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- Is that a monkey on your bike?
- 02.05.2008
- Paul Frank
- I need to take a break from vintage design sites for a while before everyone who likes anything more modern has completely tuned out. I am sharing another site I have enjoyed for many, many years. As you could probably guess, I often like things that are unique--things you don't see at places like Wal-Mart. Paul Frank is just one of my absolute favorites. I just love everything they design starring Julius the monkey and friends--it is all so simple and fun and I love how it's not just for the kiddos. I love the cartoon play on the skull and bones design and how cool design meets cartoon. But, by far, my favorite thing on the entire site has always been the bicycles. Make sure you check them out. I have a funky, retro looking bike myself, but it is not anywhere near as fun as the Paul Frank designs. And don't miss the scrubs, especially the ones with Julius and his braces. If you really like Julius as much as I do, there are some desktop wallpaper downloads here.
- Oranges, anyone, oranges?
- 01.24.2008
- Vintage Labels of All Kinds
- Apparently the quest for vintage designs may just be turning into a full-blown obsession! There are so many great collections of beautiful, classic designs on this thing called the Internets, I just can't believe what I keep finding. This collection, though the page itself is nothing extraordinary, is probably my favorite so far. I absolutely love classic food and retail labels. (If I were a collector myself, I would collect items with vintage food labels, but I'm not really into collecting.) These are an incredible inspiration for color combinations, typefaces and illustrations. This design style has also had a resurgence in design in the last few years, which couldn't make me happier. Seeing these makes me think about how fun it would have been to walk through a local market and see row after row of these colorful works of art. Here is a second site with a large collection of labels.
- Buon divertimento
- 01.22.2008
- Vintage & Rare Italian Wine Labels: Site 1 Site 2
- I definitely remember less than I should from my year of Italian in undergrad. That was also longer ago than I would like it to be. Oh well. Vino doesn't care if we can speak Italian or not. I have links to two different sites here, back into the slightly more serious and continued vintage topic from before I digressed to Archie McPhee. You really don't need to know Italian to view these gorgeous wine labels, but I will warn you that you probably will not be able to read much of the site text. The first is someone's personal collection and it is quite exhaustive. These are beautiful labels, so much better than most of what I see when I go to the wine shop--just click on the different links listed on the left side of the page to go through the galleries. The second site is the Italian Association of Wine Labels Collectors and their beautiful collection--for this one click on the "Galleria" link at the top of the page and you'll get a large listing of images and smaller galleries.
- Wow, has it been that long?
- 01.16.2008
- Archie McPhee
- I ordered my first items from Archie McPhee probably about 20 years ago. Wow...has it been that long? I remember hearing about them somewhere and calling for a catalog—do you remember printed catalogs? This magazine-like beacon of hope full of cleverly written descriptions arrived in my mailbox and I was so excited. There were other silly-minded folks out there! Anyway, not much has changed. I still have silly, goofy, sarcastic and borderline nutty creative tendencies and Archie McPhee still provides candy for people like me. I have not ordered in more than a decade, but now my children still play with these toys at their grandparents' house and wonder why the heck Mom had all these odd toys. I'll have a better posting very soon, but this is a great laugh away from your normal day (and this is my faux blog, for goodness' sake). And maybe you will even find something you need to have sitting on your desk if, say, you just happen to have a new job with the Executive Office of the President in Washington, D.C.
- Spin that record, DJ
- 01.14.2008
- Vintage Record Sleeves
- After a nasty bout with the flu, I am finally back at it. I needed to spend a little time getting my brain refreshed and back in the game, so a' surfin' I did go to find another good site to share. After my last posting I have had vintage design on the brain (maybe it's also my Frank Lloyd Wright inspired bathroom renovation going on as I type), but this time I am also tying in another true love of mine—music. This site has gorgeous color scans of vintage factory vinyl sleeves. The scans are actually large enough on the site so you can see the details, these are no tiny thumbnails! The sleeves run the spectrum from the simplest one-color versions with text only (still beautiful typography) all the way to gorgeous full-color dance-club-music worthy renditions. Enjoy...and let me know if you've seen any vintage designs (of anything) online that you love. I seem to be stuck on that at the moment!
- Back in time
- 01.08.2008
- Vintage Travel Advertisements
- Yes, I am a designer, but at the end of the day I am also a consumer of advertising and all that's "fit" to print (including many things that aren't). As you can imagine, I have a keen sense and can be pretty annoying when consuming the designs in my surroundings including direct mail pieces, billboards, magazines and newspapers. Add on top of that, my journalism degree and my disdain for improper grammar and misspelled words, and I can be downright exasperating. I do enjoy taking it all in--I think it makes me a better designer overall; sometimes I get great ideas and inspiration, and other times I just know I'd never make a mistake like someone else has made. But, I always enjoy vintage designs. This site has a terrific collection of travel literature from the 1920s and 1930s. There are some fantastic works of art here. And it is amazing to think about the time spent and processes used to create these pieces. Amazing! Now I bow...
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