The latest book from Counter-Print Press (UK) includes four of our trademarks: Red Herring, The Buckeye, BO.LT, and Eveready Battery. This international collection of 266 animal logos features work from Total Identity, Lance Wyman, Build, Stockholm Design Lab, Minale Tattersfield, Stefan Kanchev, and Kari Piippo Oy, among others.
Not that CCA’s Graphic Design Program needed a Facebook avatar, but, what the hell. Here is Mark’s original inking for the surprisingly energetic skull, as well as CCA alumna Nami Kurita displaying the die-cut sticker version of the design on her iPhone. Design or Die!
We are pleased to be among the forty-four design firms interviewed for Steven Heller and Lita Talarico’s new book from Allworth Press. Although largely drawn from America—and, in particular, New York—the book is international in scope and includes designers from Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, and Switzerland.
The other San Francisco designer included in Design Firms Open for Business is our CCA colleague Jennifer Morla. (Jennifer is in the “Medium Firms” section; as a two-person entity we qualify as “Small.”)
Download the interview as a PDF.
(left) Irving Oaklander, proprietor of Oaklander Books in New York City, on December 23, 2010. Irving holds a rare copy of Vladimir Mayakovsky’s 1923 book “For the Voice” (Dlia Golosa) which was designed by El Lissitsky. (right) Angie holds a page of “For the Voice” up to the light to reveal the compositional correspondence between pages 17 and 18.
Irving was curious and notably generous—two qualities that made him a natural teacher. (Not surprisingly, Irving taught in New York City’s public schools for many years before opening Oaklander Books.) Angie and I were fortunate to spend long hours on two separate occasions in his crowded Chelsea shop poring over his singular collection of design and typography books. Not only did Irving let us handle Mayakovsky’s For the Voice, but also, memorably, one of the Million Mark banknotes designed by Herbert Bayer in 1923.
Although Irving died one year ago this August, Angie and I think of him frequently, especially when Angie brings our type specimens to school to share with her students. Among the letterpress specimen books we bought from Irving are those for Trump-Deutsch (1938) designed by Georg Trump and released by H. Berthold, AG; Ingeborg Antiqua (c. 1909) designed by Professor F.W. Kleukens and released by D. Stempel, AG; and Ehmcke-Mediaeval (1924) designed by F.H. Ehmcke and released by D. Stempel, AG.
(left) A page from the Trump-Deutsch specimen book. (right) The title page from the Ingeborg Antiqua specimen book.
Steven Heller, who also frequented Oaklander Books, wrote a remembrance of Irving for Print Magazine in August of 2012 which can be read here. Swann Galleries in New York auctioned off some of Irving’s rare books in May of 2013, many of which can be seen in the auction catalog. Incidentally, Irving’s copy of For the Voice sold for $7,500. [MF]
I am an art director and graphic designer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. When I’m done fulfilling my nine-to-five responsibilities I often spend my free time drawing.
In the spring of 2010 I got to know blues and boogie pianist Mark Braun (Mr.B). Our friendship lead to a project that combined Mark’s music and my drawings. Using a Tombow Zoom pen, I drew portraits of sixteen blues and boogie woogie piano legends that had influenced Mark’s playing style and career, some of which he knew personally.
We crafted hinged panels of basswood for each of the bluesmen, a format that wouldn’t need to be framed. To keep the text and images spontaneous and free, no “under drawing” was done. In fact, very little planning or preparation were done before the drawing began.
That can be considered playful, or stupid, depending on one’s perspective. For me, it was probably a reaction to the rigors of my day-to-day art direction and graphic design responsibilities that come with an army of account executives, copywriters, creative directors and clients all pitching in with strategies, objectives, graphic standards, and feedback that can range from the helpful to the puzzling. With this process I simply sat down with some basic reference material and got after as best I could.
Eventually the project came to fruition at Ann Arbor’s Kerrytown Concert House in February of 2012. Mark performed and told stories relating to the musicians portrayed on the artwork displayed in the concert house. In addition, the work has been shown at the Antieau Gallery in New Orleans.
John Pappas is a Michigan-based art director and designer. We invited him to share a moment of play with us.