hese are a few highlights from The Inland Printer dating back to 1898. The Inland Printer was a leather-bound trade catalog distributed around Chicago and New York to various print and publishing houses. It featured the latest and greatest printing technologies and services available in 1898; Linotype printing machines, steel engraved ornaments, and a variety of printing, folding and cutting machines, not to mention my favorite part, the advertising for the various printing and engraving companies featured in the book, like the samples above for instance.

Naturally, these scans don’t do justice to the originals so I must first give a nod to the high-quality inks and paper used in this publication. After 112 years, the prints and pages throughout the book are holding up quite well and are still very bright (the Ault & Wiborg prints look like they came off the press yesterday).

I used to work with rare books and I’ve always loved them. I like thinking about the old school punch cutters, printers and artists who labored to create them, so this catalog is actually a really nice insight into their world. I can just imagine them going over these pages, seeing all the new possibilities. Maybe getting inspired by the amazing metallic blue Silk-Tone ink sold by the horribly-named Taknecke Bros & Jr. Schneemmann company, or drooling over a bunch of new machines and their modern time saving methods.

As for us, at least we have this glimpse into the past, but more than that, our past as designers. If we were doing what we do right now, but in 1898, typographers would be punch cutters, vector masters would be engravers (wood, steel, zinc), and Photoshop wizards would be doing lithographs and halftones. So this catalog must have been like the Internet for them. Or a chunk of it. Viewed offline.

I’m pretty much way down with Electric City Engraving Co, so I’d say if I were transported through time 112 years into the past, I’d have to get into the halftone scene. But I’m also interested in engraving on wood so I’ll have to incorporate that somehow. I don’t know. The possibilities were as endless then as they are today.

Via Program Studio on flickr

o I just finished watching 3 Days of the Condor directed by Sydney Pollack (featuring Faye Dunaway, Robert Redford, Cliff Robertson (a.k.a Spider Man’s Uncle Ben) and Max von Sydow), based on the novel 6 Days of the Condor by James Grady. First off, this movie is truly amazing! If you haven’t been fortunate enough to see this yet, then I highly recommend renting or buying it (trust me, it’s totally worth buying. If not for anything else, than at least for the classy dialogue). Alternatively, you can stream it via watch instantly on Netflix.

Anyway, as much as I would like to go on about how great 3 Days of the Condor was, this is not what this post is about. As I was drawing near the end of the movie, I spied (pun intended) a promotional poster for the theatrical play Equus, by Peter Shaffer [see image above] (also known for his beautiful work and screenplay for Amadeus).

As soon as I saw this poster, I freaked out. I mean, just look at it. Obviously it’s beautiful. I am such a sucker when it comes to geometric iconography, and I really love discovering the origins of these classic designs, and even more so, the creative minds behind them. So of course, knowing my OCPD tendencies, I had to know who created the Equus piece, and while doing a little bit of research, I was finally able to piece together who designed it. The designer’s name is Gilbert Lesser. He was known for designing theater posters and was a former promotion director for Life magazine. Apparently eighty of his posters were exhibited at the Louvre in 1987 and at the Design Museum in London in 1989 (I sure would love to see those now). Also (via his obituary) his work is included in the permanent design collections of MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art) and the Museum of the City of New York. Unfortunately this is where I have to admit that prior to that scene in the movie, I had no idea who Lesser was. Little did I know that I had actually seen his work before…

When I dug a little deeper about Lesser, I discovered he was also the creator of the beautifully classic Studio 54 logo from back in the 70s. So obviously Lesser is an influential designer. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find too many pieces by Lesser to really go on about how amazing his work is, but from what I have seen (and read), I’m definitely impressed. Even more so, inspired.

via Mihail Mihaylov on flickr

Even this Fortune Merchandising piece by Lesser from Graphis Annual (72 / 73) reveals a certain love for monochromatic geometry in his work. And although it hurts me to say this, I think it’s worth mentioning that Gilbert Lesser truly is the lesser-known of many great designers who have influenced the design industry in more ways than anyone will truly ever know, and unfortunately, are overshadowed by the popularized Milton Glasers, Otl Aichers, Herb Lubalins and Dieter Rams of the design industry. If someone had told me that Gilbert Lesser was a 20-something year old designer who made these pieces today, I wouldn’t be surprised at all, but I would be just as impressed and inspired. I think that says a lot about good design. Good design is long-lasting.

great children’s book should not only stir the imaginations of young minds, but have staying power that lasts through adulthood. A great children’s book should leap out of its genre because its appeal and charm is universal. If I had found Jake Sargeant’s book All Types of Monsters on a bookshelf as a kid, I’d be both intrigued and delighted. My friends and I would have taken turns creating our own monsters, pitting them against one another in brute glory. It’s a book that doesn’t tell one particular story, but many, and most importantly, puts the reader(s) in charge of what they want to see and read — over 120 fun combinations, such as, “This calamitous mongrel / ate Barney for breakfast / and has a Boy Scout posse”.

As an adult now (or so I’m led to believe), this book still excites me. The mention of letterpress and typography is like Pavlovian conditioning for designers; we begin to salivate at the very enunciation of the words. Each monster’s personality is set in a particular typeface, and glyphs from sans serifs to grotesques to scripts make up the form of the beasts in a calligram-like manner. My only critique of the book concerns color: it would have been lovely with more of it, ostensibly being more exciting for the child than the grown-up. (I do, though, love the black.)

Jake received formal training in print design, but is self-taught in motion design, which seems to be his current focus at mn8 studio based in Santa Monica, California. The rest of his portfolio is definitely work checking out. Though he has few print projects, his motion design, storyboards, and photography definitely make up for it.

rad Simon from Wieden + Kennedy put together this cool calendar project and will be screenprinting it in-house. Each designer was given an 8″ x 10″ French Kraft paper stock and was limited to designing only in black & white for their chosen month. The calendar will be for sale for twenty-five bucks, and you can pre-order yours now. There’s only a limited run of 50, and it might go fast. It’s probably one of the few calendars you’ll find that actually starts on a February!

Artists

• Feb: Erik Blad
• Mar: Sam Tudyk
• Apr: Paul Levy
• May: Curtis Pachunka
• Jun: Brad Simon
• Jul: Sarah Hollowood
• Aug: Steve Denekas
• Sep: Chris Lael Larson
• Oct: Dani Guralnick
• Nov: Cari Vander Yacht
• Dec: Peter Yue
• Jan: Mike Weihs

ell, we’ve finally reached the end of 2009. Cue 2010, a new decade. A year of progress and innovation. A year of growth and new ventures. We’re very excited to have reached this point, and we’re looking forward to many more years to come. Thanks to all of our family, friends, clients and colleagues who have supported us thus far. Without you, we would not be here. Let’s all celebrate this new year with open minds & open hearts while moving toward a better future.

Happy New Year, from Colorcubic.

e’re all guilty of it. Popping bubble wrap, I mean. Over at Blackbird, they’ve taken that concept and made it useful in the form of a huge 47″ x 18″ calendar set in Helvetica Neue. The only trouble is actually allowing yourself to pop only one bubble per day. Not quite sure if I could manage.

UPDATE (12/23/09): I just found the online bubble calendar game where you can digitally pop bubbles to your heart’s delight.

Moon from Colorcubic on Vimeo.

was first introduced to Duncan Jones’ Moon via recommendation by a few buddies of mine, but what really caught my attention was this unused promotional poster for the film I stumbled upon while searching for movie listings & release dates. I’ve tried searching for who produced this poster, and I’ve even tried searching for a higher res version, but unfortunately I’ve come up empty handed. I know the official Moon poster that has been circulating around is strikingly similar, but when I did side-by-side comparisons, this one totally owns it. I especially love that bold Moon type, and the Lunar Industries logo on the left. It’s unfortunate that this wasn’t used for the film, but overall, the film looks amazing.

As far as the design direction & synopsis for the film is concerned, there’s no denying (as some have pointed out) that there are some striking resemblances to 2001: A Space Odyssey, but that only goes as far as the isolation of the main character, Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), and his monotone, synthetic companion, Gerty. Everything else seems to be a refreshing throwback to classic science fiction with a modern twist. Most definitely an original story.

ith a new site comes a new approach to our work, our writing, and how we visually communicate to our audience. With this in mind, we’ve decided to start fresh with our posts, featuring only our best work and the inspirational works from our counterparts and colleagues.

To celebrate the launch of our new site, we’ve created this promotional print encompassing our adopted philosophy of Bauhaus, minimalism, and our attention to detail as a brand. We’ll be rolling out several phases of updates in the following weeks that extend the functionality of the site, as well as finalizing some sections that are still taking shape. Please bear with us as we iron out any bugs along the way while we’re still in beta.

Along with client work and being our own worst critics, version 2.0 has certainly taken its sweet time to become what it is now, but five concepts later that played like a never-ending match of interoffice layer tennis, we’re pretty happy with the results. We hope you appreciate our continual efforts in building a strong foundation as a good resource for articles and visual stimuli.

e would like to give a huge shout out to our friend and colleague, Johnny Le, for the completion of his short film, Lick. You may recall us having mentioned the short in a previous post, unfortunately we can’t preview the short, but as you can see above, we have completed a short run of promotional prints to promote the film.

In the meantime, you can check out » www.licktheshort.com to preview some of the deleted scenes from the film, as well as the film synopsis. Enjoy

ATTTENTION: In regards to anyone using this image online, to celebrate the 2009 New Year:

ecently, we’ve been bombarded with a plethora of requests, asking us for permission to use our 2009 print design for web, print, and packaging usage. As flattering as this is, unfortunately we cannot accommodate all of these requests. Reason being is that we are launching our own, proprietary online shop, and the 2009 print will be sold exclusively (and in limited numbers) through our shop.

So, if you’re going to use this image, it must only be used online with the following etiquette:  Linking back to our site would be nice, but isn’t  necessary. Giving credit to us, however, is necessary. Also, the image may only be used non-commercially. You may not associate this image with any type of hate, discriminatory, defamatory, lewd or sexually explicit content, or anything that may potentially degrade Colorcubic’s brand image. Please respect our work, our efforts, and our wishes, as this is what we do for a living.

Also, please contact us of where and how you plan to use this image online.

You can reach us at: studio@colorcubic.com

Thank you very much, and we hope all of you have a great New Year!

- Colorcubic™

Disclaimer: Colorcubic™ / Colorcubic LLC is not responsible, and cannot be held accountable for any and all unauthorized usage of our work, (digital / tangible media) in an inappropriate, hateful, discriminatory, defamatory, lewd, sexually explicit, and / or illegal fashion, that may lead to fines, jail time, or legal prosecution. In other words, don’t be stupid.

I apologize in advance if the title of this post comes off sounding arrogant in anyway. On the contrary, we’re just really excited about the coming of the new year. Although we’re a bit early, we’re always thinking about how we can improve Colorcubic. We’ve really been on each others cases about nailing down our design and development skills, and never getting comfortable with where we are as far as design goes in general. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we’re never really satisfied with the work we produce. Instead, we’re always trying to raise the bar in some way or another.