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Volkswagen Literature 1938 – 2005
September 3rd, 2010Here’s a great find by Paul Soulellis. A massive online gallery of Volkswagen product literature dating back to 1938. Some real gems in there. You can get lost in it for days.
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Process Journal: The Grid
September 2nd, 2010Thomas Williams, one of the talents behind the excellent Process Journal, has documented the changes that were made to the grid system for Edition Two of the journal. Thomas writes:
The Process Journal grid has undergone several updates for Edition Two, the major change being an increase in the size of the internal gutter from 30mm up to 40mm. Although this may appear to be only a minor adjustment, it changes the dynamics of the grid in several different ways.
The extra 10mm was taken from the outside columns, otherwise reserved for image captions and room for the reader’s thumbs to hold the publication (with minimal overlay of the content). The space was removed evenly from these columns to minimize the change in visual consistency from the previous edition.
Increasing this gutter also proved to be advantageous to the overall layout of the publication and resulted in three outcomes: firstly, by centralizing the content further into the middle of the page allowing more padding and easier reading of type that falls within the two central columns; secondly, it allows a larger clearance for images placed over or near the edge of the gutter — thus minimizing the loss of image into the spine; and lastly, the increase results in an overall wider area of content.
The original objective was to create a grid that was flexible enough to deal with a wide range of content, enable flexibility and retain visual consistency. This objective still remains; hence the vast majority of grid has been unaltered and has proven itself worthy for a second time. In our experience it is a rare to have the chance to revisit and refine a project so we have embraced the opportunity and believe that small changes like these contribute to our endeavor of producing an always-improving publication.
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The American Poster
August 29th, 2010Not only does the movie seem like it’s going to be great, but the poster is really well done in my opinion. Designed by Mojo House, the design is reminiscent of the minimal style seen during the 60s, but with a modern touch. The paper is even distressed to give it an authentic feel.
Here’s a good write up on the poster, with some nice examples of original posters from the 60s.
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Oppositions Magazine 1973 – 1984
August 25th, 2010Oppositions was an architectural journal by the Institute For Architecture And Urban Studies that was published from 1973 to 1984. The magazine was designed by the great Massimo Vignelli and it sure doesn’t disappoint with its obvious grid layout. This Flickr set includes a bunch of the covers, some of which feature black illustrations, and this set by Paul Soulellis has some shots of the inside spreads.
I was outbid on a copy of this a few months back. Would have made a great addition to my collection — maybe I’ll start to obsessively search for them now.
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Toko
August 23rd, 2010Sydney based studio, Toko, has been one of my favorites for a while now. They’re always pumping out fresh new work that’s inspiring. They updated their site with a new look and a plethora or work.
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Sunn Amplifiers 1968
August 22nd, 2010Category: Advertising, Design, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style
Comments: 2
Simply perfect 1968 ad for Sunn Amplifiers. After a quick search I found some more.
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German Matchbox Labels
August 22nd, 2010Fantastic collection of German matchbox labels from the 1960s and 1970s. Simple graphics and beautiful color palettes.
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Limited Edition Helvetica Poster
August 18th, 2010Sorry for the lack of posts this past week, I was under the weather.
Swiss Dots, the producers of the Helvetica documentary, have create this new limited-edition screenprint for the film. The print is inspired by a 1960’s design that has been seen on D. Stempel AG brochures, type specimens and posters — which has been making an appearance on the TV show, Mad Men.
The poster is hand screenprinted on archival 300gsm paper, A2 size (16 1/2″ x 23 1/2″) in a numbered edition of 100 copies, each signed by director Gary Hustwit. You can order one here for $150.
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Project Thirty Three
August 3rd, 2010Project Thirty Three is a fantastic blog that features vintage album covers that have been scanned and archived by the owner of Seattle based used vinyl store, Jive Time Records. Lovely.
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Cosas Mínimas
July 30th, 2010Cosas Mínimas (Minimal Things) is the personal portfolio of Madrid based illustrator and designer, Blanca Gómez. I’m in love with her illustrations. Every aspect of her style exhibits a sense of minimalism, from the simple geometric shapes, to the solid colors.
Also check out an interview with Bianca over at Grain Edit.
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Benno Wissing
July 26th, 2010Not many have heard of Benno Wissing (1923 – 2008), but in my book he goes down as one of the greatest designers of the last 100 years. Along with Ben Bos and Wim Crouwel, he founded the influential studio, Total Design. Wissing also worked as a painter, illustrator, set designer and architect, but is best known for his signage design for Schiphol Airport in 1967. In the 80’s he was invited to be a professor of design at the Rhode Island School of Design.
The excellent site NAGO has a massive gallery of Wissing’s work. I still haven’t had the time to get through it all — I’m only on page 8. Also, check out the monograph Benno Wissing: Grafische & ruimtelijk ontwerpen.
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L’Esigenza Della Velocità
July 20th, 2010Buddy Carr Skateboards just released L’Esigenza Della Velocità, a new longboard that I designed for them. The board features an innovative flush mount truck system that lowers the deck height, giving the rider better stability and control.
In Italian, “L’Esigenza Della Velocità” means “The Needs for Speed”, and that’s were I pulled most of my inspiration from. I’ve always been inspired by the beautiful graphic design and gorgeous color palettes present on racing cars from the 60’s and 70’s, and I tried to pay tribute to that minimal aesthetic is this design. It represents a time when graphic design was simpler and not bloated like it is today.
For the colors, I’ve been wanting to use a fluorescent Pantone for sometime now and the color Pantone 805 seemed to make sense for this piece. Coupled with a dark gray, I think it created a nice modern touch to the retro design. 805 is stunning in person.
For the layout, I composed the elements using the Golden Ratio. Might seem like overkill for something like this but it presented a pretty interesting composition that felt balanced to me. Here’s a screenshot of the guides in my Illustrator file that I created using the Golden Ratio. Because of the limited space on skateboards, I usually end up cropping elements to create a more interesting visual. I tried layouts where all the elements lived within the space, but that felt too unnatural and claustrophobic. Having elements bleed off the skateboard gives a sense of openness that I prefer. The checkered flag graphic and 805 color are continued onto the wheels to give the package a unified look.
When it came time to think about the typography, I knew that I wanted to design a typeface myself. Taking inspiration from vintage racing graphics, I designed a sans-serif that exhibits contemporary features, but that still retains that vintage feel. At least I think it does. My plan is to create a full typeface out of this, but we’ll see how that goes.
As with the other boards I’ve designed for Buddy, this was blast to do and I’m looking forward to creating some new designs for the lineup. We’re already in early phases of a new deck that continues this retro race aesthetic. Stay tuned!
For more pictures of the Velocita board, and to buy one, head over to the Buddy Carr site.