Feature: Design history
The first couple of American billboards
Otis and Dorothy Shepard, the ‘Scott and Zelda’ of mid-century advertising graphics, were neglected when…
Powered flight
For fifteen years, Pegasus, an international biannual corporate magazine designed by Derek Birdsall, led…
Bitworld
Digital archeologist Jim Boulton explores the creative history of computer technology
In the right place
In this extract from his book, Gerald Cinamon explains how he brought integrated book design to Penguin…
Leftovers with a bad taste
In the past century the use of ‘trade characters’ built brand loyalty while reinforcing stereotypes
Tightly packed
Owen Jones’s trademark design for biscuit tins has stayed the same for generations
Tony Brook on collecting
Spin’s founder, the subject of Reputations in Eye 86, talks about his passion for poster collecting
Rub-down revolution
A generation before home computers, Letraset’s dry transfer lettering made desktop typography possible –…
A tradition with breaks
Stencil typefaces – late arrivals on the typographic scene – are going in new directions and…
Puffins on the plate
How the Russian revolution – plus new technology – led to a colourful and radical change in children’s…