It’s the everyday, taken-for-granted objects in our lives that often bestow on us the most surprising and pleasurable graphic design. David Cohn is a genius at finding these off-the-beaten-track mini-masterpieces. Last summer he supplied me with a collection of wonderful c. 1920s record album sleeves. Today’s assortment of eye candy is mostly French, primarily c. ’20s and ’30s coffee packages. Usually produced and designed by commercial artists working for printers, these graphics run the gamut from modern type with a trade character (David Aldavi Products, below left) to the exquisite scripts of A. Gouin (bottom right). But don’t forget all the additional varieties shown below. As a friend with a penchant for puns used to say, “this design is full of beans,” and as the ’50s-era singer Page Morton Black used to croon about the famous American brand Chock full o’Nuts, these packages have “That Heavenly Feeling.”
PRINT is back. And soon, we’ll be relaunching with an all-new look, all-new content and a fresh outlook for the future. Stay tuned.