History

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Annals of Ephemera, Part III: Aging 2.0

Aging dye, one of the many materials found in the Making Memories Distressing Kit When I was little, my mother had an acquaintance who purchased, at considerable expense, a piece of brand-new furniture. Soon afterwards, she paid someone …

Michelle Hauser|Essays

Folk Photos

Girl Double Exposed, 1940s, 3 1/2 x 3 14/15 in. Photography’s inception in 1839 planted seeds that not only germinated into a new art form in the hands of professional photographers, but also quickly took root within the general …

Steven Heller|Essays

Vanity Fair Type: 1930 Style

Vanity Fair cover illustrated by Paolo Garetto, December 1931 In 1929, Vanity Fair magazine, the jewel in the crown of Condé Nast’s publishing empire, made typographic history. Influenced by Modern design trends throughout Europe, …

Rick Poynor|Dialogues

We Found It at the Movies: Part II

The second installment of Rick Poynor and Adrian Shaughnessy’s conversation about film. Can genre movies express a personal vision? Are films blurring into other media? And what’s the state of film culture today?

Ettore Sottsass|Essays

When I Was a Very Small Boy

"Ettore Sottsass: Work in Progress," photo by Luca FregosoWhen I was very small, a little boy of five or six years old, I was certainly no infant prodigy, but I did do drawings with houses, with vases and flowers, with gypsy caravans, …

Rick Poynor|Dialogues

We Found It at the Movies: Part I

Rick Poynor: Looking back, it’s surprising how long we’d known each other before it emerged that we shared an obsession for film.  Adrian Shaughnessy: Your obsession with film came as a surprise. Before lending you …

Steven Heller|Essays

Branding Youth in the Totalitarian State

Hitler Youth wearing the Hitler Jugend uniform (Austrian version)This article is adapted from Steven Heller’s new book, Iron Fists: Branding the Totalitarian State (Phaidon Press). Youth may be wasted on the young, but under the …

Andrew Blauvelt|Essays

Over the Rainbow

June marks the start of a month-long series of LGBT Pride celebrations in cities around the United States and the world, as well as the 30th anniversary of the rainbow flag — the de facto symbol of the LGBT community. While the visual …

Andrew Blauvelt|Essays

Over the Rainbow

June marks the start of a month-long series of LGBT Pride celebrations in cities around the United States and the world, as well as the 30th anniversary of the rainbow flag — the de facto symbol of the LGBT community. While the visual …

Denise Gonzales Crisp|Dialogues

A Critical View of Graphic Design History

Now comes yet another historical survey, Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide by Johanna Drucker and Emily McVarish. Denise Gonzales Crisp and Rick Poynor have been marking pages, making notes and exchanging views...

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Reflections on The Ephemeral World, Part One: Ink

Half-size manila blank paper notebooks with "makeready" covers by Trip Print Press, TorontoI was on a press check recently, deliriously inhaling the pervasive aroma of ink (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it) whereupon, feeling very …

Steven Heller|Essays

O.H.W. Hadank

Scharlachberg, wine label, 1933American modernist Paul Rand greatly admired German classicist O.H.W. Hadank, although the two appeared to have very little in common. Professor Hadank (1889-1965) began his career in 1907 and worked through …