maps

road map of Czechoslovakia from 1962

Obviously the design work of a mad genius who is addicted to lollipop trees.

(Via the really good Kris’s color stripe blog)

Map of the Battlefields of Arrnhem and Oosterbeek

The battlefields of Arnhem and Oosterbeek in the Netherlands never looked so good as they do in Pink and Teal. The battles were part of Operation Market Garden. It was here that the famous “First Airborne Divison” consisting of more then 8000 men, under the command of Major-General Urquhart, glided down to earth on the morning of Sunday September 17, 1944.

The scaley, snake looking trail in the lower half of the map represents the Rhine River. The battlefields can be seen as the solid patches of brown. I really appreciate how the map designer cut away the airplane and parachute icons from that mass of brown. Simple, effective and creates some interesting shapes within the negative space.

You can read more about Operation Market Garden at wikipedia.

On a sidenote, watched “King of Kong” this weekend. Great flick. Definitely biased in its presentation but none the less Billy still comes off like a really sorry bob. After all the talk of competitive gaming and playing in front of people, I was surprised that he didn’t step up to the challenge at the Guinness event in Florida. Thoughts?

Just found this great polish blog called pantuniestal. They put together a small collection of polish maps from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. You can see a preview above. Check out the fish that guy in the yellow rain suit caught. That thing has some crazy sharp triangle teeth. Do they have Piranha in Poland or something?

Besides the maps they have some great examples of mid century modern ephemera. Browsing the site I found Czech matchbox labels, vintage cameras, hotel luggage labels etc. In addition to the Polish, there is an English version of the site so you can follow the conversation. Tons of eye candy here.

(via FFFFound!)

Zurich never looked better in pink. Heres a promotional item produced by the Official tourists office of Zurich, Switzerland. I’m guessing it dates back to the early to mid 1950s. Layout and printing by Orell Fussli Arts Graphiques. I was able to find other projects designed by Orell Fussli but I couldn’t find any information on the firm itself. If anyone knows anything, please email me.