Hard Case publishes hard-boiled American crime fiction in the style of vintage paperback originals. The logo was designed with soft, wobbly outlines, like those of a tenth-generation photostat. We use faces that were common in mid-century publishers’ art departments, de-kerned and respaced to match the rhythms of hastily set metal type, and supplemented with hand-drawn lettering based on period models. Design direction, branding design, and book design by Signal.