Information Design

(This piece is a much expanded version of an article co-written with photographer/writer John Gruber for Print Magazine and the British trade mag Ads International in 1998.) The thought of Chicago in the 1920’s usually conjures up images of gangsters, Prohibition, and other Roaring 20’s clichés, but there was another movement in the Chicago area [...]

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The Bruce Lee craze of the 1970s produced an endless array of merchandise in the hopes of cashing in on the world-renowned martial artist’s popularity – especially after his untimely death in 1973 at the age of 32. I'd been a fan of his since he'd played "Kato" in the old "Green Hornet" TV series, [...]

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It seemed like a fun idea to take advantage of the upcoming holiday season and post a retrospective of some JJSP holiday greeting cards! Even though we did half of them in-house, I have to say that the ones we did with designers and artists OUTside the studio were more fun! It also gave us [...]

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While researching an article I’m doing for an upcoming subject on 1920s posters, I pulled several books off my shelf to leaf through hoping to find some supplemental material. One of the volumes I grabbed was “Outdoor Advertising” by Wilmot Lippincott published by the McGraw-Hill Company in 1923. A relatively unassuming looking book from the [...]

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When it comes to using a telephone these days, most people spend more time on a cellular phone than a hardwired device. Even the phonesets we use that are tethered to an outlet tend to be wireless. Folks are cancelling their traditional telephone service in exchange for their cellphone plans. And you can forget payphones [...]

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The United States Postal Service has made it so easy to mail a letter. Why shouldn't we citizens keep the economically troubled USPS in business? The handy stick-em stamps are much better than the lick-em variety. What's more the stamp designs have gotten so much better. How can anyone resist peeling a Romare Bearden stamp [...]

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William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, the corrupt politician who ruled New York's Tammany Hall during the late 19th Century and diverted hundreds of millions of dollars from the city to his ring's pockets, was literally brought down by a cartoon. The series of drawings exposing the Tweed ring was produced by political cartoonist Thomas Nast in [...]

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This in from The New York Times: "A federal judge on Monday blocked a Food and Drug Administration requirement that tobacco companies put big new graphic warning labels on cigarette packages by next September." Throughout Europe, a continent known for its aggressive smoking habits, repulsive photographs of cancerous wounds and sores are on many cigarette [...]

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The purpose of this piece is less about the actual history of the Edsel and more about the design and promotion of the car. I’ve always thought that it was one of the most outrageous looking automobiles to ever roll off an assembly line, and the name “Edsel” (Henry Ford's son) hardly does a lyrical [...]

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The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation and the National Park Service opened Phase I of the Peopling of America Center on October 28, 2011. Designed by ESI Design, the exhibit enlarges the story currently told of the Ellis Island Era (1892-1954) to include those who arrived before Ellis Island opened in 1892. Phase Two exhibits, [...]

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