Shock and Awe is a family of two display typefaces drawn up from lettering which has been at the centre of major historical events. Enola Gay is based on the nose cone lettering on the B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. Tomahawk is based on the fuselage lettering on the Tomahawk cruise missile. Tomahawk missiles were introduced into service in 1983 and have been deployed by US and UK forces in a number of conflicts, including both the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Whilst the source material may be considered controversial, these typefaces have been developed in order to stimulate discussion amongst the design community. We hope to focus debate on the context, significance and ethical considerations in creating letterforms for these sorts of use.
