Ace Jet 170

PanAm

 

I've been trying to get hold of PanAm stuff from this era (early 70s) for years but have always drawn a blank. Now, thanks to Frederico Duarte, it's all in/on Eye, which is superb.

(Via Binky)

No.Post

  

These are rather good. The first series of No.Zine from illustrator/designer/art director and editor Patrick Fry. Each issue is themed around it's number and features work by young writers, artists, photographers and illustrators. Some of it's weird, some of it's provocative, some of it's funny. There's a dog with three legs, a burnt shoe, a pinch, a punch and some embroidery.

 
 
 
 

3

  

  

  

  

Powerful texts and interesting designs from DAHRA's 3 Minutes. Mine arrived a few days ago, get your's here. My favourite if Jeff (Research Studios) Knowles', but they're all good.

That's Nice Too

  

The second print edition of It's Nice That is out soon. Get your order in before 30th September and you'll get an exclusive Rob Ryan print. Lots of great content but what I'm dead excited about is an article by George Hardie, one of the most influential illustrators of my teens.

Read all about it, check out the Ryan print and order your copy here.

Future Print

Genii at work on FPO.

Ford Times

As I mentioned a couple of weeks back, Michael from Ph.D (Santa Monica) sent me numerous editions of the Ford Times that span decades. They're really interesting for a number of reasons but the stand-out edition is packed with superb Charles Harper illustrations. Dave at Grain Edit has more. 

      

More Charles Harper stuff here.

For Everyone Only

As reported by We Made This today, For Print Only is the brand new, must-read blog from the lovely people responsible for Under Consideration.

Save the MMOP

 

Daniel Neville (of must-read Nevolution fame) is amongst those responsible for this:

Melbourne Museum of Printing (MMOP) is a working museum of typography and printing. Since 1993 the museums focus has been on the retention of traditional printing methods and equipment. Initially established as the Australian Type Company – containing a comprehensive collection of printing presses, typesetting machines, types and other print-related artefacts in addition to its Monotype-based typecasting machines and matrix collection. In due course, it became the last remaining typefoundry in Australia and should, by commercial norms, have closed in the early 1990’s when proprietor Michael Isaachsen turned the whole collection into a non-profit museum.

The museum has hosted numerous workshops, tours and events including studio visits for hundreds of students of Visual Communication from Swinburne, RMIT and Monash universities. High profiled designers such as Tobias Frere-Jones and Patrick Thomas have visited the museum.

Over the past 2 years the MMOP has come under increased financial pressure and at this point is in a perilous position. Consequently a volunteer committee of artists and designers has been formed to undertake an extensive campaign to try and save the museum, and thus increase patronage and use of the museums print workshop facilities by artists and students. The committee is made up of designers, artists, students and print enthusiasts.

On Sunday May 17 2009 between 2 and 6pm, the museum will be open to the public. This event will take place at the museums print workshop located at 36 Moreland St, Footscray and will include live music by The Primitive Calculators, letterpress and typesetting demonstrations and a print exhibition and fundraiser – with works created by some of Melbourne leading contemporary artists and design studios.

PRINTS/EDITION OF 20, $200 EACH OR $3000 FOR A BOX OF ALL 22  

Artists: Jon Campbell, Anna Ephraim, Emily Floyd, Greg Fullerton, Matthew Griffin, Lucas Ilhein, Susan Jacobs, Callum Morton, Rose Nolan, Alex Selenitsch, Richard Tipping, Ronnie van Hout  

Designers/Studios: 3 Deep Desi, Alter, Chase & Galley, Fabio Ongarato Design, Hofstede Design, Studio Pip & Co., Studio Round, The Narrows, John Warwicker, Yanni Florence 

Hanna Hunting

Nick Asbury is trying to track down info on illustrator John Hanna, responsible for these lovely covers. If anyone knows anything, please drop him a line.

Meany

  

Graham from Zoot emailed me yesterday about the Ink Posters project, asking if I might feature their lovely posters here. I said I would but only if I got something back. Nothing big or costly, I wasn't specifically after a freebie. Some photos of them printing the stuff would have been OK; I just wanted to say more than just, "look at these cool posters". To be honest, he caught me at the wrong time and now I think I was a bit of a pain in the arse. Ace Jet's not about advertising other people's stuff really and I don't want to get inundated with requests but every now and then someone emails me about something really ace, like what Graham did yesterday; lovely posters.

So, sorry Graham, I know I wasn't rude or anything and you were equally polite, and I expect we'll be seeing a lot of your beautiful posters around the interweb.

Everyone else, go and have a look; personally, I like the architectural tree.

Annually Retentive

  

Master of the minor-measurement, Nicholas Felton, has done it again with another stunning record of his activities. See more of it here and other Felton work here.

      

Black and white, and read all over...

  

Ben and Russell have been up to no good. Pilfering material from here, there and anywhere to publish in their very own newspaper. Well I for one am outraged. How dare they! Wait a minute...

Page 11...Hey! That's me...cool, I'm in print – and a whole page too, just for me, in print...still, how dare they...ooh, there's that Iain Tait, he's a mate of whatsisname (Nicolas Poke?, no, hang on...)...and there's that bloke Coleman and that Muppet (no offence)...and Dan Hill, now he's very clever...

But as I was saying, outrageous...oh there's Mr Beirut, now I like him...and Anne with some bakelite, bakelite's nice...

   

   

...and some Morris Dancers...

Design and Paper No.25

   

This was a highly unlikely find; Newtownards is hardly a hotbed of creative industries; but it was down a side street, in a charity bookshop that I found this. For a pound.

   

   

   

Take it to the Bridge(t Riley Studios)!

I'm a sucker for linocut so when James Brown emailed me today about his brilliant stuff, well, you know...he got me. See more here and keep an eye on what he's up to here. Ideal Christmas gifts for the designer you love.

If you buy anything, mention the promotional code AJ170. It won't do you any good whatsoever. Nor me...or James...so best not to really...

The price of peace: $100 on ebay, apparently

Read all about it.

Frutiprint

We've been doing some nice work lately for the Province's top academic uni' Queen's. They're one of our best clients, although at times it feels like they're 20 clients because we work with numerous Schools as well as departments and commercial operations. But it's generally good stuff. 2008 marks the University's centenary year and to mark that, alumni and Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney has written a commemorative stanza, and we've been asked to design a couple of pieces that incorporate it. One is finished and the other is still in-progress.

This is neither but re-surfaced while looking through print samples I thought relevant when thinking about how we might approach the job. This, in fact, is my treasured, limited edition Adrian Frutiger print. Keep your greasy paws off it, I've had it since 1990 and keep it hidden away in a secret box that I keep...well, that would be telling.

Anyway, I thought you might like to see it before I put it away again.

 

Khaleej Times

  

Luke Hayman and Paula Scher have redesigned the Persian Gulf's leading English language newspaper. See/read more on the Pentablog.

Shunting pole on buffer spindle

I know, it just sounds wrong and this booklet makes it clear that's it's downright dangerous too, "A momentary lack of care may lead to tragedy". So be careful what you do with yours. I'm keeping mine in a locked cabinet until I need it.

 

 

Mike Dempsey was talking about scraper board yesterday which reminded me how overdue this post is.

Euston

Back to more usual Ace Jet fodder...

As I've almost certainly touched on sometime before, I'd been working for 18 months before the Mac turned up and changed studio life for ever. Even after that, we did it the old way for quite some time, those Macs were barely good enough for knocking out a decent bit of the most straight forward typesetting let alone handle any kind of worthy sized image. So visuals were done by hand, with markers and paint. You needed to draw stuff. Or know someone who could draw stuff. In more recent times, I've enjoyed reverting to that approach with great success. Even so, I don't mourn the passing of those days and those processes; they were sometimes great and sometimes a major league pain in the ass and I'd be lost without my lovely Mac now. But having clearly got past a period when I might have thought marker visuals old fashioned or naff, I have fond feelings for the engaging dynamism that the freehand artist brought to the artist's impression. 

modernisation

Remember progress from a month or two back? Well I've found his ever so slightly older brother modernisation. There's just a year between them and they're as alike as two peas (er...that is, two peas that are different colours). I can't help feeling the older sibling is the confident one, while his little brother is just a little smarter.

Certainly, when it comes to a tipple, mod looks much more fun.

Roomy berths available at a surcharge

I don't know about you but I just can't resist a dial. Dig way back in the Ace Jet archives and you'll find two fine examples; back in the days when I had little to say, when I was a fledgling blogger and I favoured a more refined, oak back drop. So many years ago...well, er, two.

This one comes complete with bonus postcard depicting the where's-the-nose-gone, how-did-it-get-off-the-ground, Strato Clipper.

Fry and Gutenberg

Last night on BBC4 Stephen Fry and associates recreated the Gutenberg Press.
It was excellent.

See for yourself on the BBC iPlayer.

GTF, Cupid and Psyche

Talking of things Shakespearian, found this Graphic Thought Facility designed season programme for The Globe. A lovely typographic cover, the insides are OK but less interesting. The work they've done for The Globe is superb though and it's great that they've put more on their new(ish) website, here and here.

Nearly New

I don't often post about new stuff. It's not, as someone has suggested, because I don't like new stuff. I like a lot of new stuff. New stuff is great.

For example, this bit of new stuff came through the door recently (actually, a few months ago but I've been too busy looking at old stuff to get round to it). If you're in the UK you've probably had one of these yourself but for anyone who isn't or who isn't on the Zanders mailing list it's a new edition of the long running "Printed On" series that the paper merchant has been sending out. I've always liked the series but this one is a departure from what was a pretty basic format.

Designed, as always, by Roundel it's still dead simple but clever: the outer, address carrying wrap reveals a beautiful image of a white dove in flight, printed on the inside; while the inner A5 leaflet/folder has that sinister crow printed on the reverse, matt side of the Cromolux sheet.

It's lovely and, I think, a nice example of what I'm guessing was a careful use of the designated budget; perhaps I'm wrong, but there's something about it that suggests they didn't have pots of money to spend; they've just used what they had imaginatively.

The photographer, by the way, was John Ross who also did those brilliant ink-in-water things with SEA and GF Smith.

Bernard Levin gives an independent view

I've been itching to get this posted. The cover and title pages were designed by George Mayhew while everything else was done by John Goodwin. But the cover! A masterful bit of overprinting; the still vivid colours (just good old cyan, magenta and yellow) retain a really physical presence on the paper. Close scrutiny reveals delightful subtleties; like the eighth of an inch (this was pre-decimal of course) of pure magenta down the left-hand edge of the otherwise red colour bar, barely discernible against the yellow overprinted section and that word "Macbeth" just not quite aligned to the dark, purple panel where magenta and cyan coincide.

And inside it's just as good with heavy colour bars working with gaping white spaces. Even the back cover is intriguing with coloured inks overprinting solid black to create subtle changes in darkness.

Your place in the scheme

When I found that British Railways booklet a while back it was really this one that I was interested in, attracted by its cover. As it turned out, the other one was much more interesting inside but the cover of this one uses that classic 50s/60s colour overprint technique.

In essay number four of Michael Bierut's book he talks about having something cool-looking to do when you can't come up with any other solution – sound advice if you ask me. Well, I have to admit that a psuedo-classic 50s/60s colour overprint technique is what I do, that and setting type at a 15° angle. Actually, I love the classic 50s/60s colour overprint technique so much, I sometimes don't even wait to see if I can come up with something else. It looks damn cool and it works.

"the less popular side of postcards"

Caspian's got a brilliant Flickr set of postcard backs.

Kitching and the truth of actual size

Not surprisingly, managing two data projectors through one PC interface doesn't come naturally to Alan Kitching. But although he struggled throughout his talk to master the new fangles contraption, he remained unfazed.

In a down-to-earth, northern accent, that made me think of him (oddly I know) as some kind of typographic John Shuttleworth (with apologies to less local readers for that reference), Kitching began by explaining how he started out: First, in a composing room, he talked about the influence the work of Tschichold and Max Bill had had on him. Then how he found himself working with the legendary Anthony Froshaug, one of my personal heroes Derek Birdsall, Fletcher and Colin Forbes. He talked about his vagabond existance in the sixties and how it took him years to break away from his early influences.

He told us how he likes to, whenever possible, work at actual size becuase of it's "truth" and how he has the largest wood type collection in Europe; how Fletcher showed him how to compose work in a way that Froshaug could never do; how there are times when you just have to get out your tennant saw and slice off a bit of your wood type to fix the kerning; how to make your ink glow on black art paper by underpinning it with perfectly registered opaque white first and how some of his stuff takes 3 months to print.

Brilliant.

Swiss precision and Swiss hospitality...over five continents

My first job in this business was as a pityfully paid Junior Finished Artist for one of Birmingham's oldest design studios, a place called Hurlston's (now no more). It was all PMT cameras and Cow Gum. A superb place to start out and a place whose library reflected it's age; in amongst the Graphis and Modern Publicity Annuals were mighty Penrose volumes dating back to the Fifties.

That's where I first spied this monumentally fine piece of work, tucked into a cellophane pocket on page 69 of the 1958 Annual, Volume 52 (although, I'd since forgotten those details). Up until that point, I don't think I'd ever been so excited about a single piece of print. It just fitted under the glass of the afore mentioned PMT camera so I was able to make a dot-screen copy onto bromide paper, which I still have, but it wasn't until David Sames told me about his extensive collection of the Annuals that I thought to seek out a copy of the real thing.

Thanks to David confirming in which edition this Swissair leaflet could be found, and on what page, I bought a copy via Abe for not too much (remembering to confirm with the seller that the leaflet was actually still included).

When it arrived and I pulled out the near mint condition piece, I realised that I'd forgotten just how vivid and, well, beautiful this thing is.

The leaflet is shown in the Annual as part of an article on Graphic 57, a major print and graphic arts trade show held in Geneva. The piece was designed by Kurt Wirth (who also did this), assisted by Paul Beer.

I've uploaded larger than usual images and there's a few more here.

progress

Last October Ben from British Letterpress sent me a whole pile of stuff. Lots of letterpressed bits and pieces. It was really nice of him; really interesting things, including that British Rail booklet I blogged. It was lovely. So lovely, since then I've sought out other examples from the same era. Here's another I've dug up.

There's lots to like: Clarendon, specifically those lowercase headings; the cover grid (bloody hell, I've used that technique just a few weeks ago for one of our clients). And the great photography, with a number of stand-out images; dare I suggest, some Rodchenko-esque? While others being just superb snap-shots of life back then, like that one of the station restaurant (and that sad, Brief Encounter, couple at the table).

Grids Are Good For The Soul

Inspired by the mighty Müller-Brockmann, Antonio from AisleOne has designed and had screen printed a new poster. You can buy yours here.

British Stamps

In the 1967 Penrose Annual I posted last week there's an article by Bernard Orna on the "Growing scope of stamp design" illustrated by examples from around the world. But what struck me was how great the British examples were. Amongst the ones used for the article were the International Telecommunication Union stamps below, designed by Andrew Restall. Very cool.

So I went digging around to see what else I had and found some superb examples, like that absolutely beautiful, David Gentleman designed, Concorde stamp. He also designed those National Productivity Year stamps.

Anyway, I've started another Flickr set. There's not much there right now but I'll be adding to it over the coming months.

2CV etc

Excellent collection of vintage Citreonness, via the really very good Grain Edit.

Fixed Assets, Rolling Stock and Equipment

I know it's childish, terribly immature, but I still find it funny when people draw moustaches etc on faces. Pathetic isn't it? My father-in-law does it all the time and it always makes me smile. But that's not really the point here is it? Regardless of that rather neat 'tache on the BR lady, it's the layouts, photography and generous amount of space that make this little booklet so nice.

Another donation to the Ace Jet archives from Benjamin Brundell. Thanks Ben.

Gawd bless LTM!

If anyone missed the announcement, those lovely people at the London Transport Museum have only gone and put all their posters online for everyone to see and search (and buy).

These posters are by the brilliant Tom Eckersley. Used here without permission but with the best intentions. Respectful apologies to LTM for the liberty.

Never minus track!

Oh, how those words ring in my ears, I for one have given up that heinous act and now sleep so much better.

Even before Bruno came over to see us I've been meaning to do a thing on Dalton Maag. Which was one reason why I was gutted I couldn't go to the lecture. Thanks to my ace reporters it still managed to cause a bit of a stir here.

I've had a couple of Dalton Maag promotional booklets for years and have bought more recently, and I keep thinking the same thing...

A little before the Maagster's presentation (oh, and exhibition) Spiekermann was here. During his talk, amongst the many interesting things he said was the remark that, "type design is boring". Now, I can imagine what he meant; it's a labourious process with only the very patient and meticulous really cut out for it, if it's to be done properly. In sharp contrast, whether intentionally or not, Dalton Maag make type design look dead sexy.

Paris – Normandie etc.

Of the many things I don't understand, some I like nevertheless and, of course, some I don't. This package thankfully falls into the first category. It's by regular FTF contributor Loïc from Bureau l'Imprimante. Sadly, I don't speak French, so I'm not off to a good start.

Now I don't precisely know what Loïc does, he's never told me (or at least I don't think he has) but he has a keen eye for a nice bit of type and has a generous nature. And a new blog, through which I bought a little booklet that I thought would be interesting which he'd had printed on the reverse side vintage of wallpaper.

When the package arrived I got more than I'd bargained for with the afore mentioned booklet accompanied by a variety of postcards, flyers and another booklet.

I suspect I got preferential treatment - perhaps not. Either way, I'd like to say thanks to Loïc, yet again, for some very interesting French stuff, which I don't understand but really like anyway.

Wake with...

It's an old clock in a box. That's all.

Buses run daily on all routes unless otherwise stated

I have mixed feelings about buying things on ebay.

On one hand it's brilliant. All that stuff and some it is dead cheap. Because I like all sorts of stuff it's kind of perfect for me and I can go mooching (almost) whenever I like. But then, on the other hand, the element of chance has been considerably reduced. And it's that element of chance that makes finding something interesting in a secondhand bookshop or at a car boot sale so exciting.

Still, with limited time on my hands, the urge to mooch takes over and an-ebaying I go.
See more here.

The carrier pigeon we carried laid an egg during the attack

No FTF this week just another car boot find. This time The Air Ministry Account of Bomber Command's Offensive Against the Axis (September 1939-July 1941). A little holiday reading; next week Mr and Mrs Ace Jet and sons are off to the North West corner of the South for a week of solitude and sand.

Seth's favourite Current Affairs Magazine

The second thing that stood out was what a good looking publication the New Statesman is. Apparently it's "Current affairs mag of the year"; I'd say, "Bloody best looking current affairs mag of the year"...

...and my 20 month old son agrees; he kept swiping it while I was trying to snap it.

Octavo: 88.5/90.7

What with all the Helvetica talk lately and then Vernon's Flickr set I've felt the urge to dig out my copies of Octavo.

If you don't know: just 8 issues of Octavo were produced by London-based design studio 8vo between 1986 and 92. All but the final issue were printed magazines of the finest quality (the last was a CD ROM produced at a time when such things were "cutting-edge").

The contents often had a distinct leaning towards matters of modernist typography: Zwart, Schuitema, Burchatz et al, alongside more contemporary exponents and theorists.

They were quite expensive and I was a poor studio junior at the time so could only afford these two. But even now I take them out occasionally and marvel at their beauty. You can read more about 8vo here or you could buy the book of course.

Now disbanded the partners - Mark Holt, Hamish Muir and Simon Johnston - are working independantly and are still doing interesting things.

Badly Printed Boy

I don't know about you but for me a bit of crap printing holds great appeal. All that low production value stuff: Rubber stamped messages, postage marks, letterpress or dot martrix overprinted tickets, typewritten texts, stencilled lettering, badly printed cardboard boxes; all that kind of thing.

And fruit crates are another thing. Most of these were scavenged during our honeymoon in Italy (yes, I know, should have had other things on my mind) although the last one I actually found last weekend here, or rather just along the coast a bit.

There's something about the way the ink and the wood work together, the ink bleeding and blurring. Beautiful.

And, they remind me of this:

Years ago, probably one of my first significant design projects was to develop a corporate identity and packaging design system for a salad grower in the south of England. Most of their produce was delivered to customers in packaging unsympathetic with fine print: plastic bags, vacuum sealed packs, cardboard trays and boxes. The trays and boxes were key things because the contents had to be easily identifiable in market and wholesale situations where they would be stacked high. Some would be exported so language was an issue. We thought they needed illustrations but we knew they'd be badly printed so opted for a wood/lino cut style that would actual look better badly printed. The style worked beautifully, even on the vac-packs and bags.

Years later I was surprised and thrilled to see a box side, torn off and disgarded in the gutter in Greece. It still looked good.

What I really liked about the project was how unavoidable restrictions were imposed but we embraced them and turned them to our advantage.

Handle With Extreme Care

Now I know I'm doing our printer a disservice by showing this image first but it just made me laugh. You see, we're doing a bit of work for them at the moment; have just developed a new ID and are in the middle of rolling it out.

So on Friday I popped over to their place to take some photos. It's brilliant at the printers. Like most, they've been at it for years, in the same location, so their premises are packed full of interesting things. They've got a couple of old Heidelbergs that they use for cutting for example, some dusty old stuff, shelves full of ink, stacks of papers (of course) and a variety of finishing contraptions.

Yes, I know this is all pretty typical, but I for one never tire of seeing it all and getting the chance to have a good poke around was great fun. There's a load more on my Flickr.

A Practical Treatise on the Art of Typography...

I've been trying to find five minutes to take a look in our local War on Want bookshop for weeks, months even. But everytime I try it's closed. You see, it's got this little corner crammed full of vintage Penguins. At last, on Saturday, I got the chance and yes, found a few of the little fellas; soon to be Flickr-ed.

And then I spotted this in a glass cabinet; going for three whole pounds.

It was printed in 1904, when, as this bit explains, "the Point System [was] gradually coming into use", which seems very odd today but of course there was another system that we don't talk about now, in the dark and distant past; when type sizes were given obscure names: Excelsior (3 point), Brilliant (3.5 point), Semi-Brevier (4 point)...then there's the audacious Bourgeois (9 point) and the mighty Canon (44 point).

It's basically a printer's manual, covering probably everything you'd need to know from the production of type, through its composition, making up, imposition, hand-press work, motive power (steam, gas, water or some new fangled thing called electricity that'll never catch on), machine printing, warehouse work, costing and even the choice of paper.

The book - printed at the Chiswick Press: Charles Whittingham and Co., Tooks Court, Chancery Lane, London - ends with ads for printing paraphernalia: paper, inks, electrotypers, book binders, composing machines and presses, of course.

A snip for three quid and a fascinating throw back to when it was all a lot slower and the world was more centred.

n+m

There are some very lovely things in Martellen's Flickr set.
(Via I Like/City of Sound)

The Guardian

Lovely new ads for The Guardian from Wieden + Kennedy London.
Via Beeker.
Read a bit about them here.

Checking In/Checking Out

David's found a brilliant Flickr set of Hotel Labels (via Serif).

Czech Match Labels 5

In amongst the images that Nin sent me a couple of weeks ago was a scan of one of these. It was one of the very few labels I already had. Actually, there's more to the set (don't know why I didn't snap them all).

Secrets and lies

Joseph's collecting envelope security patterns on Flickr.
(Via 30gms)