Vintage at Goodwood

Spotted these nice flyposters the other day. Apparently the design is by Red Or Dead, usually better known for their fashion work. It reminds me a little of Barnbrook's excellent new work for the Sydney Bienniale, which you can see here: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/may/17th-biennale-of-sydney-identity

1980's magazine design

I picked up a copy of the SPD Annual from 1989 in a charity shop the other day. The eighties was such an overtly stylised decade that many of the spreads now look as incongruous as a Cyndi Lauper puffball skirt, so I can't pretend that much of the work has aged well, but nevertheless, in amongst the tics and tropes of the time—over-compressed and letterspaced capped serifs, leaderlines etc—there is some genuinely good stuff tucked away.

There's this for instance: remember the excitement when word began to spread about what David Carson was doing? Here he is, pre-Raygun, cutting through the crowd like a lightning bolt with Skateboard magazine from 1987. This is a clear statement of intent, and presaged much that was to come in the 1990s.





And here's another art director who was soon to become a household name: the late, great Tibor Kalman, pre-COLORS, with a powerful and witty pair of covers for Art Forum magazine, again from 1987.




And finally, from Life magazine and art directed by Charles Pates, an introduction to a certain young boxer, destined for great things…

London Life

We featured this work last year in Creative Review, but I came across it again whilst tidying up, and it's so good that I think it really deserves another outing. London Life ran for eighteen months in the mid sixties, and was one of the first titles in which David Hillman—later to be known for Nova and his Guardian redesign—really came to attention.

That a magazine with such confident, bravura art direction and a creative team that included Duffy, Terence Donovan and Gerald Scarfe should sink without a trace can only give some idea of how fierce the competition must have been in those days.

Shown above are a selection of spreads and covers, plus the original, dummy cover, numbered 14th August.

Lifeforms by Buggy G Riphead

For me, one of the defining images of the early '90's is that of the inscrutable, enigmatic girl who adorned the cover of Future Sound Of London's 1994 album 'Lifeforms'. The artwork was created by a digital artist cum designer called Mark McClean, alias Buggy G Riphead, and though a quick google reveals him to be still working today (hypersonique.com), I don't think anything he's done since quite matches the impact of that strange, hermetically sealed world, part 2001, part Dali, that he created for FSOL.

Falling Water

Built in 1934 by Frank Lloyd Wright in Pennsylvania: the breathtaking Falling Water was a private residence.

Death Race 2000

Poster from the 1975 SF film.

Society of the Spectacle

Beneath the pavement lies the beach… Found this great cover of Debord's Situationist manifesto whist looking for something else the other day.

JR Walker and the All Stars

Great band, and a great colour combination on this sleeve.

View from a window

The view from Creative Review's window, looking down on to Oxford Street. Filtered using Tiltshift Generator on the iPhone.

Newspaper face

From The Daily Mail. A horrible paper but a nice typeface. Does anyone recognise it?

Press

Simple but charming.

House numbering

A daringly tight piece of kerning on the numbering of this Belgravia residence.

Pub signage

Some excellent raised signage above a London pub.

Funerary inscriptions

I always enjoy looking at the inscriptions on tombstones. The styles vary greatly, not only from century to century, but also from area to area. These ones are from the north east of England.

Anderson tapes titles

Came across this great computer-style font from the opening titles of Sidney Lumet's 'The Anderson Tapes' the other day. It's worth seeking out if you've not seen it.

Leaf shadows

Leaf shadows falling on a blind in late afternoon.

Forest

Spotted on a sheet metal door. Is it corrosion or is it an etched photograph of a forest? I don't know.

Found lino pattern

Excellent colourway and pattern on this piece of discarded lino.

Hitchcock titling font

Intriguing titling face from Hitchcock's 1938 'The Lady Vanishes'. Look at that Art Deco lower case 'g'!

More found type

1970's Islington housing estate signage uses this bonded type, which loosens over time and produces these marvelous effects.

Car Park type

Found on a rooftop car park: this pleasingly weathered numeral type.