Double Acts in Pop is, unexpectedly, both a type catalogue and survey of music history’s iconic duos

From designer Chris Wu of Wkshps, editor Caren Litherland, and Commercial Type, Double Acts in Pop, a new book from the international type foundry, serves as both a concise history of pop music’s most renowned double acts – such as Simon and Garfunkel or Wham! – and a comprehensive overview of its entire type catalogue. Nearly a decade since Commercial Type published their first library overview, it’s been quite a while since a publication so all-encompassing. “Foundry websites have taken on the role that specimen books used to play for graphic designers,” Commercial Type partner Christian Schwartz contextualises, offering creatives a flavour of what each typeface has to offer. “Websites do this better than a book ever could,” he argues, “you can type out whatever words you want to see, at any size you like,” caveating, however, how much harder it comes to navigate multiple typefaces at once. “So we really wanted to lean into this.”

Detailing the concept behind Double Acts in Pop, Christian recalls how the whole publication stems from an initial billboard-based type specimen. “An early idea for the specimen was to use a line or two from each Billboard #1 song,” he notes, starting with West End Girls by Pet Shop Boys in 1986, through to the 90s and 00s. “This quickly turned out to be unwieldy,” Christian recalls, finding it especially limiting when showing more body-copy-first typefaces. Then, across 2022 and 2023, Commercial Type collaborated with several editorial writers for their digital type specimens, which sparked renewed interest in the project. “We found the experience incredibly rewarding,” Christian continues, “thinking about how Paul has told me that ‘we’re best as a double act’ after every joint lecture we’ve ever done,” he adds, “the idea of centering the book around duos in pop music seemed obvious.” 

From there, Commercial Type brought on journalist, podcaster, and Pitchfork and MTV veteran, Molly Lambert to write the book, albeit with a super vague brief. “The brief was ‘write 13,000 words about double acts’,” Christian recalls. “Our editor, Caren Litherland, and I were already fans of her work, so we were confident we’d get something interesting.” The resulting publication is as engaging as it is detailed – and equally unexpected. “The best way to experience it is to hold it in your hands,” Christian ends, “but we definitely worked to make a book that people can enjoy on several different levels,” whether you’re a music fan and don’t care at all about type (and vice versa).