If you appreciate the design of ephemera such as posters, postage stamps, and matchbook covers, you will also appreciate the design of luggage labels. As with most great design, making something that looks simple often takes the most doing. Above you see a tiny sampling of a very large, very impressive collection of luggage labels […]
ephemera
Newseum Front Pages: A glimpse of design in the moment…
Working in a newsroom taught me to design in the moment. The time constraints of broadcast and print news force you to make quick decisions, work with limited resources, and learn to navigate the edge between quality and compromise. It is both stressful and exhilarating. Newspapers are snapshots of the world and its moments in […]
When graphic design is jazz: Ephemera, Forever, Always & Now
Graphic designers, in my experience, are like jazz musicians—meaning, often times, they riff on the themes and ideas of others. I don’t mean we steal ideas, I mean we are influenced by the existing body of work we experience and use little hints and wisps of that work to express our own ideas in new […]
Dick Sheaff shares his wide, deep collection (and knowledge) of ephemera
Dick Sheaff is a well-published designer and art director who is also a collector and curator of ephemera. (Ephemera is print material designed to be disposed of after it serves its purpose—typically, advertisements, pamphlets, posters, programs, labels, and so on.) His Sheaff Ephemera is among my top 10 favorite websites—a wonderful, inspirational collection that you […]
There’s something to be learned by studying non-English ephemera
I’m often drawn to ephemera such as these documents featured on GraphicsFairy.com. I especially like those in languages other than English because, when I don’t understand the wording, I don’t get hung up with subject and focus entirely on the graphic forms. Example 1… Example 2… Example 3… These images are featured on GraphicsFairy.com…