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A Dutch Type History Redux
Dutch Type, originally published in 2004, is among my favorite books on type for its deep scholarship and broad brushstrokes. Printed in an edition of 3,500 copies, it sold out in three years. Not bad...
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The Hi-Fi Generation
Vinyl may be back, but it is an indulgence in which most Spotifiers do not partake. Designed for Hi-Fi Living: The Vinyl LP In Midcentury America by Janet Borgerson and Jonathan Schroeder (MIT Press)...
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Everett Raymond Kinstler, R.I.P.
Artist Everett Raymond Kinstler passed away on May 26, 2019, at the age of 92. Known as Ray to his friends, he was one of the few of his generation whose work encompassed the pulps, comic books during...
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Homage to Joseph Binder
This is a short homage—for no other reason than I’m reminded of his work—to Vienna-born artist and designer Joseph Binder (1898–1972). He came of age when poster artists were stars. Or, as his wife...
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The Legacy of Type Design History
While rummaging through my old, forgotten type history files, I came across a cache of American Printing History Association newsletters. This one from 1988 includes a fascinating biographical essay on...
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Design From Underground
The publisher Standards Manual has teamed up with Brian Kelley on New York City Transit Authority: Objects: a catalogue by Kelley that presents an archive of New York’s historic subway system through a...
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The Bernini Of Cardboard Sculptures
Cardboard point of purchase (POP) displays are commercial sculptures. Perhaps not as masterful as a Bernini or Rodin yet when constructed well, they move you to think, look and buy. A lot goes into a...
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The Dean of Design
William H. (Will) Bradley (1868–1962) is an underappreciated American design pioneer overshadowed by other Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts practitioners. But he was one of design’s earliest...
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My Favorite Dummy
There is nothing more satisfying than nostalgia that does not bring up personal memories of the immediate past. Nostalgia is an illness. I prefer nostalgia that is an appreciation of how and what...
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The Modern Monogram: A Historic Survey of Ciphers, Marks and Monograms
Centuries of Monograms In my business, Nancy Sharon Collins, Stationer LLC, I create monograms and ciphers for clients and spend a good deal of time looking for historic inspiration. This article...
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Illustrated Magazines, The Genius Thereof
Picture Magazines of the Times (Bildermaga Zin Der Zeit) (Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin) by Patrick Rössler is just what the doctor ordered today. In the 1920s, “The illustrated Magazine” was planned to be...
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Tschichold In The Rough
Last week I previewed a splendid book by Prof. Patrick Rössler (Universität Erfurt) in Germany on 1920s-30s illustrated German magazines. Today I bring you another awe-inspiring history of the New...
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A Master of the German Modern Logo
Max Körner (1883–1963) was a painter and German trademark designer. From 1913 to 1921 he was a teacher of visual design and crafts at the School of Applied Arts in Stuttgart, and along with Wilhelm...
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The Kindest Cuts of All
They are the quintessential generic commercial artforms. “Cuts,” “cliches,” “spots,” “bugs”—made from wood and metal, whatever you call them, they were big business for applied art studios, type...
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Design Matters: Now on PRINT!
Print has been acquired by an independent group of collaborators—Deb Aldrich, Laura Des Enfants, Jessica Deseo, Andrew Gibbs, Steven Heller and Debbie Millman—and soon enough, we’ll be back in full...
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A Yiddish Avant Garde
Recently, I was given a Kedem Auctions catalog of avant garde art and artifacts from the Collection of Uzi Agassi (founder of Even Hoshen Press, which he started with his son in 1994, after many years...
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When the Plates Collided
Who would not want to have Rockwell Kent (not to be confused with Norman Rockwell) design their personal bookplates? … Wait!! Bookplates? What’s a bookplate? Oh, I forgot—they don’t really exist...
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The Trouble With Democracy?
In the Feb. 3 issue of The New Yorker, Jill Lepore’s “The Last Time Democracy Almost Died” eloquently addresses the fragility of our system not just in Trump’s America but in past Americas too, like...
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Branding Nazi Kids
If you have seen the Academy Award Best Picture nominee “Jo Jo Rabbit” or read the novel Caging Skies, you will either come away with a comic/satiric sensibility or a seriously heartbreaking...
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Where Typography Was Headed in Germany
Every time I open my eyes, there is an insightful and visually resplendent new book on German and Bauhaus design and typography by Patrick Rössler. Fortunately for us all, New Typographies Bauhaus...
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