Business Cards of Minimal Designers

Brockmann Rand Business Cards

I found this image while surfing around this morning. Don’t know about authenticity, but supposedly, these are the business cards of Josef Müller-Brockmann, Paul Rand, Adrian Frutiger and Helmut Schmid. I’ve seen the Paul Rand card before, so that one could be legit. Either way, these are lovely. The Frutiger card is definitely the least functional.

Update: Michael Bierut confirmed on Twitter that the Rand and Müller-Brockmann are the real deal.

Dot Zero – Issue 1

Dot Zero Issue 1

Dot Zero Issue 1

Dot Zero Issue 1

Dot Zero was a quarterly by Unimark in partnership with Finch Paper that focused on the theory and practice of visual communication. Only five issues were published between 1966 and 1968, and Massimo Vignelli was the designer and creative director of the magazine. Vignelli wanted to make the design exciting, but simple, so he set all type in only two weights of Helvetica and everything printed in black and white.

Michael Bierut interviewed Vignelli about the magazine. Some nice insights on how the publication came about, and its production.

The folks at Rationale Design have made available a hi-res PDF of issue 1 of Dot Zero, and you can see some photos of issue 2 here.

Grids: Their Meaning and Use for Federal Designers

Massimo Vignelli Grids

Massimo Vignelli Grids

Massimo Vignelli Grids

“Grids: Their Meaning and Use for Federal Designers” is a book based on a presentation given by Massimo Vignelli at a seminar for federal graphic designers at the Illinois Institute of Technology on November 10, 1976.

He covers the basics of grid design, then shows how grids were used in some of the projects that he worked on. It’s a nice little read. Hi-res scan of the entire book is available here.

Via Sean Wolcott

Eichler Homes

Darren Bradley

Darren Bradley

Eichler Homes was a company, by visionary Joseph Eichler, that built over 11,000 Mid-Century modern homes in California between 1950 and 1974. Eichler was responsible for bringing modern architecture to middle-class Americans. Eichler Homes commissioned some of the most prominent modern architects of the time including Anshen & Allen, Claude Oakland & Associates, Jones & Emmons, A. Quincy Jones, and Raphael Soriano.

The photos above were taken by Darren Bradley and are part of a collection of Eichler Homes that he’s photographed. Also, be sure to check out his other Flickr collections.