Before the Internet, printed graphics standards manuals were practical tools for designers. Today, they sell for $80 a pop. In 2012, Pentagram designers Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth, along with their ...
A page from the 2014 reissue of the New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual showing a diagram explaining the use of arrows in wayfinding signage in subway stations (photo courtesy of ...
Forty years ago, the United States turned 200. It was a divisive time, with the loss of the Vietnam War and the controversy of Nixon’s failed presidency, a time that the writer Thomas Hine labeled the ...
Many companies are reproducing old graphics standards manuals, like NASA’s 1975 graphics standards manual. As part of the movement to revitalize the past, Canadian graphic designer and art director ...
The 1969 moon landing was a heady moment in American history. But the romance of putting men in space began to wane after NASA’s Apollo program ended in 1972, until the agency looked to design to help ...
Ever wonder about the NYC’s subway signage? Most New Yorkers who use the subway daily have probably never heard of the design firm Unimark. In 1970, designers Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda of ...
Kickstarter phenoms and Pentagram Associate partners Jesse Reed and Hamish Smith have experienced quite a crowdfunding year. A little less than a year after raking in $802,812 on Kickstarter and ...
When I first broke into the graphic design profession in 1984, I already had two Graphic Standards Manuals under my belt as a Rochester Institute of Technology graduate. Manuals consisted of a ...
A little less than a year after receiving $802,812 on Kickstarter for their New York City Transit Authority Standards Manual project, artists Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth have returned to the ...
The New York City subway was a confusing mess in the 1960s, with inconsistent, haphazard signage that made navigating the system a nightmare for commuters. In 1967, the New York City Transit Authority ...
If you’re a fan of graphic design history, you might be familiar with Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth. The duo are best known for reissuing the EPA and NASA’s graphics standard manuals from the 1970s and ...