“Nobody Wins”  by Elton John (Geffen 49722–Warner Bros.) was one of the earliest singles, if not the earliest, to hit the charts using my client’s LM-1 Drum Computer. We decided to take advantage of this occasion in our advertising. As we prepared this ad, we hoped to be able to put a big #1 next to the title, but advance chart position reports were disappointing. After all was said and done it was not a big record for Elton John, but it did help kick off the era of the drum machine.

Typophiles will recognize the Helvetica typeface. I never use it much—it is just too common and in body text isn’t as legible as people think it is. I forget the reason I chose it here—I probably thought its very commonness would give us a bit of credibility in a magazine environment where we were virtually unknown. And there wasn’t so much copy that I had to worry about fatigue. In any event, I’m sure I researched the publication before I made my choice. Billboard magazine is a very crowded publication. The white space used here made this ad stand out beautifully and the typeface worked out very well in this layout.

Few people realized how relatively small the Linn operation was, even at its peak. I worked very hard to put forward an image of substantiality in our advertising and collateral materials. Here consistency is essential. To Roger Linn’s great credit, he understood from the beginning that everything on which the Linn Electronics name appeared should be first-rate. Things fell apart a bit at the end, but hey, don’t we all?

What: Concept, copy, design, art
For: Linn LM-1 Drum Computer ad Billboard Magazine July 4, 1981
Client: Linn Electronics