Merrill C. Berman, the master graphic design connoisseur/collector/archivist, has joined the ranks of the generous in making available the fruits of his acquisitions during these COVID-shut-in times. In 2018–2019, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard Art Museums presented a gallery rotation titled “Who Owns the World? Art and Politics in the Weimar Republic,” combining Berman’s incredible collection with their own. That installation, organized by cities in Germany that were ho

My mom’s name was Bernice, and like this decorative border font she was often decked out in colorful baubles and balls. Now the Hamilton Wood Type’s Type Legacy Project and P22 Type Foundry have immortalized the name with HWT Bernice. The basic shapes were designed by Marian Bantjes as a contemporary application for the museum’s 150-year-old border stamping machine, which punches shapes into end-grain wood to form continuous patterns. The digital version expands a bit beyond

The 1939 New York World’s Fair. The World of Tomorrow. The Fair that promised to restore trust in American capitalism after the violent plunge of 1929. A response to the Great Depression. A corporate-sponsored, designer-conceived revision of a world that was shaken by an economic catastrophe that took a human toll on lives and livelihoods. Today it’s a memory of better and worse times; it is an experience; it was about hope that was placed in creative industrial planning—a li

The Brazilian typography magazine Tupigrafia, a publication of Oficina Tipográfica Sao Paulo, is arguably the best of all the type and typography professional publications—and that’s saying a lot. A type or design magazine has to raise the bar as high as it can go. I’d say that this does that with aplomb. But since my Portuguese is a bit rusty, I’ll let the pages below speak for themselves. PRINT is back. And soon, we’ll be relaunching with an all-new look, all-new content an

Picture Magazines of the Times (Bildermaga Zin Der Zeit) (Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin) by Patrick Rössler is just what the doctor ordered today. In the 1920s, “The illustrated Magazine” was planned to be among the celebrated series of Bauhaus Books (Bauhausbücher). Edited by Moholy Nagy it was to be a “critical inventory” of contemporary journals and their production, Joost Schmidt, a typography master at the school was also involved with the project but the work was never comp

Bibendum is the French name that in English refers to the Michelin Man or Michelin Tyre Man, the official mascot of the Michelin rubber company. He is drawn to resemble a person or thing made from tires although they also bears a striking resemblance to this parka. Bibendum was the creation Édouard Michelin in 1894 Lyon Universal Exhibition who said “with arms it would make a man.” But Bibendum was not the first (or likely the last) trade mascot to be made from the products i

Stefanie Boyce is an artist. “To Know Me Is To Love Me” is her joyful story of making art. A new film by Nicolas Heller. World Premiere on Friday night (tonight) 7/19 at Muddguts Art Store, Brooklyn, NY: Join the celebration. #StephanieBoyce #NewYorkNico #StevenHeller #Hellerfilms #Muddguts #NicolasHeller #thedailyheller About Steven Heller Steven Heller is the co-chair of the SVA MFA Designer /Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program, writes frequently for Wired and Design

Sports uniforms have long been ugly. That so many people like to wear the jerseys and hats of their favorite teams has little to do with aesthetics, although sports accessories have had an influence on the mass culture—or mess culture. Why teams had to over-design themselves out of the more traditional New York Yankees pin stripe uniforms is a branding issue, but as Todd Radom points out in his forthcoming Winning Ugly: A Visual History of the Most Bizarre Baseball Uniforms E

Paul Krassner, one of the most acidic commentators and satirists of the 1960s, published The Realist as an alternative to mainstream news. You might call it alternative news—indeed some of it was speculative news. It was often offensive news, never defensive or on-the-fence news. It was the gateway publication to the ’60s underground press; it was The Onion, The Final Edition and The Huffington Post of its day. Some might call parts of it “fake,” while many would call it unsu

Jillian Goodman, founder and editor-in-chief of Mary Review, says in her premiere editor’s note that the title Mary, a magazine of news and ideas written and produced entirely by women, was inspired by Virginia Woolf’s book-length essay “A Room of One’s Own.” She then asks the rhetorical question “why does it have to be made by women?” While there is nothing wrong with the question, we are continually shown that despite revolutionary change in some social, cultural and politi

Die Pleite (Bankrupt) was a radical, left-wing publication associated with the DADA Berlin movement, edited by Wieland Herzfelde, illustrated by George Grosz, and designed by John Heartfield, with issues appearing from 1919–1924. It was one of a growing number of publications that satirized the post–World War I Weimar Republic’s tragic shortcomings and the coming storm. Germany was bankrupt in more ways than economically. Its first representative government was set upon from

Songwriter Jamie Cullum (curator) and designer Kate Monument (creative director) had long wanted to start a magazine. Monument and Anna-Marie Crowhurst (editor) worked together for 10 years and also had talked about “how lovely it would be to create something independent that didn’t have creative restrictions,” says Crowhurst. Then Cullum decided he wanted something amazing to sell at various venues that reflected the things he enjoyed, like film and photography, bats, gaming

From time to time, the Daily Heller will publish a series of artefactoids, bits and pieces of cultural design ephemera assembled by various contributors. Today’s grab bag comes from Print’s Online Community Manager, Jess Farris. Boarding pass for Titanic, 10 April 1912. I hope the passenger missed the boat. Galileo’s drawings of the moon, 1610. Illustrators have been copying ever since. World War II “Hunting license for Japanese”, 1942. War makes beasts of us all. A 1957 info

Saturday, Jan. 17, I sat down to chat with Tomi Ungerer before a few hundred standing and floor-siting listeners and admirers for a public discussion of his career as illustrator, cartoonist, writer, author and social advocate. An ovation greeted him as he entered the large and beautiful Drawing Center gallery, which is the site of his first-ever retrospective exhibit in the United States during his entire career (curator: Claire Gilman). I’ve admired Tomi since I was a teena

The Catholic Truth Society of Ireland was founded in 1899, its mission to expunge the “scourge of foreign influence, in the form of British and American books, films, magazines and newspapers,” wrote Naill McCormack, editor of Vintage Values: Classic Pamphlet Cover Design From Twentieth-Century Ireland and author of Vintage Irish Book Covers blog. The CTS’s target audience was attracted to the covers that had a somehow pulp allure and The Church, it seems, had no problem usin

Before the deluge in Germany, in 1931, the composer Heribert and illustrator Johannes Grüger published “The Sing Song Picture Book,” in which characters and images represent notes. Presaging the digital age rage for icons and glyphs, the pair realized that children respond to animated pictures. Like following the bouncing ball, these graphic cues led the youthful music lovers through the paces. Of course, the requisite racist image matter-of-factly appears in the form of musi