Box Cars for the True Boy Scouts at Heart

Takeshi Tadatsu, a Tokyo comics artist, who back in the 90s created "Tokyo NewYork" for The New York Press, has been busily making shoebox cars that will knock your socks off. Steven Heller loved 'em and had to ask about the design inspiration:

"I have many Mexican wrestler figures; one day I placed them in cardboard box with a window, like TV. I painted the ring and found the box made a new, different, great image of them!
In 2008 I put toys into a box that made them completely like toys in Toys R Us. It also reminded me of plastic model or slotcars from my boyhood. So, shoebox cars size are 1/24 scale of my favorite slotcars.
It is so much FUN!  It feels free like sketching back to elementary school days.
I don't have a goal yet, I think I enjoy to see where they go. Like when they showed up in the window of local city councilman.
I've done around 20 cars now, I need to do more."

 

Recalling Rarities

Design and Style, a collaboration between Seymour Chwast, Steven Heller and Mohawk Paper, was a twice yearly paper promotion that introduced the art and design of historical styles, and helped trigger, along with Philip Meggs' A History of Graphic Design textbook, the graphic design history "movement."  A very limited run was printed, owing to the huge expense in producing dozens of paper and printing special effects - diecuts, short sheets, gatefolds, tip-ins, debossings, pop-ups and more. Seven issues were produced on Jugendstil, Streamline, French Deco, Futurism, Surrealism, Bauhaus and DeStijl, each with an interpretative cover by Chwast. An eighth issue was edited, written and designed on Japanese Pop (the missing dummy for went missing) but never printed. Design and Style became the basis for our book Graphic Style. Each interpretation is beautiful. Take a look at the full set:

Beautiful Cliches

Stock, clip or cliche art was (and is) a small big business in the graphic arts field. Even Paul Rand initially worked for a stock picture company, scratching out scratch board drawings of objects and vignettes. All the top type foundries offered them, and some graphic arts companies specialized in them. There wasn't any one country that had a monopoly, but some of the most visually interesting were produced in Germany for advertising and editorial use. The ones here are from Die Gebrauchs-Vignette in neuem Gewande! (Advertising Vignettes in New Garb!) catalog of the Schriftgiesserei Brüder Butter in Dresden from 1922.

Heavy with Goodness

We see them everywhere, point of purchase display is a huge marketing industry. Some are clever, others not - rather most are not. The idea is to get consumers at the counter to buy on impulse. Just showing the product is a no-brainer, but add a little comedy and the world is the seller's oyster, so to speak. These made for Richardson's "Maid of Honor" Fruits and Syrups (c.1948) are aimed at those with sweet teeth at the soda counter. The characters are as sweetly as their confections. So whether young or old this soda jerk and his little customer are designed to whet the appetite of trigger happy taste-buds. And what about the slogan . . . "Heavy With Goodness," eh?

What A Typographic Treat!

Vijay Mathews

New Series, Issue 9, 1960

From 1949 until 1967, Herbert Spencer produced the design journal Typographica. Even though the name implies a focus on typography, this internationally renown magazine was much greater.

With a total of 32 issues over its 18 year span, this series offered a commentary, critique, and conversation about the state of art and design. Carefully edited, designed, and at times written by Spencer himself, Typographica covered an eclectic range of topics and introduced readers to modernist artists such as Kurt Schwitters and Alexander Rodchenko.

Through its bold layouts, mixed usage of materials, and experimental photography and typography, Typographica pushed design boundaries and has been inspiring new generations of designers ever since.

Vijay Mathews

Old Series, 1949-1959

Tapeart for Nike Stadium Berlin on the Behance Network

Tapeart for Nike Stadium Berlin on the Behance Network

Zero Waste = Happy Planet

Zero-waste grocery store will eliminate food packaging

7th July 2011 in Retail.

Today’s grocery stores may feature more items with recyclable packaging than they used to, but the fact remains that there’s still enormous waste involved in the way individual goods are typically packaged and sold. So argues Brothers Lane, an Austin, Texas, company that’s gearing up to launch in.gredients — the first package-free, zero-waste grocery store in the United States.
The new store aims to be “a different kind of grocery store – one that is responsible to the environment and community and one that facilitates a healthy lifestyle,” in the company’s own words. Toward that end, shoppers at the store will bring their own reusable containers to fill with local and organic groceries ranging from dry bulk and dairy to wine and household cleaners. “Truth be told, what’s normal in the grocery business isn’t healthy for consumers or the environment,” in.gredients co-founder Christian Lane explains. “In addition to the unhealthiness associated with common food processing, nearly all the food we buy in the grocery store is packaged, leaving us no choice but to continue buying packaged food that’s not always reusable or recyclable.” Due to launch before year’s end, the store will exclude packaged and overly processed foods altogether as well as offering cooking classes, on-site gardening activities and a variety of community events.