Timely Tutoring in Topics, Tastes and Trends of Typography from Bradbury Thompson

Westvaco Inspirations for Printers may be one of the most influential and highly prized series of paper promotions ever produced in the 20th century. The leaders at Westvaco, formerly named the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, believed their paper promotions should be an educational living record of advertising design and commercial art. What they often produced was something so entirely modern, that many issues still look contemporary seven decades later. Bradbury Thompson (1911-1995) was a key figure in their success. Beginning in 1939, he was responsible for the design and art direction of over sixty of the Westvaco Inspirations issues. Undaunted by minimal resources and budgets, he sourced out historic, public domain images and combined them with modernist effects. He relied on classic typography for the most part, but once went so far as to design a conceptual version of an U&lc alphabet he called Alphabet 26 which premiered in Westavaco Insprirations No. 180 in 1950. One of Thompsons' seldom seen art direction triumphs, issue No.129, is available here. This 16 page issue from 1941 is "A Primer of Typography, Including Timely Tutoring in Topics, Tastes and Trends." Thompson personally designed the front, back and 1st page spread. Other contributors were Charles Sheeler and Stow Wengenroth.

A Glimpse of Modernist Type Design in Germany

This set of seven type specimen sample brochures, released by the Schriftguss A-G foundry in Dresden in the late 1930s, are not only great examples of modernist design, but a nice record of foundry types being created in Germany at that time. Many of these fonts such as Helion, Diamant, and Duplex appear just as modern today as when they were released in 1937. The entire lot of these four-page type specimen brochures are available here.

Luc Devroye's extensive informational archive of typography lists a number of the type designers associated with the Schriftguss foundry, and select pages from specimen catalogs. Also included is the original Schriftguss A-G logo.

At the end of WWII in 1945, Schriftguss and two other type foundries merged and were incorporated into the state-run East German foundry, VEB Typoart. The Typoart designers were a dedicated and passionate group who enjoyed a certain amount of artistic freedom, and chiefly responsible for developing typefaces for East German publishers. Shortly after the reunification of Germany in 1990, Typoart was sold into private hands who eventually dissolved the company in 1995. Unfortunately, the copyright status of many of the Typoart font designs remains unclear, but you can read a fascinating account at PingMag of their legacy and some independent efforts by various groups, including Typoart Friends who wish to further a campaign to document and revive these fonts and credit the individual designers.   

Intelligent Designer: Erik Nitsche

Swiss-born graphic designer and illustrator, Erik Nitsche (1908-1998) is primarily identified with the remarkably modern work he produced for the defense contractor, the General Dynamics corporation in the 1950s and 60s, along with a series of smartly designed science and technology history books. All of this influential work sealed his position as one of the pioneering graphic designers of the last century. Previous to these achievements, Nitsche produced scores of advertisements for fashion and pharmaceutical clients in New York, and publishers such as Town and Country, Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, Arts & Decoration, House & Garden and Fortune magazines. His achievements in designing album covers for Decca Records were some of the most inventive of the modern era. Discovering this 1946 magazine advertisement for Holzer alligator handbags, found here, further impressed me with his range of talent and capability. Below is one of Nitsche's early cover designs for a 1933 issue of Der Querschnitt, (The Cross-Section), an art and literary journal which ceased publication during the rise of the Third Reich in Germany. 

Source: ZVAB

This undated Home & Food cover design is another fine example of the range of Nitsche's limitless talent. With exception of the toxic letter E, which should be banned by the US Environmental Protection Agency, his horticultural lettering appears as charming and fresh today as it was at the time it was first produced decades ago. Duly noted is the dripping hose.

     Nitsche lived until age ninety and enjoyed a long and successful career with clients as diverse as handbag designers to military submarines. Long after the age when most people retire, he continued to paint, design postage stamps, childrens' books and build a collection of avant-garde toy designs. For further reading, drop in at Typotheque to read Steven Heller's great essay, Erik Nitsche: The Reluctant Modernist. 

Old Designs on a New Year

A 1932 New Year's poster from Ricard Giralt Miracle (1911-1994), who was one of Spain's greatest 20th century designers. 
::Source: Paul Malon

A New Year's Wish from the office of (Ladislav) Sutnar + Hall. The last panel reads: 

The new year holds a challenge for better living. With good will, we can make use of our expanding knowledge to create new, wondrous environments and leisure for human growth. And thus, you and I can achieve the world of our dreams. 

Sutnar and Hall
circa 1948-50
::Source: Herb Lubalin Study Center  

A 1960 New Year's card from Swiss modernist designer, Walter Marti. Text at bottom reads:

Wish you a happy 1960. Walter Marti-Süess family
::Source: Herb Lubalin Study Center

Say it Loud ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

If ever there was a most affable character, it is the exclamation mark! It's no mere line, dot or square, as it can be shapely, ultra-fat, and expressive, all at the same time. Used sparingly, it can make a party out of a dull sentence, and put a period to shame. Yet, when paired with large cap letters in repetition, it can be UTTERLY ANNOYING!!! None-the-less, it is worth celebrating this bold mark, which I neglected to do last week on National Punctuation Day (September 24th) when it escaped my notice! So today, I showcase some random appearances of this simple glyph. 

Just above is a Paul Rand cover design for Great Issues in American History, Vol. 2. Source: Scott Lindberg/Flickr

Opposite is Anton Chekhov's novel, The Exclamation Mark, which was first published in 1886. Good Reads gives it a "four star"!

All four of the album covers above are from Seattle's own Jive Time Records, Project Thirty-three, an incredibly rich and well-catalogued archive of modernist album cover designs. The Admiral Stereo cover is dated 1960; The Hitmakers, 1967; Percussion Exotique, 1960; Grady Martin and the Slewfoot Five, 1964. 

This 1964 cover on the Blue Note record label, with a flury of fat face italic exclamation marks, hits all the right notes! It was designed by Reid Miles (1927-1993), the inventive designer who showed us all what jazz looked like. Miles left Esquire magazine in 1956 to work at Blue Note where his career stretched over another decade and four hundred-plus cover designs. Despite his disinterest in jazz, his lean and expressive designs influenced a generation of music fans and designers alike. You can find a comprehensive archive of his cover designs here, a great interview with his former photo assistant, Wayne Adams at New Ish, and a nice write-up on Miles and his work over at Retinart, which is where I also found this brilliant Hi-Fi video below. Originally produced as a promotion for the upcoming concert season at the Bellavista Social Pub in Siena, Italy—this video brings Reid Miles type-laden covers to life—wear, tear and all!!!