The Award Awards

AIGA 1962

AIGA 1962

Terry Lee Stone and I were talking about the good old days of competitions.  We both agreed that we loved all of the printed ephemera that was produced each year for either AIGA 365, or the New York Art Director’s Club Show, or Western Art Director’s Club. I know this is really, really bad. It’s not a sustainable practice, and the world is a more caring place now that we do these communications digitally. But, to be asked to design everything from the poster to the award certificate for one of these competitions was a choice project. When Lou Danziger was moving out of his studio, one of Frank Gehry’s first buildings, he called Noreen and me and asked if we wanted anything. We managed to walk away with a George Nelson H leg table, Lou’s custom wood flat files, a copy stand, and Lou’s box of awards. For 15 years, the awards been carefully archived away.

Now, they have been released and some are displayed here. I especially love the 1962 AIGA award, presumably designed by George Tscherny. The “XIX” award can be seen on the walls of Sterling Cooper on Mad Men. The green and pink NYADC club award from 1963 has the most incredible swirls. And, finally, the AIGA mailing label on the tube, I know Paul Rand designed the AIGA logo, and the multi-talented Bart Crosby refined it, but this is tempting.

ADLA as seen on Mad Men

ADLA as seen on Mad Men

NYADC 1963

NYADC 1963

AIGA mailing label

AIGA mailing label

ADLA

ADLA

AIGA 1963

AIGA 1963

AIGA 1956

AIGA 1956

AIGA 1964

AIGA 1964

CA 1963

CA 1963

ADLA

ADLA

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7 Responses to “The Award Awards”

  1. Tweets that mention Burning Settlers Cabin» Blog Archive » The Award Awards -- Topsy.com Says:

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by design:related, Sean Adams. Sean Adams said: Now unveiled, the awards that have been protected and hidden for 15 years http://bit.ly/NRhZn [...]

  2. felix sockwell Says:

    wow… these are totally cool. thx for posting. -sock

  3. Sean Says:

    Felix, my pleasure. I’ve been tempted to frame them all and hang them in the conference room. There are many, many more. But then people would think I’d been in business since the early 50s.

  4. uberVU - social comments Says:

    Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by SeanAAdams: Now unveiled, the awards that have been protected and hidden for 15 years
    http://bit.ly/NRhZn

  5. Free Wii Says:

    Cheers for the informative post – I loved reading it! I always enjoy your blog. :)

  6. Online Episode Says:

    Hey very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also…

  7. connie wilson Says:

    Sure would love to see more of them. These are so beautiful. Nice that you have them and will take care of them.