Vintage Graphic Design, still relevant – pt.1

I have been on a “vintage design” kick lately – namely searching the web for advertisements create from big companies from as far back as the 1930s. Why? It’s interesting to see the evolution of not only product life-cycles but also to see how graphic design fundamentals have changed little since these “early” years –  products have certainly evolved but the concepts surrounding media communication and layout architecture have remained – notably grid layout, typeface contrasts, and strategic messaging. The sample below (Bell Telephone, now Verizon. (click on image for full size)) will serve as our ad model for this discussion.

This topic will be discussed in 3 parts:

1. Grid Layout - the correlation of dividing information into a visual hierarchy and how this correlation has changed little from the early years of “corporatised” advertising campaigns began.

2. Typeface Contrasts - the use of the typeface not only for aesthetics but for also building message hierarchies that are quickly articulated by the reader – almost all of the original fundamentals are used in today’s print and electronic media.

3. Strategic Messaging - brand strategies and humanized advertisement – although not as complex as today’s barrage of targeted campaigns, vintage strategies would still work in many of today’s marketing efforts.

Please check back soon – we will post one new part of this discussion each week and hope you will enjoy them as much as we did writing them.