Discovering David Klein

While searching for some period influence for art posters, I can across a site for artist David Klein ( 1918 -2005), and I realized that I am more familiar with his work that I had thought. Since my father was also ( is also) an illustrator and graphic artist from the same era in New York ( 1914- ), I recognized the style and many of the pieces from his studio. If you are looking to design vintage looking type, posters or advertising inspired by the mid twentieth Century, you must review the work of David Klein.

The original 1960's travel poster that inspired the Orbitz poster.

David Klein is more will known for his Broadway window cards since his first job was for the theatrical advertising agency Clifford Strohl Associates in New York City. His illustrations for Broadway' dbrdy knoen shows of the era remains on of the most enduring hallmarks of the golden age of Broadway and graphic design.

Hi book illustration ranged from children's books to text book medical illustrations.

A New Generation Pushes the Big Brands Hip

LAB Partners design and Illustration's work for a new HP Retail Publishing group, who will appeal to a younger, hip consumer who expects more ( or less) from advertising. Thanks to the suaveness of Goodby, Silvertein and Partners, this idea grows into something completely new and fresh and very far away from the 1990's model of Neville Brody design that we still see so much of today in big business.

Happy Bottledays - Evian's Paul Smith Bottle

Evian launches a bottle designed by British fashion designer, Paul Smith. An icon gets madeover for the Holidays.

ADC Young Guns - Julien Vallée and pecha kuchaism

ADC Young Gun winner, Julien Valée may have presented a body of work at an Apple Store, but this could be a Window dislay equally, effective. It's high and low, tech, and could still sell the most sophisticated of electronics. Yeah, paper sculpture can sell technology today as well as a slick, perfectly shiny photo with a reflection, can. Maybe,even better. Take note, Apple.

Connecting with culture today takes much more than simply believing that modernity is the the answer. For, after all, what is modernity today, anyway? Recently, a number of factors are moving me, personally, to challenge conventional thinking when it comes to crafting creative design solutions. Mostly, I am exploring the curious trend of technology becoming more organic, and natural rather than the cliche expressions we see over and over again from the tech companies. Take Apple, for instance.

It's funny, and quite clear, to see brands beyond Apple, design packaging which is sold within the Apple stores. "Make it look like Apple" and suddenly, it's quaintly not new, not modern, not original, and definitely, not Apple. Sometimes, the answer can be found in the solution rather than the challenge. Creative people, who are brilliantly good at it, are discovering some amazingly elegant and yet, provocative ways to capture our attention. After all, marketing today should be more about engaging us ( even if it means, entertaining us) than boring us with the expected. The message, if presented effectively, can be said more in the experience, than in words.


Take Montreal ADC Young Gun Julien Vallée's work. Brilliantly new, a voice of today, if not tomorrow, and certainly worth noting.



Congrat's also, to ALSO, chicago design firm, and friends, who've I've been using for years for their creative collective minds. You go, Guys!

I can see the Future, and it's moving. Look out Harry Potter.

The idea that motion in print, in our magazine, newspapers, or whatever we end up calling our devices it going to become a reality, seems unavoidable given the progress that technology is making. According to Mashable last week, it's really going to happen, and I can't wait. "Two still mythical tablet devices, the Microsoft Courier and the Apple Tablet, are probably the hottest and most coveted devices that do not yet officially exist.

OLED TEchnology allows for bendable screens.

With print on paper magazines failing left and right, (good bye Gourmet), and with everyone freaking out about books, magazines, journals and print going away for ever, and even with libraries closing, books and newspapers leaving our shelves and doorsteps, there comes along a disruption - thank you Harry Potter, and your world of moving images in Newspapers...maybe this fantasy will become reality sooner than we think ( Thanks Gizmodo) (Via Designdust).

I have always believed that even though many things which are creatively produced in our life are now repeating, that in reality, we are just in a time of tremendous change, a time of transition, a cultural florescence may be about to happen. Print may not be going away, only the medium. In our world where magazines seem old fashioned and quaint, we still love our printed medium, but we want it free, or at least in high def. Think about it////this Holiday season, many of us want an Amazon Kindle, next year, we may want a 4 color version, or a Microsoft Courier, even an Apple Tablet. Print isn't leaving us, it's only getting better. Much better. It's becoming motion-print, and not unlike those black and white newspaper photos in the Harry Potter films, we may actually be entering a whole new era of design and creativity that can, indeed, change everything.


OLED Technology allows for flexible, video

Sure, it may take a few years, but I can't help but to imagine that these digital devices are only a stepping stone to newer mediums, and with the introduction of flexible video by Sony and Samsung, the idea of 'Living Magazines" may not be that far off. The future of flexible video may be pricey now, at least to be disposable, but maybe it isn't disposable? And, come to think of it, the idea of me finding a $10,000 plasma screen TV seemed unimaginable 5 years ago, now, they are at discount stores for less than 300 bucks. As an avid reader and a fan of scientific and botanical journals, this concept may change how plant societies and main line magazines, if not certainly advertising, will consider print in the not too distant future.

UK designer Pete Harrison's Magic

In time when Photoshop becomes more of the look than the artist, comes along someone like Pete Harrison. As a tool, Photoshop can be as useful as an Xacto knive or Rapidograph was to an earlier generation of creatives. But merely learning the filters and applying bevel and emboss to a font or image, rarely results in brilliant design. Usually, it's just a mess. Still, Photoshop and Illustrator along with many computer programs have become the primary cause for the recent demise of design and creative talent.

But in the right hands, this powerful tool can help artists create extraordinary designs that move, motivate and sell. Check out the work of the UK's Pete Harrison, known as Aeiko, and aeiko.net.

Live and Let Never Die

Now that I've moved back into the home I was born in ( yikes), and the house my 96 year old dad was born in ( yikes), I've been living in a sort-of time warp. Cleaning out attic's and cellar, sheds and barns, has been rather cathartic, and healing. As a designer, I am also finding the venture less of an exercise in nostalgia than I had expected. It's been a bit surprising to see how relevant many of the magazine covers, advertisements ( not the tech one or auto ads, but the food ad's!) have been. In a time when I am constantly pitching against "I hate circus type" and " That ad feels, so......1970's" or :" I love it but change the sixties feeling image", it's been just plain old fun, to see some of the pure, vintage type and styles. All fodder for helping others understand the differences, and the real reasons why we are currently revisiting the past. Surely, many of these images will be making their way into my presentations.

First, a bit of naughty. I admit that I am old enough to remember this sexy cover by Herb Alpert - for the famous and still rather edgy Whipped Cream cover, was the foundation of a "private club' I created in 1967 in a back cubby of our chicken coop, um..well, goat house actually, which makes the story better, if not creepier. our 'boy's club' was called the Bradford Boobies Club, after all, we we're 9 years old, and this is what 9 year old boys do in the 1960's, right? It was inspired by random clipping swiped from my Dad's Art In America circa 1967 magazines, which, well, had lots of black and white images of boobies and such, since hey, it was the 60's. Anyway, I found this album cover in our cellar last weekend, and three days later, I get this email from a design firm pal,( thanks Gabe!) who shares, out of frustration, the struggle and sometimes irony that surround the recent trend of using the past as inspiration for something modern, specifically - recycled type, mid-century images. For those of us who 'Get it', it's been a time of frustration and defense, and sometimes, the only way to sell through a vision is to defend it with proof-of-concept. People and business will 'get-it' soon enough, until then, check out this re-creation:




Reinvention is fab when executed perfectly. Which reminds me of this recent redesign of the Hilton identity for Hilton Honors, which pay's homage to the 1966 logo, but still, so elegant and daring. Isn't it amazing when such vision is confidently brought to fruition in a business world which is sensitive to change? One has to admire such feats. Go Hilton.




While on the subject of vintage inspired type, I can't help myself, and must share these cover designs for books created by artist Michael Gillette for Penguin UK. Michael's work continues to show up on my radar, and on others, as I've noticed on a recent binge researching for another project. Surely, this won't be the last we see of him.