Evangelion is one of those rare works where everything came together. Every single contribution, from character designs to music to mecha design, stepped up to complement the overarching vision of director Hideaki Anno, and the unique typography seen on many Eva covers and posters is no exception.

The distinctive look of Eva typographical design is the product of Norihiko Nezu. He first worked on the video and laserdisc covers and inserts in 1996. In preparation, he watched all 26 episodes repeatedly, then used key phrases from the episodes to comprise the backgrounds of his design work.

image taken from PUSTAN.com,
which features a ton of Eva LD images

The Fonts

Nezu primarily used two fonts in his Eva design work. Ryumin by Morisawa appears on the covers, while Matisse by Fontworks appears in the interiors. Both are apparently "Mincho" fonts, but I'm not totally clear what that means.

Eva films and Renewal

For the Eva films, Nezu designed pamphlets and some posters. When Eva was remastered as the Eva Renewal (Platinum in the US), Nezu designed the red plastic DVD box, inserts, cases and promotional posters. I'm not 100% sure that Nezu did all of these, but pretty sure:

These following images were designed by Hideaki Anno, and I am tempted to say that his style was greatly influenced by that of Nezu:

Links

Pustan.com - photos of the Evangelion laserdisc covers desgned by Nezu

Renewal images - this site contains high-quality images of the Renewal box set's inserts

Anno Hideaki design works - Anno's designs at his official page