The identity of a subculture does not solely rely on the images that advertise it or the fashion that it’s followers purposely wear, nor is it just the demographic that choose to be a part of it or the colours that are used to convey it. All of these elements that characterise a movement or a subculture work along side a typeface or even several different typefaces.
It is quite noticeable that possibly all subcultures and movements adopt or create a typeface to use as it’s own, more specifically musical subcultures. Each musical revolution has been a brand, be it for expression, revolution, anger or joy. The mood of a nation, it’s current affairs, it’s people sparks inspiration, innovation and energy into the musically gifted who then create new sounds which carry all these meanings that the public or a specific demographic connect with. This new movement then needs to be identifiable, it needs an image, it needs it’s own typeface.
The punk revolution can be said to be the most heavily self-branded subculture, “It remains within the subculture of punk music where the homemade, A4, stapled and photocopied fanzines of the late 1970s fostered the ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) production techniques of cut-n-paste letterforms, photocopied and collaged images, hand-scrawled and typewritten texts, to create a recognizable graphic design aesthetic.” (scissors and glue, 2006). It is these hand-crafted and cut-out letterforms which helps identify the punk movement. This specific example also connotes the ideas and principles behind the culture of punk, the writer Stephen Duncombe explains that the fans behind the fanzines “privilege the ethic of DIY, do-it-yourself: make your own culture and stop consuming that which is made for you” (Notes From the Underground, 1997).
