Uncle Sam by James Montgomery Flagg

Title: Uncle Sam
Date: 1917
Artist: James Montgomery Flagg
Design Movement: War

James Montgomery Flagg was an American poster designer and artist. This poster here, the Uncle Sam recruitment poster is his most famous and Sam remains an iconic figure in our culture. The poster is inspired by a similar British recruitment poster, and Flagg actually used his own face for Uncle Sam (adding the white hair and goatee). The message is clear and so are the design elements, it is a very well designed poster and an impressive work of art. The figure feels almost 3D with the hand pointing out at the viewer and the bold YOU personalizes the message more than the text could alone. Flagg did other works as well, but non so prominent and witstanding as this one.

Self Portrait by Egon Schiele

Title: 'Self Portrait'
Date: 1912
Artist: Egon Schiele
Design Movement: Art Nouveau - Expressionism

was an Australian painter who lived at the turn of the century and had a profound influence during the Expressionism movement. He is most famous for his many self portraits such as this one where the figures are twisted and harsh with expressive lines and intensity. I like this one in particular because, despite the drama and expressionism that this painting is dripping with, you can still see the artist and tell who it is. His works are very powerful and he remains a key figure in the Expressionist period.

Album Covers

Movie Posters

Original Mascot/Character Designs: Cereal Boxes

Leonetto Capiello

http://www.pixelcola.net/~brian0000/Untitled-2.html

Everything you ever wanted to know about Leonetto Capiello
(but were afraid to ask)

Erik Spiekermann 1979

Helvetica
Erik Spiekermann

A German typographer and designer, Erik Spiekermann has worked all over Europe, particularly between 1972 and the present. He designed the 'FF Meta' typeface as well as Berliner Grotesk BQ, FF Info Display, FF Info Office, FF Info Text, FF Meta Boiled, FF Meta Condensed, FF Meta Correspondence, FF Meta Subnormal, ITC Officina Display, ITC Officina Sans, ITC Officina Serif, FF Unit and several other typefaces as parts of corporate design programmes. He has won many awards and is well respected in the typeface community.

ITC Zapf Chancery® Std Light italic

1979








Hermann Zapf is a German typeface designer who has worked on many famous fonts, a lot of which have been ripped off and copied by other people (knock offs have even appeared on microsoft word). Some of his most popular fonts include the typefaces 'Palatino', 'Optima', and of course 'Zapfino'.

Palatino, Optima, Zapfino

Venture™ Com Script

Wim Crouwel

Helvetica
Wim Crouwel

A dutch graphic designer, Wim Crouwel is a famous, well respected artist who has worked mostly in typography and design. He is best known for the creation of the "New Alphabet" (1967) font set and other abstract fonts.

Victory by Jean Carlu

Title: "Victory, Franklin D. Roosevelt"
Date: 1942
Artist: Jean Carlu
Design Movement: Art Deco

Jean Carlu was a french graphic designer who work primarily in poster design. He helped the increase in American productivity during World War II with his posters such as this one. He enjoyed cubism and was a major player in the Art Deco movement. While his propaganda posters remain his most famous, he work on a lot of projects and is still a prominent figure in this movement. I like this poster a lot (it reminds me of "Dr. Stangelove"), I think it is very effective and I think the blue figures in the back ground are interesting. The red 'V' is cool how the outline alone stays on the picture of Franky D.

Aspen Design Conference Poster

Title: "Aspen Design Conference" poster
Date: 1982
Artist: Paul Rand
Design Movement: International Style

Paul Rand was a great graphic designer and artist who is probably best know for his work and development in company logos. He helped establish many corporate identities including IBM, UPS, and ABC. The simplicity in is work is one of the important factors of his success. This poster for example, it catches my eyes almost more than anything else he has done, yet it is still very elementary and simple (bust still extremely creative). The color choice and the circular design elements are very interesting, the contrast between the two "eyes" at the top capture your attention for a long time.