  
• Herman Miller Picnic Posters, 1970 to 1989, designed by Steve Frykholm
• The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, used on roadswitchers and other mainline locomotives in their basic diesel-era freight scheme.
• EasyJet
  EasyJet
  EasyJet Airline Company Limited is a British airline headquartered at London Luton Airport. It carries more passengers than any other United Kingdom-based airline, operating domestic and international scheduled services on 500 routes between 118 European, North African, and West Asian airports...
  
  , the low cost airline.
• Oxfam
  Oxfam
  Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
  
   GB uses this for their Be Humankind branding
• The Odd Couple
  The Odd Couple (TV series)
  The Odd Couple is a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on ABC. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. It was based upon the play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon.Felix and Oscar are two divorced men....
  
  
• The Garfield
  Garfield
  Garfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis. Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield ; his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and Arbuckle's dog, Odie...
  
   comic strip uses this for their books and other branding.
• Tootsie Roll
  Tootsie Roll
  Tootsie Roll is a brand of chewy candy. It is a form of candy that has been manufactured in the United States since 1896. The manufacturer, Tootsie Roll Industries, is based in Chicago, Illinois.It was the first penny candy to be individually wrapped....
  
  
• Diff'rent Strokes
  Diff'rent Strokes
  Diff'rent Strokes is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from November 3, 1978 to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985 to March 7, 1986...
  
  
• Top Ramen
• Cheers
  Cheers
  Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
  
  (first, final scene, and closing credits)
• Payless ShoeSource
  Payless ShoeSource
  Payless ShoeSource is a discount footwear retailer founded in Topeka, Kansas in 1956 that is owned by Collective Brands, Inc. In 1961, it became a public company as the Volume Shoe Corporation which merged with the May Department Stores Company in 1979. In the 1980s, Payless was widely known in the...
  
   (until 2006)
• Brothers
  Brothers (TV series)
  Brothers is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the cable network Showtime from July 13, 1984 to July 25, 1989, totaling 115 episodes. It was produced by Gary Nardino Productions, in association with two separate divisions of Paramount; first by the Paramount Video division and...
  
  (first and final scene production credits)
• M*A*S*H (with lines added to give a stencil effect)
• Dad's Army
  Dad's Army
  Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
  
  
• Enos
  Enos (TV series)
  Enos is an American television series from the 1980–1981 season that aired on the CBS network. A spinoff of The Dukes of Hazzard, Enos focused on the adventures of Enos Strate, a former small-town deputy in Hazzard County, now having moved to Los Angeles to join the L.A.P.D...
  
  
• The typeface used for closing lower third credits of music videos aired on CMT from 1984 to 1986.
• Freak Out!
  Freak Out!
  Freak Out! is the debut album by American band The Mothers of Invention, released June 27, 1966 on Verve Records. Often cited as one of rock music's first concept albums, the album is a satirical expression of frontman Frank Zappa's perception of American pop culture...
  
  , the 1966
  1966 in music
  -Events:*January 3 – Hullabaloo shows promotional videos of The Beatles songs "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work it Out".*January 8 – Shindig! airs for the last time on ABC, with musical guests the Kinks and the Who...
  
   debut album by Frank Zappa
  Frank Zappa
  Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
  
   and the Mothers of Invention.
• Nilsson Schmilsson
  Nilsson Schmilsson
  -Personnel:* Harry Nilsson – piano on 1 5 8 10, vocals, Mellotrons on 2 4, organ on 3, harmonica on 8, electric piano on 9* Jim Gordon – drums on 1 2 5 8 9, percussion on 7 9* Klaus Voormann – bass on 1 5 6 8, rhythm guitar on 2 9, acoustic guitar on 4...
  
  
• The 1976 poster artwork of King Kong
  King Kong (1976 film)
  King Kong is a 1976 American monster movie produced by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by John Guillermin. It is a remake of the 1933 classic film of the same name, about a giant ape that is captured and imported to New York City for exhibition....
  
  
• Slurm logos in Futurama
  Futurama
  Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
  
  
• National Lampoon
• "Misapplication" outside a 19th C. Gothic church noted. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/arts/16iht-design16.html
• Logo on Attack Attack!
  Attack Attack!
  Attack Attack! is an American metalcore band from Westerville, Ohio, formed in 2005. Attack Attack!'s first release, an independent EP titled If Guns Are Outlawed, Can We Use Swords?, was released in 2008, which lead to the signing of the band to Rise Records the same year...
  
  's album Someday Came Suddenly
  Someday Came Suddenly
  Someday Came Suddenly is the debut studio album by American metalcore band Attack Attack!. It was released on November 11, 2008 through Rise Records. The album's name derives from the third track, "Bro, Ashley's Here"...
  
  
• Department store chain Zayre
  Zayre
  Zayre was a chain of discount stores that operated in the Northeastern, Southern and Midwestern United States from 1956 to 1990. The company's headquarters was in Framingham, Massachusetts. In 1988, the Zayre department stores were sold to the parent company of the competing Ames chain, and Zayre's...
  
  
• Supermarket Chain, Weis Markets
  Weis Markets
  Weis Markets, Inc. is a chain of supermarkets based in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, with a presence in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, and Maryland. In 2011, it operates 162 stores in five states.-History:...
  
  .
• The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
  The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
  The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television that ran from 1988 to 1991, inspired by A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories.-Overview:...
  
   opening credits.
• Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery
  Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
  Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a 1997 American science fiction/action-comedy film and the first film of the Austin Powers series. It was directed by Jay Roach and written by Mike Myers who also stars in the title role. Myers also plays Dr. Evil, Austin Powers' arch-enemy...
  
   opening credits.
• The "Vote For Pedro" shirt from Napoleon Dynamite
  Napoleon Dynamite
  Napoleon Dynamite is a 2004 comedy film co-written and directed by Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess and stars Jon Heder as Napoleon Dynamite. The film was Jared Hess' first full-length feature and is partially adapted from his earlier short film, Peluca....
  
  .
• The Two Ronnies
  The Two Ronnies
  The Two Ronnies is a British sketch show that aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.-Origins:...
  
  
• Louie
  Louie (TV series)
  Louie is an American comedy television series on the FX network that began airing in 2010. It is written, directed, edited and produced by the show's creator, stand-up comedian Louis C.K., who stars as a fictionalized version of himself, a comedian and newly divorced father raising his two...
  
  
• The Leisure Recordings logo
• Oxfam Great Britain's Be Humankind campaigning style (2008–2011) http://www.oxfam.org.uk
• The 1970s version of the Aperture Science logo in Portal 2
  Portal 2
  Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle-platform video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. The sequel to the 2007 video game Portal, it was announced on March 5, 2010, following a week-long alternate reality game based on new patches to the original game...
  
  .
• The titles cards for the second and third seasons of the Spider-Man 1967 TV series
  Spider-Man (1967 TV series)
  Spider-Man is an animated television series that ran from September 9, 1967 to June 14, 1970. It was jointly produced in Canada and the United States and was the first animated adaptation of the Spider-Man comic book series, created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko...
  
  .
• The old logo to Cooper Tires
• The logo for the band The Fratellis
  The Fratellis
  The Fratellis were an indie rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band consisted of lead vocalist and guitarist Jon Fratelli , bass guitarist Barry Fratelli , and drummer and backing vocalist Mince Fratelli .The band released 2 albums during their career, Costello Music in 2006 and Here We Stand in...
  
  

External links

• Short overview
• Cooper Black font information (Microsoft typography)
• Type Gallery - Cooper Black
• Behind the Typeface: Cooper Black (satirical, but very informative video about Cooper Black by Cheshire Dave)
• Ian Lynam Design: Cooper Black Swash Italic
• Wordshape: Cooper Black Swash Italic
• Typophile: Cooper Black Italic swash alternates?
• Book of American Types: Cooper Hilite
• Cooper Black as a webfont on Fontdeck