The main reason why I wanted to have Robert Eggers’ latest work Nosferatu on my blog is the arresting logo design by Teddy Blanks. This US graphic designer, who has previously collaborated with Eggers on his 2019 maritime horror film The Lighthouse, has created a haunting gothic font that I could hardly take my eyes off. It’s so menacing and seductively dark and I feel a whole lot of emotions just by looking at it. But that’s no surprise, as Blanks is a household name in Hollywood with well over a hundred titles under his belt. This guy knows exactly which buttons to press to trigger certain reactions in people. Often, however, a talent like this is also kind of a curse, because as he said in an interview with the New York Times in December of last year, font design is an ever-present concern for him:

“It’s a bit of a disease. I’m often not paying attention to my surroundings. I’m paying attention to the letters on signs around me. I also notice bad type. Life is simpler when you don’t notice poor design.”

I can really relate to this as I feel quite similar. Wherever I look, whether it’s a grocery store leaflet or TV news or cereal boxes, I always notice cheap fonts or bad kerning. I can’t help but analyze things far too much and overlook the actual advertising message, often at the expense of the advertiser, who certainly didn’t have that intended. The other side of the coin, however, is that I can appreciate good design and the Nosferatu title treatment certainly falls into this category.

Maybe that’s why Sacred Bones Records relied heavily on the film logo for their stunning LP vinyl soundtrack that’s available in various sprawling editions.

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I took it upon myself to reproduce clean versions of the various front cover artworks and offer them here in full size. The first design (#1, #2), which shows a gloss finish seal on a matt surface, deserves special attention. Depending on your surroundings and lighting, either the cover or the seal may appear darker than the other. For this reason I’ve created two variants. Feel free to use the version you think is most similar to the original, or do what I did and embed both covers into the album in your digital music library, perhaps one per disc?

#1: Nosferatu (Remake)

#2: Nosferatu (Remake)

#3: Nosferatu (Original)

#4: Nosferatu (Original)

Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu is an extremely grim movie in every sense of the word, and the official cover artworks from Sacred Bones Records absolutely pay tribute to that. However, after all those pitch-black designs, I fancied a touch of colour, and so I made four additional custom covers to hopefully spice up this blog post a bit. We may not be in Haribo land yet, but your colour receptors should at least be mildly stimulated. In addition to three official key arts, I have based one cover (#7) on a particularly impressive poster by Instagram artist nothin.last4ever. Their style reminds me a bit of the early works of movie poster legend Midnight Marauder, which isn’t the worst compliment, right?

Please feel free to use any of these covers. Either for the overlong original album cut, which is unfortunately too much of a good thing, or perhaps for your own personal 30-minute highlight compilation, just like they used to do so brilliantly in the 80s. Either way, have fun!

#5: Nosferatu (Original)

#6: Nosferatu (Custom)

#7: Nosferatu (Custom)

#8: Nosferatu (Custom)