Styling

(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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There is nothing like a Speedball pen nib for the ease of making fluid, swirly and blocky letters. They were popular in 1933 when the Speedball Text Book was on the market (the one above is the 12th Edition); and if you tear yourself away from the computer for a few moments, they are still [...]

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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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The Russia Cement Co., manufacturers of LePage's Glue in Gloucester, Mass., was known for publishing craft books. "Over a million women have bought LePage's Craft Books, which have shown them how to make useful, practical, attractive gifts with the help of LePage's Glue -- the money-saving, handy mender." Craft Creations helped the housewife transform the [...]

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Advertising designers seem to have had a lot more license to play like children back in the 1920s. These Belgian posters for the Union match manufacturer, show metamorphic matches at their finest and most absurd. The concept of creating flighty trade characters were possible inspired by Renaissance gargoyles, though twice as absurd. Trade characters were [...]

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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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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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Before branding and marketing had all the options afforded the advertiser today, there was a substantial period when companies spent their time and money on offering up little giveaway goodies to the public. Without the web, television or even radio, corporations often relied on print to spread the word about their “Made In America” efforts. [...]

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I did not think I knew Pedro Friedeberg until I was given his eponymous titled book edited by Deborah Holtz and Juan Carlos Mena (Trilce Ediciones). Its a thick brick of pages filled with fantastic optical fabulosities, many that have appeared in Vogue and a few are on view at MoMA. There is an Escher [...]

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In 2003 the last classic VW Beetle rolled off the Wolfsburg assembly line. In 1998 the first new streamline Beetle was introduced (replete with budvase) - and it was beautifully designed. For the past half decade the Volkswagen designers have not mucked around with the body, but for 2012, well the muck is making mire. [...]

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