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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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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The Sameness Booklet
May 21st, 2010The art and cultural movement, De Stijl, promoted abstraction by simplify design to its most basic elements and utilizing vertical and horizontal orientations and primary colors.
The Sameness Booklet by Alex Fuller and Gabe Usadel pays homage to this Dutch movement with some beautiful, but simple spreads using only red, black and white. This stunning piece is offset printed and is typeset in Akzidenz Grotesk. Alex and Gabe are also responsible for a equally wonderful booklet titled: The Incredible Journey that is Consciousness.
You can order a copy of the book for $12.
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Letterheads
May 13th, 2010I very much enjoy this letterhead design by Anton Stankowski. The grid-based structure and asymmetrical layout create a really interesting visual. This letterhead is part of James Phillips Williams’ collection that he often features on his blog, Amass. Check out the site, it’s a keeper. He also owns another gorgeous letterhead that was designed by Herbert Bayer.
If you want more letterhead goodness, head over to the blog Letterheady. The site features a ton of excellent letterhead designs of well known figures like Babe Ruth and Henry Ford. My personal favorites are the letterheads of Houdini and Charlie Chaplin. I can surf this site all day long.
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Massimo Vignelli’s Unigrid System
May 10th, 2010
In 1977, Massimo Vignelli designed the Unigrid System for the National Park Service. The module grid system sized at ISO A2 (16.5″ × 23.4″or 420mm × 594mm) allowed the NPS to created brochures in ten basic formats and to keep a consistent, recognizable structure across all it’s materials. Not to mention how economical the system has been for them. The grid features a black bar at the top and bottom with text set in Helvetica in the header bar.
It’s pretty incredible how the Unigrid is still in use today. It just goes to shows how flexible a grid system can be when properly designed.
Issue Journal has an in-depth article on the Unigrid and you can see the grid in action in this Flick group. Also, check out this larger scale redraw of the grid.
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Georg Staehelin
April 28th, 2010Category: Design, Grid Systems, International Typographic Style, Typography
Comments: 3
Interesting series of typographic posters by Georg Staehelin for the Museum of Design in Basel. I did a little searching and couldn’t find any info on Mr. Staehelin. If anyone has any info, I’d love to learn more about him.
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Bauen+Wohnen
April 13th, 2010Bauen+Wohnen / Building+Home / Construction+Habitation was a Swiss architectural magazine that existed from. Richard Paul Lohse was responsible for the design from 1947 – 1956, and in 1952 he designed a special version for the German market that featured his trademark overlay style.
A recurring theme that I’m beginning to notice with classic Swiss Style design is the use of color to identify each magazine issue. Helmut Schmid also did it with his redesign of Die Neue Gesellschaft, and we’ve seem to have lost this simple, but beautiful approach to visual identity. You really don’t see this type of thinking with mainstream publications today. Instead, you’re bombarded with headline-cluttered covers that confuse you instead of inviting you. There are exceptions, though.
Anyway, this collection designed by Lohse is breathtaking and upon seeing these covers I’ve immediately begun the hunt to find them. Joe Kral has uploaded his collection to his Flickr Page and you can get more info on the magazine here and here.
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New Posters on Blanka’s Flickr
April 2nd, 2010The stuff that gets added to Blank’s Flickr page always leaves me amazed. I have no idea where they get all this vintage work from. They’ve recently updated their page with a ton of posters by Hans Neuburg, Herbert W. Kapitzki, Armin Hofmann and Josef Müller-Brockmann, many of them I’ve never seen before.
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Wim Crouwel Archive
March 30th, 2010This is one of those online gems that only come around once a year.
This Dutch site contains an archive of over 500 original designs by Wim Crouwel, most of which I’ve never seen before and that I think are some of his best. Pure brilliance. What’s even better is that there’s a sharp, hi-res version of each. Picking one out of the bunch to display here was a really tough decision.
You will get lost in this for hours, I guarantee it. If the link doesn’t work just search for Wim Crouwel.
If anyone can give me more info on the site and the collection, I’d be very grateful.
