Resource Klaxon: SearchSystem

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Here we feature SearchSystem, the latest addition to our Archives list. It does exactly what it says on the tin and is another fantastic resource available to anyone, for free. It is Julian Van Havere’s curated collection and can be easily searched using the index by selecting tags such as ‘graphics’, ‘guidelines’, etc.

It was brought to our attention via our subscription to David Airey’s Identity Designed newsletter, another useful tip for the design magpie.

Enjoy.

Modern Illustration

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Unsure how we originally came across this website, but Modern Illustration is an excellent archive we’ve been spending some time on.

Its content is specifically of print circa 1950-1975, and is the work of Zara Picken.

It is vast, brilliantly curated, and well worth a chunk of your time.

Modern Illustration

Alan Fletcher – Work and Play

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Another great online archive. There’s nothing we can say about Alan and his work that hasn’t been said already. So we say simply this: soak it up, and enjoy.

Visit here: Alan Fletcher – Archive

John Elliot Cellars Limited | 1977John Elliott Wine Cellars, were importers of fine French wines. The symbol is a typographic design of a wine glass. This was adapted from an early nineteenth century ideogram of a French drinking song.

John Elliot Cellars Limited | 1977

John Elliott Wine Cellars, were importers of fine French wines. The symbol is a typographic design of a wine glass. This was adapted from an early nineteenth century ideogram of a French drinking song.

Resource Klaxon: The People's Graphic Design Archive

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Here we feature a recent find – The People’s Graphic Design Archive – uncovered by Dylan Carr. In its own words here’s an overview of the website and its intentions:

 

The People’s Graphic Design Archive is a crowd-sourced virtual archive that includes everything from finished projects to process, photos, letters, oral histories, anecdotes, published and unpublished articles, essays, and other supporting material in the form of documents, videos, audio, as well as links to other relevant archives and websites.

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Our goal is to enable new and expanded stories about a graphic design history— one that represents diverse cultures and a broad range of interests! The archive exists in Notion now, but will eventually move to a purpose-built, public website.

 

We’ve had a brief peruse and it is clearly an absolute warren of resource. Below is just a very small snippet of a quick journey over a coffee. So, from The People’s Graphic Design Archive, we went to The School of Visual Arts Archive, which took us to an archive of Chermayeff & Geismar. 

This is along with our other featured archives is a free, seemingly infinite resource of graphic design from across history. Incredibly important. Incredibly useful. Thanks Dylan.

SVA Subway Poster – 1990

SVA Subway Poster – 1990

Examples from the Chermayeff & Geismar archive

Resource Klaxon: The Visual Telling of Stories

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This is a site we stumbled across today, it has an epic amount of archived imagery. Set up by (it appears) Dr Chris Mullen: Director of The Culture Archive, Brighton, author of Fortune America, the Visual Achievements of Fortune Magazine, PhD Art History, Brighton. 

Once you figure it out, it's an absolute rabbit hole. A great resource where someone has done all the digging for you! Advertising, typography, illustration plus lots more specific reference and resource.