Ikko Tanaka
September 19th, 2010Category: Design, Design Legends, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style
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Ikko Tanaka (1930 – 2002) was an influential Japanese graphic designer who combined Japanese tradition with the International Typographic Style to form a style of his own. He’s most known for this 1981 poster for a Nihon Buyo dance performance, in which he created an abstract geisha using basic geometric forms placed on a simple grid.
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Stout/Kramer Updates
September 15th, 2010Design studio Stout/Kramer has updated their portfolio with some stellar work.
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Andrés Requena
September 15th, 2010A solid portfolio by Barcelona based designer, Andrés Requena.
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Kieler Woche
September 13th, 2010Kieler Woche (Kiel Week) is an annual sailing and cultural event in Kiel, Germany that started in 1948. To promote the event, the organizers hold a competition to design the official poster. Starting in 1959, only five designers are invited each year to submit a design. Past winners and contributors include Wim Crouwel, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Ben Bos, Celestino Piatti and Anton Stankowski. The poster pictured here was designed by the great Swiss designer, Jean Widmer. I personally can’t find Brockmann’s design, so if anyone has any info, please contact me.
The official site for the event has an archive of all of the winning designs dating back to 1948. There’s also some more info on the event in the AIGA Archives, as well as a book on the subject published by Lars Müller Publishers.
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Burton Kramer
September 10th, 2010Burton Kramer is a graphic designer living in Toronto that played an important role in bringing the International Typographic Style to Canadian design during the 60s and 70s. He’s most famous for the excellent logo that he designed for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1974, which is pictured here. You can see some more examples of the logo use as well as a video of the logo sequence seen on TV. The Center for Contemporary Canadian Art has an excellent online archive of Kramer’s work.
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JCPenney Poster 1979
September 7th, 2010I first saw this poster a few days ago, and I’ve been in awe of it ever since. I always dig classic sequence designs. You don’t much of that today. It was designed in 1979 by George Tscherny. More info on this poster and Tscherny’s influence on the JC Penney brand over at Container List.
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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
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Simply perfect 1968 ad for Sunn Amplifiers. After a quick search I found some more.