Blog: Design

Country Fair: A monthly journal of the open air





I found these Country Fair magazines a couple of weeks ago at a boot fair and bought them purely for the bright coloured covers and sweet little illustrations. The lady selling them had about 30 issues and I'm now wishing I'd bought the whole lot!

Out of the three I bought, one is from February 1954 (red donkey cover - illustration by John Hanna), one from August 1962 (orange pigeon cover - illustration by D Shannon) and one from May 1963 (pink bird cover - illustration by D Shannon). The pink one is my favourite - I love the illustration of the cherries and the little bird in his beret.

Here are a few more of the John Hanna illustrated covers I found over on Automatism:





If you like these you might also like my collection of Which? covers.

Mon 31 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Illustration , Magazine

12 Comments

Opus International




Remember the post last week about Roman Cieslewicz's Ty I La covers? Well here are some designs he created for the French international art review, Opus International in the late 60's.

In true Cieslewicz style, they're loud, bright and graphic. Unfortunately, I can't find out very much about the publication itself, only that it was published in Paris by Georges Fall.

Images copyright Roman Cieslewicz.
Images from 'Roman Cieslewicz: Master of Graphic Design' by Margo Rouard-Snowman. Published by Thames & Hudson Ltd. London, 1993.

Thu 27 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Magazine

0 Comments

Know Your States!


I love this new addition to my dial/wheel collection - it's a Tip Top Bread promotion from 1957 in immaculate condition. It has great shading on the Statue of Liberty and I really like the use of their logo at the bottom.

The dial reveals each US state, what it's noted for, it's flower, population, area in square miles, it's capital and it's nickname. Very informative. Until today I had no idea that Delaware was known as the Diamond state, that Minnesota's flower is the Moccasin or that the capital of Wyoming is Cheyenne!

If like me, you have a thing for dial/wheel contraptions take a look at some of my collection here, here, here and here.

Tue 25 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Ephemera , Inspiration

0 Comments

From the reference box # 52



#52 - Centenary of Royal Institute of Chemistry stamps, 1977 celebrating British Achievement in Chemistry.

Designed by Jerzy Karo, each stamp commemorates a different Nobel prize winning achievement from the last 100 years; Steroids - Conformational Analysis (8 1/2p), Vitamin C - synthesis (10p), Starch - Chromatography (11p) and Salt - Crystallography (13p).

I love the Steroids one with the overprinting and really bright colours - it's a great stamp.

Mon 24 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Ephemera , Reference box , stamps

4 Comments

Ty i Ja







More great vintage covers, this time, Ty i Ja or 'You and I' magazine, a 64 page Polish publication first published in Warsaw in May 1960.

Ty i Ja was devoted to literature, science, design, poetry, fashion and graphic art and was the only monthly cultural review in Poland at that time. The wonderful Roman Cieslewicz was art director between 1960 - 1963 and comissioned top Polish designers like Lipinski and Tomaszewski to create these striking and graphic covers. Even after leaving the publication he continued designing covers for it until the mid 70's. Unfortunately, due to constant censorship Ty i Ja ceased publishing in the late 80's.

Images from Pan Tu Nie Stal.

Wed 19 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Inspiration

4 Comments

From the reference box # 51


#51 - National Trust Paper Bag. I found this little bag in a stack of ephemera I bought at a boot sale. It had travel information inside from the late 70's, so I imagine it's also from around that time. I love it purely for the acorn graphic!

Tue 18 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Ephemera , Reference box

4 Comments

From the reference box #50


#50 - British Technology Stamps, September 1966 depicting the Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope, British Motor Cars, the SR N6 Hovercraft and Nuclear power (Windscale reactor).

When I first saw this set of stamps I really loved the top two because of how graphic and simple they are, but was confused why the bottom two seemed to be in a totally different style. These days a set of stamps is normally designed by the same people or company, but it seems in the 60's at least, it was common practice for two designers/illustrators to work on two stamps each. In this case, D Gillepie created the 4d and 6d (top two) and J Andrew Restall designed the 1/3 and 1/6 (bottom two).

I find it funny that no attempt was made to keep consistency through the set - the Gillespie ones have no description and have quite large Queen's heads in white compared to Restall's ones, which do have a description and have smaller Queen's heads in black. Even the typefaces they've used are different.

For more stamps, ephemera and random bits of inspiration, take a delve into our reference box.

Fri 14 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Ephemera , Reference box , Inspiration , stamps

1 Comment

Fortune Magazine Covers






I just came across these great cover designs for Fortune magazine on Covenger + Kester and had to find out more...

Fortune magazine was, and still is a business publication founded by Time founder Henry Booth Luce in 1930. Luce's vision was to create a bold new business journal that would stand out from the dull and uninspiring competition (at the time business periodicals and journals were black & white and full of facts & figures). Fortune had a luxury stock, striking photography and illustrations, it was alive with colour and was written by a team of up and coming writers keen to impress.

The covers I'm most drawn to are the ones above, mostly designed by the late Walter Allner - a German born, student of the iconic Bauhaus school, where he studied typography, design and painting under tutors Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky among others.

Allner moved to the US in the late 40's and worked as the art director of Fortune from 1962 - 1974, during which time he personally designed 79 of the covers (his signature is on some covers before this date though, so I can only assume that he was commissioned as a freelance artist prior to his employment). His Modernist style and Bauhaus principles helped him transform Fortune into a contemporary and sophisticated publication.

If you want to see more, there's a huge collection of Fortune covers throughout the decades here.

Images copyright Gono.
Via Ffffound!

Thu 13 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Inspiration , Magazine

2 Comments

Harper Haute Couture!



French fashion house Celine, famous for their luxury clothing, handbags, accessories and footwear have created a 'resort wear' collection using the wonderful work of Charley Harper, as a tribute to the late illustrator.



Unfortunately the Celine website is under going a facelift at the moment, but I've found some of the items online here, here, here and here.

Images copyright Celine.
Via Charley Harper Blog.

Wed 12 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Things to buy , Illustration

3 Comments

From the reference box #49


#49 - Energy stamps, 1978. These stamps were issued on 25 January 1978 to highlight the importance of Energy in modern life, "our industrial strength and high standard of living depend on it's certain supply", to encourage, "greater efforts in the efficient use of energy and the elimination of wasteful practices" to preserve the resources we have and give, "scientists and technologists time to develop alternative and acceptable energy supplies".

The set of stamps and the First Day Cover (above) were designed by the great British designer, Peter Murdoch FSIAD - known Internationally for his wonderful cardboard furniture designs, his role as Special Projects Director for the 1968 Mexico Olympics (which included designing the collapsible, cardboard display systems, souvenirs and the newspaper kiosks) and for his many collaborations with fellow designer, Lance Wyman (Camino Real Hotel logo /signage and The Red Lion Disco logo in Mexico, Creative Parks Playground in Boston).

Our full collection of reference box items can be rummaged through here.

Tue 11 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Ephemera , Reference box , Inspiration , stamps

1 Comment

Paul Thurlby Alphabet prints



Remember our post about illustrator Paul Thurlby and his gorgeous alphabet prints? Well Paul has been in touch to tell us the alphabet is now complete. The new prints are every bit as good as the earlier ones - more great colour combos, the same vintage/retro feel and some fun typography!

Each print is a signed and numbered limited edition of 200, and at the minute you can get 3 for the price of 2, so check out the Alphabet Shop.

Images copyright Paul Thurlby.

Mon 10 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Typography , Illustration , lettering

1 Comment

Oil!



Who would of thought that a mundane object like an oil can could be so cool?

The cans above are from '83's Flickr group, Oil! A collection of vintage oil cans belonging to his dad. The typography, graphics and colours on each can are great and together they make a really interesting collection. This is only a portion of the full collection too, so I'm looking forward to seeing this set grow.

Images copyright '83.
Via Bad Banana.

Fri 07 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Typography , automobilia , Packaging

4 Comments

Alexey Brodovitch Spreads






I was browsing Iconofgraphics the other day, a great site with biographies and images about graphic icons Alexey Brodovitch, Wim Crouwel, Lucien De Roek, Max Huber, Jac. Jongert, Erik Nitsche, Paul Rand, Jan Toorop, Theo Van Doesburg and H.TH. Wijdeveld - it's a really interesting read.

Anyway, I came accross these Harper's Bazaar spreads art directed by Alexey Brodovitch and was totally shocked by how dynamic and experimental they are. I'm familiar with the covers he art directed, as they're probably his most famous works, but I've never before seen his page layouts which really show the true depths of his talent.

Carmel Snow the editor-in-chief who hired Brodovitch, hoped his unique design style would refresh the magazine and set it apart from it's rivals, "I saw a fresh, new conception of layout technique that struck me like a revelation: pages that "bled" beautifully cropped photographs, typography and design that were bold and arresting". Taken from 'The world of Carmel Snow'' by Carmel Snow & Mary Louise Aswell, McGraw-Hill, 1962.

It's a shame fashion mags these days don't aspire to this level of design. They seem to achieve great heights with photography, but they leave little room for design with almost every inch of the page plastered in content. I think these spreads really show the value of white space and composition - less is more, people!

Images taken from Iconofgraphics.

Thu 06 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Typography , Magazine

1 Comment

Auto Type III











More auto type - emblems, badges and signwriting from the 1066 Cruisers, Mid-Summer Picnic yesterday. I really like the 'Futura' badge from a 1964 Ford Falcon, especially the 'F'. I'll be uploading them to the Flickr group asap.

More auto type here and here. And some automotive industry logos from the 50's here.

Mon 03 Aug 2009

Posted under: Design , Typography , automobilia , lettering

2 Comments

From the reference box #48


#48 - Sunlight Soap Packaging. This Sunlight Soap packaging has unfortunately been opened out and the ends of the box are missing which is a shame. But the pic below shows how the complete pack should look...

When I bought it I estimated it was probably from the 50’s, however after a bit of research it seems it is much older. According to the Unilever timeline they introduced ‘Sunlight Flakes’ in 1899 and then changed their name to ‘LUX Flakes’ in 1900. This box advertises the ‘NEW Sunlight Flakes’ (in the yellow sash) and therefore must be from 1899!

Sunlight Soap was originally produced in 1884 by Lever Brothers, UK. It was designed for general household use and in particular washing clothes, making it “one of the first examples of a cleaning product being produced as a consumer commodity”, says Wikipedia. It was also one of the earliest internationally-marketed branded products!

These days Sunlight Soap has been replaced by man-made detergents in the laundry business, but it’s still available as a hand-wash soap in some European countries and is still a leading brand of dish-washing soap in Canada!

Complete package images from Advertising Antiques.

Sat 01 Aug 2009

Posted under: Advertising , Design , Reference box , Packaging

4 Comments

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Welcome to the Delicious Industries blog. We're an independent design studio based in Brighton, UK and this is our scrapbook packed full of design, illustration, photography & typography inspiration. Check out our work here.

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Vintage VW Bus Signage (19 comments)

Country Fair: A monthly journal of the open air (12 comments)

Mac Fisheries (10 comments)

Howdoos (9 comments)