Bauhaus newsletter, 1929

Somehow by attrition, I have become the “go to” designer when color is involved. This amazes me because my color theory is pretty simple: everything works with everything. Just don’t be wimpy. I love hateful combinations such as almond, maroon, and teal. I’d make every project avocado, burnt orange, butter yellow, baby blue, and magenta if I could. But, oddly, I love black and white. It’s the color combination used the least. Everyone assumes it’s ubiquitous, so everything is full of color. When was the last time you saw a stark black and white ad, billboard, or television commercial? Color is an evil temptress; we attempt restrain, but are lured with the promise of excitement. Be brave. Try black and white. This isn’t black and white with a splash of orange. No. No splash. You must deny any additional color.

AdamsMorioka

Beverige Byrd Seay

Michael Bierut

unknown

unknown

Michael Vanderbyl

Tibor Kalman

Josef Muller Brockmann

Josef Muller Brockmann

Saul Steinberg

Sister Corita Kent

unkown

Marget Larsen

Paul Rand

Lou Danziger

Herbert Matter

Alvin Lustig

Michael Bierut

Herb Lubalin

AdamsMorioka

Michael Vanderbyl

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Marget Larsen, cardboard Thonet chair

I have a romanticized idea of design in the 1960s and 70s. I imagine the designers of that time sitting at their drafting tables, ordering type, calling an airbrush illustrator, sketching wildly on their large pads, and jumping into their Corvettes to hang at a local Victorian bar with the other designers. Early in my career, I went to Robert Miles Runyon’s office in Marina Del Rey for an internship interview. I recall a woody interior with macramé and hanging ferns. It was very “Regal Beagle” from Three’s Company.

I never met Marget Larsen, she died prematurely in 1984, but I imagine her in this way: “Here’s a sketch,” I imagine her saying to young designer in a white shirt and black tie, “I’m thinking Caslon.” then sitting back and drawing curly-cues. The work is sublime and looks so effortless. Of course, it was probably much more difficult.

Larsen worked in San Francisco. She worked on ads for whisky, bread packaging, and fashion stores. Her touch was delicate and bold at the same time. There is a slight touch of Victoriana and assemblage in the work. Her sense of typography for ads designed while she was at Weiner & Gossage elevated their genius copy and gave them national standing. These ads move away from the traditional composition of product image, headline, secondary copy and logo in the bottom right corner. They are designed with the presumption that the audience is literate and can read. My favorite Larsen design is the cardboard Thonet chair. It’s one of those ideas that I see and say, “Why didn’t I think of that? Can I copy it and nobody will know?” Since I’m publishing it here, I guess not.

Marget Larsen, Dean Swift Snuff

Marget Larsen, Paul Masson ad

Marget Larsen, Irish Coffee ad

Marget Larsen, Whiskey ad

Marget Larsen, Parisian Sourdough Bread

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Marget Larsen, Dean Swift Snuff packaging, 1964

One of my students recently asked me if this blog was all 1960s stuff. Absolutely not. I’m completely temporally promiscuous. That being said, the CA Annual from 1964, CA’64, is especially wonderful and filled with pieces not often published. Marget Larsen is an unsung hero of the design world, and her Dean Swift Snuff packaging is rich and beautiful. And finally, George Tscherny’s design for the Burlington Annual Report is concise, ordered, hopeful, and elegant. There is a light and witty example of fumetti (a style of making comics from photographs) done for ADLA (Art Director’s Club of Los Angeles now incorporated into AIGA Los Angeles) by Gollin, Bright, and Zolotow. First name references for those of you who didn’t hang out with the LA designers in 1964 are: Robert Miles Runyon, Saul Bass, Keith Bright, Norman Gollin, Milt Zolotow, and Buddy Berke.

George Tscherny, Burlington Annual Report 1963

George Tscherny, Burlington Annual Report 1963

George Tscherny, Burlington Annual Report 1963

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