“I just wanted to make a buck!”
“I just wanted to make a buck!”
From the moment the credits of breakout Netflix show Stranger Things start, they transport you to the ’80s. Creative studio Imaginary Forces accomplished that largely through Benguiat, a decorative serif typeface that screams ’80s mostly because of its associations: the covers of Stephen King paperbacks and Choose Your Own Adventure novels, the copyright notice on old VHS tapes, and the covers of old Smiths albums, to name just a few of the cultural artifacts it has been tied to over the years. It’s homey, langorous, and yet a little fancy.