You might consider yourself an Alien expert. You may be able to quote the entire film, backwards, or know who was the third assistant focus-puller. But I guarantee that not even Ridley Scott has knowledge of the movie's typography like this guy.


Dave Addey is an Apple employee, but he also writes a blog called Typesets of the Future. On it, he takes apart sci-fi films from a typographic perspective. To a scary level of detail. Up this time around is Ridley Scott's Alien.

Among other things, we learn that the font on Captain Dallas' jacket was voted Most 70's Font Of All Time, the English/French translation on the ship-scuttling instructions is dubious at best, and even rocket scientists can mess up their units. But really, that's just scraping the surface of one of the best, most thorough movie analyses you're likely to see on the internet. If you're an Alien fan, a typography nerd, or perhaps just struggling to sleep, it's definitely worth the read. [Typesets of the Future]