Dancing in the Street, 1985.

Found via Library of Congress

From 1978: The work of Arnie Lynde.

Found via It’s Nice That

From 1970.

Boombox: Doomsday Train

Sleeve found via Klaus Hiltscher

Video for Kraftwerk’s Trans Europe Express. From 1977.

‘Chemins de fer de l’état, Cie. Gle. Transatlantique.’

Vintage travel poster, art by Albert Sébille (1874-1953). More here.

Found via Culturenik

‘Remixing is a folk art but the techniques are the same ones used at any level of creation: copy, transform, and combine’

4-part documentary by NYC-based filmmaker Kirby Ferguson.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4 is in production, donations accepted here.

Website here, Facebook page here. Remixes (inspired by part 3) here and here.

Found via Creative Bits

The work of Christian Marclay. Monograph here.

Found via This Blog Rules

Found via Heidi Andermack, mashKULTURE

‘Between 1939 and 1944, the OWI and the Farm Security Administration made thousands of photographs, approximately 1,600 of them in color’

Despite what my dad told me, the 1930s and 40s were actually in color.

More pics here, here, here and here.

‘You’ll see Playland, our oceanside amusement park which was closed in 1972, very rare footage of the SkyTram (an extinct ride over Seal Rocks and Sutro Baths), and a brakescreeching ride down the Crookedest Street in the World.’

From 1955: Color Cinemascope footage of San Francisco by Tullio Pellegrini.

Found via Boing Boing

‘The graphic images were an instant success when they premiered in bus shelters around the city. San Franciscans loved them. Too much, in fact, as some of the posters were stolen from the shelters.’

Often copied, Michael Schwab’s posters for Golden Gate National Parks. Brand implementation by Rich Silverstein and Jeff Goodby, circa 1993-7.

Case study here. Parks Conservancy store (Schwab’s art on prints, mugs, shirts, chocolate tins and more) here.

‘This poster was created by L.N. Britton circa 1918. It promotes food and resource conservation.’

Many years ago I found a small brochure at the National Archives building in San Bruno, CA. From it I ordered a bunch of inexpensive reproductions of early 20s century posters (pictured) – direct from the government. Framed, they looked great in my first apartment.

Everything is now online. All around 10 bucks a pop.

‘Originator of Type Fashions’

American Type Founders’ complete 1912 specimen book. 1348 pages.

Entire book posted online here.

The industrial revolution changed the size of font offerings. What were once posters or broadsheets from small type foundries, ‘type specimens’ became elaborate volumes – today collected as rare editions.

more
Since 2007, Open Library has been digitizing rare type specimens. Available to read online or as PDF downloads.

I found out about them just this weekend – font specialist Laurence Penney had posted links on his Twitter feed. These are them:

Caslon, 1785
Binney & Ronaldson, 1812
Montreal Type Foundry, 1850
Boston Type Foundry, 1860
Fann Street Foundry, 1874
Cincinnati Type Foundry, 1882
Allison & Smith, 1889
Cleveland Type Foundry, 1895
Inland Type Foundry, 1897
Toronto Type Foundry, 1899
Keystone Type Foundry, 1906
Barnhart Bros. & Spindler 1907

and
One of my favorites, here’s a link to Bauer’s offerings from 1900.

Found via Hoefler+Frere-Jones, Lawrence Penney, Oded Ezer, Nina Stoessinger, Falstaff & Fakir and Kris Sowersby

‘A collection of WPA-era US Travel Bureau Posters as reinterpreted and screen printed by Providence’s Head Light Hotel’

Available thru Tiny Showcase: Reproductions of 1930s ‘See America’ poster art.

So much cooler than the current government-sanctioned offerings of Brand USA, Inc.

Bérénice Bejo as Peppy Miller in The Artist.

Finally saw it last weekend. Beautiful little nouveau ‘silent’ film.

‘The goal is to incorporate the luxurious fabrics, mixed prints and textures from the 20s while keeping the silhouette modern and figure flattering’

Retro, contemporary and nouveau: Project Runway 9 contestant Fallene Wells is seeking Kickstarter funding for her latest collection.

More info here, Kickstarter here.

‘custom blue silk embroidered with cotton and copper thread’

Detail of the fabric used in the bedroom of Jeanne Lanvin (1867–1946). From her residence on the rue Barbet-de-Jouy, rebuilt at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

Found via ArtisphereOnline

‘While there aren’t any tweed skirts hanging from picture frames, or cap-toe shoes in jars, there are some brilliant photos of bookshelf vignettes, bejeweled tchotchkes, and a mismatch of furniture styles, inspirations, and references’

Coco Chanel’s Paris apartment.

Slideshow here. Photographed by The Coveteur.

Found via Refinery 29

‘On one occasion, referring to Benguiat as a ‘printer,’ Allen asked him what a good typeface was. Benguiat had an affinity for Windsor and suggested it to him that morning. He’s used it in every film since.’

Woody Allen and the Windsor typeface. Since 1977. Story here.

Thanks for your reads in 2011. Up next, more boldness. Looking forward.

Pictured is an image from an upcoming project I’ve been working on as of late – which with some luck and spit, should see the light of day in the next few months. Click to view larger. Powered, of course, by Gill Kayo.

‘the story of the rise and fall of Black Horse Disco, a youth club set up in the centre of a large working-class estate in North London’

Knuckle Sandwich. Cover photographed by Red Saunders, a.k.a MC Redman. Powered by Gill Kayo. Details.

The Clash: What’s My Name

Found via The Pelican Blog

Percy Sledge. Powered by Gill Kayo.

Percy Sledge: Any Day Now

Found via Buro Destruct

Kriminal-Serie Kommissar X No. 1281. Powered by Gill Kayo.

Found via mickey the pixel

Kriminal-Serie Kommissar X No. 1168. Powered by Gill Kayo.

Found via mickey the pixel

Dynascript is the latest font from the great Michael Doret.

Details here, buy it here.

These vintage Santas are just a tad older than me.

Them, with their cartoony script lettering, would grace the table every year – with or without the requisite salt, pepper, for which they were created. Made in Japan.

Below, track from the ultimate 1960s Christmas album.

Ray Conniff: Twelve Days of Christmas

Reading glass case with outlined Helvetica. Genuine 1970s soft plastic.

Some light reading. Graphics designed by the Saul Bass studio.

Found via Spokane7

‘These things are becoming harder to find these days and I wish to have a record of their fine existence.’

Photographs from Sam Platz’s Pay Phone Tribute Album (on Facebook).

‘next door to Cricket’s Cafe off Auburn Blvd  . . .  in Citrus Heights, CA’

Photograph by Ian Webb.

‘This film was made by his company as a presentation to AT&T executives. It would have extended to be shown to the public, but a number of his ideas in the film were not ultimately adopted, like his phone booth designs, and men’s and women’s uniforms.’

Complete pitch by the master. It’s everything anyone ever wanted to know about how good logos and visual identity systems work. From 1969. Historical details here.

Found via Scott Stowell

‘Watch the definitive documentary on the husband-wife design icons’

A new biography on Charles and Ray Eames is airing on PBS this week. Powerful and unflinching, more than just chairs. Playful optimism, powerful clients, amazing budgets, odd obsessions. Narrated by James Franco, titles feature the incredible Eames fonts.

Watch it online here.

Above, the IBM Pavilion at the 1964 Worlds Fair.

Below, Eames’ complete short film The Information Machine. Commissioned in 1958 by IBM, it was designed to get a fearful population to trust this perceived-dangerous, unknown mechanical variable: Computers!

‘from Alphabets 1964, edited by R. S. Hutchings’

Image found by the great Steve Matteson – who was recently interviewed by Mashable.

Poster for the Polish release of Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (1966).

Found via Hipster Thor

Not quite Chicken of the Sea, Breast-O’-Chicken was another product designed to confuse Americans about where tuna actually comes from.

From 1954.

Found via retro-ads

Poster recreation by Hesh One.

The Doors: Peacefrog (remix by nathan davis)

Geo. Watkins’ Anchovy Sauce. Illustration by Hwa Young Jung.

Flickr here, website here.

Cole’s – photographed by Heather John. Foodinista post here.

French Dip showdown here. Bunch-o-recipes here.

One of these days I’m gonna make it up to Seattle and visit bauhaus books + coffee. Just because I have to.

And available now thru them is the Bauhaus + I Want You shirt, designed by Christian Petersen of DUMB EYES – as a cross promotion with I Want You magazine.

Leshko’s Coffee Shop, Ave. A. NYC 1979.

The photography of Michael Sean Edwards. Flickr here, website here.

Found via Dangerous Minds

I love canning stuff. And it’s getting to be the time of year to cram some stuff into bottles.

Pictured, logo design by Roger Estes for Marisa McClellan’s Food in Jars blog.

An image from long ago. The reality is much different today.

Graphic found via Laura Serra

‘And so was born the ‘shop-at-a-glance’ concept’

An ill-fated design experiment from 1965: Ralphs remodeled with departmentalized, color-coded graphic icons. Article here.

I use a lot of color coding in my own work – but with the assumption that the end user will need other organizational tools to find their way around. ‘Shop-at-a-glance’ never quite caught on; tho I’d love to see what data Ralphs collected as part of their process.

Found via Pleasant Family Shopping

‘the terror of suffocating to death in a closet’

May visit a few stores today just as a behavioral study.

Title card and trailer for Black Friday (1940).

Found via nineteenfortyone

Venus Observations is a blog that takes a not-quite academic look at the evolution of ‘adult periodicals’ in the 1970s; when obscenity standards were first challenged and nude photography took its first major steps from pin ups to hardcore porn.

Noted in this post is how things have changed a bit – where model Daria Werbowy (pictured) can appear nakkid in today’s French Vogue in poses that could have filled the pages of Penthouse in the early 1970s.

Americans have real issues with the human body – which can be interpreted as sex=bad, with the US counterbalance being violence=good. I never quite get this, often wish we were okay with things the way they are in Europe.

Cause nude is the best way to showcase jewelry, right?

Photography by Mikael Jansson

Found via Artsomething

Video for Cult’s Go Outside. Directed by Isaiah Seret.

Found via Boing Boing

M-za: That Retro Shine mixtape

Image found via KENMAT