Blog: Design

Stamp inspiration





Inspired by the wonderful Grain Edit and So Much Pileup who are always posting their beautiful stamps, I ventured into the deep and dark storage cupboard to dig out my childhood stamp collections. It really is years since these have seen the light of day, but I was pleasantly surprised by the number of great designs and graphic illustrations.

The ones above are a sweet little set from Czechoslovakia in the early 70's. Unfortunately they all have postmarks across them (it seems I wasn't very selective about what did and didn't go in), but the illustrations can still be admired.

Fri 03 Oct 2008

Posted under: Design , Illustration

2 Comments

Stunning Eastern Design







Now normally I spend my book budget on out-of-print books, but this caught my eye the other day, "Stunning Eastern Design 1949 - 1989" by Ralf E Ulrich and Ernst Hedler and I just had to have it. It's published by Taschen as part of their 25th Anniversary collection, so a bargain at £7.99!

It's packed full of fantastic products and some really wonderful packaging. Above are some of my favourites; I particularly like the tablet boxes at the top - so clean and minimal with nice use of colour accross the range.

The products formed part of an exhibition in 1989, "SED - Schöchnes Einheitsdesign" at the Galerie Habernall, Dreieich, near Frankfurt giving an insight into the consumer culture of former East Germany. Unfortunately though after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the currency union many of these products could not compete in a worldwide market and fell by the wayside. Collections like this are the only places they can still be seen.

Images taken from the book and copyright Ernst Hedler.

Thu 02 Oct 2008

Posted under: Design , Things to buy , Inspiration , Books

0 Comments

Advertising Greatness


I'm loving the series of Advertising Greatness over on the Sell Sell blog - this week it's the David and Goliath story of Avis, the car rental company and last week it was all about the adorable Nauga. Looking forward to the next one already!

Thu 02 Oct 2008

Posted under: Advertising , Design , Inspiration

0 Comments

MAD branding in NY



Pentagram have designed the new identity for the Museum of Arts and Design (formerly the American Craft Museum) in New York which has just re-opened in its new location at 2 Columbus Circle.

The MAD graphic is from a typeface created specifically for the Museum, based on the geometric shapes of the building and its environment, “the circles and squares present in the building’s shape; its location, on Columbus Circle; and the building’s iconic “lollipop” columns retained in the redesign”.

The MAD monogram is simple and fun, it looks modern and at the same time reminds me of the pattern and illustration found in arts and crafts, which is where the origins of the Museum lie. The bold shapes of the letters look great on the advertising and promotional material because they stand out, not only due to the density of the letters, but also because of the bright colours on black backgrounds.

It’s refreshing to see a creative identity, one that has reason behind it and has been created through good research. I’m not saying that taking the counters out of letters hasn’t been done before, but in this case it works and creates an identity system that is versatile and can be manipulated to work in any way the Museum requires.

You can read more about the development of the MAD branding here and find out more about MAD here.

Images copyright Pentagram.
Via Aisle One.

Wed 01 Oct 2008

Posted under: Design , Typography , Inspiration

3 Comments

From the reference box #24


How gorgeous are these ice cream containers? I'm guessing they're from the 50's, but have never been used, so apart from a little discolouring they're in tip top condition!

For more fab packaging have a look here and here.

#24 a new addition - 1950's ice cream containers

Tue 30 Sep 2008

Posted under: Design , Reference box , Delicious things , Inspiration

1 Comment

From the reference box #23





More wonderful matchbook covers! To see more of my collection click here.

#23 - More matchbook covers

Fri 26 Sep 2008

Posted under: Design , Reference box , Inspiration

4 Comments

Logo development


I stumbled upon a collection of classic logos and their development today, some of which I haven't seen before and others I recognise from Neatorama's collection that I posted about a few months ago. It's always interesting to see how a logo has changed over time and to see just how long some of these companies have been around!

I'm pleased to see they included Fiat, who I applaud for returning to their old 'Fiat' typeface and the simplistic bonnet badge of the 1920's - it just looks so classic.

Via Inspire Me Now.

Thu 25 Sep 2008

Posted under: Design , Inspiration

1 Comment

Free Ephemera!





I like to visit a carboot sale at the weekend, but on Saturday I overslept and arrived quite late. It turns out though, that some of the stall holders, don't like to take anything away with them and towards the end of the sale they give everything away! Imagine my delight when one of those stalls had loads of ephemera tucked away in the bottom of the boxes - good job I had a spare bag to hand!

Above is a selection of the travel related items, I think from the mid 70's judging by some of the other paperwork. There was also quite a few old photos, photo wallets, the odd flight ticket, maps, a fuel ration book and various tickets for events throughout the 50's and 60's. I'm sure you will see it all soon enough.

Wed 24 Sep 2008

Posted under: Design , Typography , Ephemera

2 Comments

Metallica re-branded


Turner Duckworth have redesigned the Metallica logo for their new album. Above top, is the original logo and underneath is the reincarnation, "based on the bands original version from 1981" - if you hadn't guessed!

Apparently the original logo had been re-drawn so many times over the years that it was beyond recognition, so the brief to Turner Duckworth was to try and capture the authenticity of the original logo in the new version.

Now they haven't done a bad job in my opinion, it was a tough brief and an even tougher audience to please, especially for a company more at home creating identities for companies like Waitrose and Amazon. When I first saw the new logo I didn't even realise it was a new version, and I guess that was their intention. Standing alone only true fans would know it's changed, yet next to the old one it looks well designed, more balanced and definitely has more attention to detail.

My only gripe would be that the protruding angles of the 'M' and 'A' have been changed, making the word 'Metallica' smaller than the original when the overall logo is the same size (as you can see above) and for a graphic predominantly used on merchandise I think that should have been a consideration. Although saying that, I doubt anyone these days even reads the Metallica logo, it could say anything between the 'M' and 'A', it's such an iconic design that the shape alone is instantly recognisable worldwide. Now love it or hate it, in my book that's the sign of a successful brand, be it for a product, service or rock band!

Via the Creative Review Blog.

Tue 23 Sep 2008

Posted under: Design

0 Comments

Ed Lives Here


Thanks to Lizy Gershenzon at Froeter Design for sending me the link to Ed Lives Here, “Ed’s your friendly educator for all things paper, printing and design. He's here to help you communicate your ideas, on-press and on paper. He's your source for information - and inspiration”.

Basically, this is a great resource for anyone wanting to familiarise themselves with the print process. Experienced designers will probably know most of what’s here, but it’s good to have a reference to hand just in case. I think graduates will find it a really useful guide as the production side of being a designer is rarely covered in detail when studying and is a bit of a blackhole for many fledgling designers in their first job.

The diagrams and charts are really well designed and simplifying the information, making it easier to understand. On many occasions during the past few months this website would have helped me explain a process or print technique easily, to a client. For example trying to explain the differences between printing presses, what spot and process colours are and why they are not always identical, what a foil block or an emboss is and the old favourite – why monitor and printed colours are different.

Here are some other examples from the site:

Retouching


Printing presses

It's a really interesting site, with loads of information and if you don’t believe me, take a look for yourselves here.

Images taken from Ed Lives Here. Sponsored by NewPage.

Fri 19 Sep 2008

Posted under: Design , Web , Inspiration

1 Comment

From the reference box #22









This is a new addition to the reference box, but a very worthy one. A 1954 copy of The Highway Code. The diagrams are great - I like the cross shading and the stopping distance graphic. It's so much nicer than the modern booklets.

#22 - The Highway Code, 1954

Wed 17 Sep 2008

Posted under: Design , Reference box , Inspiration

0 Comments

The Nauga



How gorgeous is this Nauga? An advertising mascot created to advertise Uniroyals' synthetic fabric, 'Naugahyde' in the 60's and make it stand out from the competition.

You can read the full story here - any of you US peeps got one? Apparently they can still be found.

Via Sell! Sell!

Tue 16 Sep 2008

Posted under: Advertising , Design , Delicious things

0 Comments

Logos, graphics and trademarks













These fabulous graphics are taken from 3 scrapbooks of labels, logos and trademarks, photocopied many years ago by my good friend Mike, who in turn allowed me to get a copy. I treasure them, they are such a vast and varied collection they make fantastic reference material and each time I look through them I still see something new.

So, thank you Mike, they are invaluable!

Tue 16 Sep 2008

Posted under: Design , Typography , Delicious things

2 Comments

Rob Ryan at Castor & Pollux


“Swirling, intricate bells, birds, trees and stars fill the prints and paper cuts of silhouetted lovers surrounded by floating poetry”

The Rob Ryan exhibition of screen prints, printed tiles and paper cuts started yesterday at Castor & Pollux and runs until 20 October.

Rob’s work is beautiful, intricate and sentimental. He’s created illustrations for Paul Smith, designed Christmas windows for Liberty’s of London and made paper-cut fashions for Vogue.

His work will be available to buy throughout the exhibition, but if you’re stuck in London at the weekends you can check out Rob’s work at Ryantown, his new shop in Columbia Road and for those of you not in the UK he also has an Etsy shop!

Image copyright Rob Ryan.

Sun 14 Sep 2008

Posted under: Design , Things to buy , Illustration , Exhibition

2 Comments

The Great Lance Wyman






I read a comment about Lance Wyman’s zoo graphics yesterday, and realised it’s been ages since I’ve seen them. His Mexico Olympic ’68 and his zoo graphics where the first pieces of design that I fell in love with. Their simplicity and impact are just fantastic.

Wyman specialises in directional, signage systems and branding. Early on in his career he created the identity, signage systems & symbols, for the Mexico ’68 Olympics and the Mexico ’70 World Cup, as well as developing a system for the Mexico City Metro.

In 1971 Wyman teamed up with Bill Cannan to form, Wyman & Cannan. A New York studio where they worked successfully creating iconic signage systems, including the above one for the Minnesota Zoo (one of my personal favourites), until 1979 when Wyman started his own studio, Lance Wyman Ltd.

There is a great interview with Wyman on Web Esteem where he discusses his design process and thoughts on his work.Also, if you want to see more of his graphics check out his website which true to form, is simple and informative. His graphics look even better small and in black and white – the ultimate test of a good logo.

PS. Lance, if you are reading this - we need a retrospective exhibition in the UK - please!

All images and graphics copyright Lance Wyman Ltd.

Fri 12 Sep 2008

Posted under: Design , Inspiration

5 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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