Sphere Corporation logo
Photo: Ben Zotto. License: CC BY-SA.
Printed circuit boards manufactured by Sphere Corporation of Utah, circa 1975. The condensed sans is Alternate Gothic.
Sphere Corporation was a short-lived manufacturer of early microcomputers outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, operating from 1975 to 1977. Sphere computers were available in kit or assembled form, and were among the earliest all-in-one microcomputer systems, using an integral keyboard and screen. Sphere’s logo and wordmark consisted of the name “SPHERE” set in Tuxedo (a.k.a. Program) and “CORPORATION” in a close-tracked Microgramma.
This branding did not appear on the exterior of the computer itself, but could be seen etched in tiny form on some individual circuit boards (shown above). It was used in large format on documentation and in the company’s marketing.
Notably and curiously, Sphere's use of Tuxedo in their wordmark followed competitor MITS, which used Tuxedo prominently on their earlier Altair computers. This was probably a coincidence, but nevertheless appears as a strange homage to a key competitor in what was a very small industry at that time.
Photo: Ben Zotto. License: CC BY-SA.
Binder of documentation for a Sphere computer (c. 1975)
Source: commons.wikimedia.org Sphere Corp. Scan by Michael Holley. License: Public Domain.
Full-page advertisement in Byte magazine (January 1976). Other fonts used for the ad include Gill Kayo, Alternate Gothic, Times New Roman, Optima and Univers.
Source: archive.org Internet Archive. License: All Rights Reserved.
The logo in another full-page advert in Byte magazine (Nov. 1975), with the address in Optima
This post was originally published at Fonts In Use