Western Tanager 5″x7″ – Designed by Josh Brill
Cool bird prints from Josh Brill. Josh is the man behind Lumadessa, a little art and design label out Portland, Maine. The prints are from his Flora Fauna collection which catalogs the design identities of plants and animals from around the world. The collection also examines the visual character differences and similarities of species. It’s a field guide of discovery, beginning with birds.
Vero Construc toy construction kit -1975
Nuts, bolts, and sprockets! These are the makings of fine toys, as well as these awesome vintage booklets!
Created for the East German toy company Vero in 1975, these colorful booklets itemize all of the pieces included in the “Construc” construction kit and instructs children in building a stop light. The back cover reads, “Toys With System for the Creators of Tomorrow’s World.” How inspiring!
Pitfall (Activision) circa 1982
Nick Dart recently launched a cool resource for vintage game graphics. Art of the Arcade features game packaging, advertisements, logos, etc. from the golden era of arcade gaming, the 70’s and 80’s. I miss Pitfall!
On a related note, if you ever find yourself in Portland,OR, you have to stop by Ground Kontrol. The place is filled with classic games like Q-Bert and Pac-Man.
Meet Ed Nacional. Recent New York Times intern, Parson’s design student, and all around purveyor of great design. Ed’s typographic style, sensibility and skills struck me right off the bat. I especially love the “Nita Nita” graphics and the “We Cab Double You” typography. Sweet stuff.
C’mon ride the train & ride it! Toot! Toot!
This cheerful train track is created by Tokyo based illustrator and character designer, Toru Fukuda. He runs a delightful website titled Drawing Wonder, where he illustrates whimsical cartoons inspired from the 1960s and 1970s.
This particular illustration depicts unhitched trains, alternate tunnels, a nice water tower, even a free wheelin’ mustached conductor! Using multiple hand drawn layers, bright primary colors and thick lines, Toru successfully channels his inner Ed Emberley. Who’s up for a ride to Happyville?
James Birrell – View of the elevated restaurant, Centenary Pool, Brisbane’ (via Paige Modern)
Many thanks to Paige Russell for featuring us in her “Meet the Maker” series. Paige is a product designer with a passion for hunting vintage modern. Her blog’s (Paige + Modern) mission is to celebrate both vices and be home to all other great things she find along the way; inspiration, cheekiness, smart-pants thinking, sharp design, eye candy, & tales of great explorers.
Fresh air and the open road!
The fine folks at Random Collective designed a unique website chronicling New York based singer-songwriter Orba Squara’s journey across some of the United States. Commemorating his second album, Orba Squara’s site boasts a beautiful visual diary complete with photos, custom maps, and neat type treatments. Its layout is a 430 ft long lateral scroll, which translates the daily findings of the trip appropriately.
Orba Squara’s website is Random Collective’s first project. Founded by Jose Cabaco, Random Collective is all about connecting people from different disciplines, to work on a variety of projects. As its name suggests, it can be anything; a band of 2 or 20, writers or art directors, designers or photographers, architects or webcoders…even all of the above!
Check out Orba Squara’s website, and stay tuned for their website.
Television graphics
Absolutely stunning work from Stefan Kanchev (1915-2001) who was a Bulgarian graphic artist. During his prolific career he designed hundreds of logos, posters, stamps, book covers, labels as well as graphics for TV. Much of his work is inspired by Bulgarian folklore and traditions.
In 1994 Stefan Kanchev was recognized as one of the top ten designers of trade marks in the world along with Paul Rand, Saul Bass and etc. The title was awarded by the International trademark centre in Ostend, Belgium. His logo work will blow your wig back. I highly suggest you spend a few minutes browsing his archives.
These book covers from Australian designer Jenny Grigg are absolutely superb. I love how she uses texture and composition to make such playful and compelling work. I want to touch and feel these books as much as I want to read them.
Brazilian designer, Odiléa Toscano, illustrated delightful magazine covers and book jackets in the 1960s and 1970s. This particular illustration, created as the cover of Visão Magazine in 1962, omits a handful of energy as it uses bright complementary colors and geometric heavy forms and type. I really enjoy the intricate cutouts of the subject’s hair and the shapes he’s about to twist with his wrench!
(Via Design Diário)
