Wednesday 8th September 2010

Entries filed under Typography

Nikon Manuals

Posted on 18/03/10.

Simple, strong and bold design for these manual covers for Nikon circa late 70s early 80s represents a product that will last (they are still in use today) as well as giving focus and unity across all their range. Great stuff. 

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Phil Stern

Posted on 08/03/10.

For more than 50 years, Phil Stern has captured images that we now recognize as iconic and familiar. The late Norman Granz of Verve Records commissioned Phil to photograph an endless stream of Jazz greats. These sleeves show Stern’s remarkable photographs paired with sophisticated typography, or simply the Verve logo. The image of Ella and Louis is particularly arresting and still manages to look contemporary.

Link: http://phil.aparishome.com/

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Vivitar manuals

Posted on 03/03/10.

We found these old Vivitar manuals while doing some window shopping on eBay. They date from the 1970s and are a great example of strong, simple graphic design with consistent branding.

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Blossom Dearie

Posted on 26/02/10.

Blossom Dearie (April 28, 1924 – February 7, 2009) was an American jazz/bepop singer and pianist, famous for her distinctive girlish voice. This is a classic sleeve combining simple type with a brilliant photograph by Charles Stewart.

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Herman Leonard

Posted on 17/02/10.

Herman Leonard (born 1923 in Pennsylvania) is an American photographer known for his unique images of jazz icons. Photographing such notables as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis, Leonard became a fixture of the jazz scene, his photographs gracing the covers of more than 200 albums. These sleeves for Clef Records from 1956 show combine his images with strong colour in a simple and bold graphic style. Leonard’s jazz photographs, now collector’s items, are a unique record of the jazz scene of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and his collection is now in the permanent archives of American Musical History in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

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Object & Idea

Posted on 17/02/10.

Great to see some of Australia’s graphic design heritage with this Swiss style exhibition catalogue from the National Gallery of Victoria 1973.

Link: http://www.recollection.com.au

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500-year-old Quote

Posted on 12/02/10.

One of our favourite quotes from Leonardo da Vinci. These were simple typographic experiments in a rare bit of down time in the studio, we couldn’t decide which we preferred so here are two. “La semplicità costituisce l’ultima sofisticazione - Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”. That’s from around 500 years ago!

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