What are the origins of Black Scat?

I started publishing little mags back when I was 16, and grew up with publishers like Grove Press, City Lights, Olympia and Gaberbocchus. They were the source of my education, and their books were my religion  There was a kind of magic and aura of mischief and rebellion around those publishers and the books they brought into the world. Well, I started Black Scat Books last July to try and bring back some of that magic and mischief — in defiance of the trend away from print to digital. There’s nothing wrong with digital books, mind you, but only as a convenience. An accessory. Not a replacement! I refuse to accept a future without bookshelves.

What are your signature publications?

My taste in art and literature is eclectic, but I lean heavily toward the avant-garde. I don’t like labels, but it’s impossible to escape them, so I publish what I consider to be “sublime” art ans lit.

The first book I published was an absurdist tale by one of my favorite writers, Alphonse Allais, the French humorist. That book, “Masks”, launched Scat’s signature Absurdist Texts & Documents series. A high point of my life has been getting to know the composer, writer, performer and master translator, Doug Skinner. He’s been translating the untranslatable pun-filled writings of “Allais” for me. It’s very exciting being the first to bring “Allais” to America.

I recently had the honor (not to mention thrill)  of releasing  a collection of previously  unpublished texts by an early hero of mine — the late, great Terry Southern, Hot Heart of Boar and Other Tastes. Hoo-boy!!

Why did you publish “Nickle Noir”?

I’m also addicted to noir fiction and films. I discovered the work of John Nickle years ago when he was doing the “Martin Beck” series covers for Vintage/Black Lizard. I didn’t know at the time he was working mainly with colored pencils…and this is pure magic in my book. The texture and cinematic quality of light and shadow in the drawings are mind-bending. His strange, satiric sensibility and style encompasses everything I love.

What stands out about Nickle’s work that you want an audience to appreciate?

I hope young people  discover John’s art, as it will undoubtedly lead them beyond art to reading and an appreciation for printed books … a book’s content as well as its cover.

Now wouldn’t that be sublime.

For more Steven Heller, check out Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility, one of the many Heller titles available at MyDesignShop.com.

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A whole new world of aesthetic culture opened up to me. I loved their punk zines and choppily-edited amateur promotional videos. Lately, I’ve been bidding voraciously on late 1970s  to mid-1980s issues of SkateBoarder Magazine on ebay. I buy them especially to pore over the art direction of the Bones Brigade team and Powell-Peralta brand established by Stacy Peralta and George Powell.

Powell-Peralta, founded in 1978, was faced with the task of promoting its brand of skateboards and the Bones Brigade team (a crew they assembled of the time’s most promising young stars, around the age of 15 years old). They brought in artist and photo-journalist Craig Stecyk to build its anti-brand. Powell-Peralta advertisements rose to the forefront of skater visual culture with irreverence and deliberate experimentation.

Skateboarding ads at the time were dominated by product shots.

Powell-Peralta let others showcase the gear in a traditional manner, and this freed them to be more conceptual with their imagery. Often Powell-Peralta ads had nothing to do with skateboarding, and they were richer for it. They did however capture the aggressiveness and attitude of those pioneering the sport.

This ad is an homage to the Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street album cover.

In 1986, they painted a young Tony Hawk in the style of his signature skateboard graphic.

In this advertisement, they combined publishing direct quotes from skateboarders who didn’t want to join their crew with a burning car image.

I love the unpredictability and brashness of these ads. Though we have them as artifacts, the motion and activity itself was the real art. These ads captured the spirit of the kids who invented the tricks: the mctwist, the ollie, the Godzilla rail flip, the 50-50 sidewinder, air walks, 540 shove-it, helipops, gazelles and kick flips. And I love following the visual culture that rides and skates along side of them.

Additional Resources for Branding Knowledge

• “Archetypes in Branding” is a toolkit that merges strategy with creativity in the branding process.
• “Build Your Own Brand” walks designers through one of the most challenging branding projects they’ll probably tackle: developing their own brand.

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Craw Clarendon Bold was used on U.S. National Park Service signs.

The specimen sheet covers below were designed by the various foundries that had Clarendon on its menu.

 For more Steven Heller, check out Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility, one of the many Heller titles available at MyDesignShop.com.

The post The Faces of Clarendon, The Typeface appeared first on Print Magazine.

Franklin Knight Lane (July 15, 1864 – May 18, 1921) United States Secretary of the Interior from 1913 to 1920.

These are poster stamps — collectible mini-posters produced from before the turn-of-the-19th/20th-century to around the 1930s and used to advertise and commemorate things, people, events and, of course, products and services. These particular poster stamps are a curious amalgam of politics, government, history, tea and irony (at least seen today).

The stamps celebrate the United States Park Service by featuring President Woodrow Wilson’s cabinet against a graphic representation of their respective “portfolios.” However, the commercial sponsor is a Russian tea company, Poppoff’s Tea. At this time, Russia was no longer our ally; the Russian Revolution had installed its Bolshevik government, but this reminder of the Czarist era was nonetheless a strange juxtaposition. Below is a little piece of Popoff promotion:

This is the tea that will bring back fond memories for most Russians and East Europeans living overseas. We added some white tips to the tea to enhance the flavour and produce a rounded strong cup. Highly recommended to those who like a nice strong cup of tea with a strong fragrance.

 

(From top right) Thomas Watt Gregory (November 6, 1861 – February 26, 1933) Attorney General; Lindley Miller Garrison (November 28, 1864 – October 19, 1932) Secretary of War between 1913 and 1916; Josephus Daniels (May 18, 1862 – January 15, 1948) Secretary of the Navy during World War I; David Franklin Houston (February 17, 1866 – September 2, 1940) Secretary of Agriculture; Albert Sidney Burleson (June 7, 1863 – November 24, 1937) Postmaster General and Congressman; Robert Lansing (October 17, 1864 – October 30, 1928) Secretary of State from 1915 to 1920.

For more Steven Heller, check out Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility, one of the many Heller titles available at MyDesignShop.com.

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Today’s post is first in a two-part series, highlighting 10 books you’ll want to snag for the pattern-loving-kid (or parent-to-be) in your life. Soon we’ll tackle a top ten of amazing color books for kids — an Olympian challenge given how crowded the playing field around that topic is.

I’ve loosely organized these by developmental stage, so the baby-titles kick things off, with books for toddlers and curious youngsters close on their heels. Without further ado, then:

 1. Art for Baby (Various authors), $18.49

Art for Baby (Various authors), $18.49

This board book gathers striking B&W images by modern artists to engage the nascent visual skills of super-young babies. The stiff pages pulse with a stripped-down vibrancy borne of dynamic graphics, patterns and shapes, like the zigzag pattern enthralling the visually impaired baby (below).

2. Spots and Dots (in the Art Baby series) by Chez Picthall, $5.35

Spots and Dots (in the Art Baby series) by Chez Picthall, $5.35

Another wordless board book geared to very young babies, Spots and Dots, is alive with striking, high-contrast patterns all riffing on a polka-dot-esque theme. Bulleyes, rolling dice, strobingly symmetrical clouds of microbe-circles. This book will perk up even the most jaded, sleep-starved parent (in addition to their considerably more alert offspring).

3. The Game of Patterns by Hervé Tullet, used from $14.98

The Game of Patterns by Hervé Tullet, used from $14.98

A beauty of a kid’s book from Phaidon Press, this book offers simple visual games of “spot the break in pattern.” Judging from the Amazon customer reviews, you’ll have to choose your developmental window for this carefully; one parent of a 4-year-old delighted in the child’s engagement with the game, while the mom of a 3-year-old felt disappointed at her child’s lackluster reaction.

4. Elmer by David McKee, $11.69

Elmer by David McKee, $11.69

First published in 1989 and since expanded into a series, Elmer the crazy-quilt elephant lumbers his way through a dull, monochrome world. At first he laments his double-take look, but learns to embrace it in witty style.

Unlike most of the other books in this list, patterns aren’t present in Elmer as early visual stimulation, a guide to basic cognitive skills, or to teach you math principles in a fun way. (More on that later.) Elmer is just a beautifully weird, checkerboard elephant trying to amble calmly through a too-boring world. Patterns signal his glorious oddity, his uniqueness, and the virtues of same. It’s a slam dunk if your kid can embrace those creative, if occasionally friction-making, qualities.

5. Shapes, Shapes, Shapes by Tana Hoban, $6.29

Shapes, Shapes, Shapes by Tana Hoban, $6.29

This book is best described as an “I Spy” guide to noticing shapes in the everyday world. Taking a page from Charles and Ray Eames’ stylebook, page after page is filled with color photographs of patterns and shapes glimpsed accidentally in bridges, stacked lumber, and elsewhere. Perk your child’s sense of attentiveness to the elemental shapes that build so many more complex structures we encounter daily.

6. Bees, Snails & Peacock Tails by Betsy Franco and Steve Jenkins, $13.09

Bees, Snails & Peacock Tails by Betsy Franco and Steve Jenkins, $13.09

Another book devoted to shape- and pattern-spotting, this time with its eye trained on nature and animals. Boldly illustrated, this book helps critter-loving kids spy geometry embedded in all manner of nature scenes.

7. Pattern (part of the Math Counts series) by Henry Pluckrose, $4.45

Pattern (part of the Math Counts series) by Henry Pluckrose, $4.45

One of a gorgeous math series by the felicitously named Henry Pluckrose, Pattern takes its place in the Math Counts series next to Sorting, Length, Numbers and Weight among others. They’re all visually strong titles designed to teach kids about basic mathematical concepts as they crop up in daily life.

8. Patterns Coloring Book by Kirsteen Rogers, $5.39

Patterns Coloring Book by Kirsteen Rogers, $5.39

For younger children who delight in scribbling mayhem across delicately patterned outlines, or for older children who take pleasure in animating the shapes carefully with color. Patterns Coloring Book crams any pattern-fan’s dream of a sock drawer into a single book, begging to be filled in.

 9. Pattern and Design Coloring Book (Vol 1) by Jenean Morrison, $10.80

Pattern and Design Coloring Book (Vol 1) by Jenean Morrison, $10.80

Featuring patterns by surface and textile designer Jenean Morrison, this book comes in handy once every page of Patterns Coloring Book is scribbled in. Morrison’s patterns offer a wider array of surprising takes on pattern, from Arabic-style rose windows to groovy interlocking squares, like the colored-in page below.

Each page offers a pattern on one side, a blank on the other – a smart choice for those kids ready to riff freehand on the pattern inspirations they’ve been dutifully coloring.

10. Developing Patterns by Anna Craycroft, $47.45

Developing Patterns by Anna Craycroft, $47.45

Hurry: this limited-edition boxed set of 300 copies is already down by one, as my patterns-and-color-mad friend Josh Rutner has already bequeathed me my very own copy. All I can say about this marvelous compendium is this: it’s not technically a children’s book (although it’s printed on board pages like one), but it’s too beautiful to make any pattern-fan quibble about such distinctions.

Parent or auntie or not, you simply owe it to yourself to own this lovely series of books, a visual meditation on patterns as they rove through nature, culture, cognition, behavior, movement. It will jog your thinking like few books can. Isn’t that the finest gift any book can provide?

Suggested Color Resources for Designers
Want to recharge your wealth of color knowledge? Get Print’s Color Issue, which includes “Dialing Up (Or Down) The Color,” a feature by Jude Stewart about how color trends and backlash against some impact the color choices designers make.

Need to update your Pantone collection? No problem! Visit MyDesignShop.com for the latest offerings from Pantone.

The post 10 Fantastic Pattern Books for Children appeared first on Print Magazine.

Despite the crudity of ledger pages, the marks — logos by any name — exude a certain design elegance consistent with the era in which they were made.

For more Steven Heller, check out Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility, one of the many Heller titles available at MyDesignShop.com.

The post Marks on China appeared first on Print Magazine.

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Traveling Design

David Levine (not the caricaturist) has spent years building a virtual online gallery. “I’ve created it to display and share the best items in my collection of 1920s and 1930s travel-related ephemera,” he says. “It is not my whole collection, just a portion.”

Travel brochure “Hsinking,” 1936. Published by the Directorate of the South Manchuria Railway.

Everything on this website is original. The materials are not reproductions. Disappointingly, nothing on this website is for sale; it’s purely an online gallery. “And, despite the many emails I receive, this website is not a travel agency, a graphic design firm, a map service or a freight shipping company.” But you can sit in the privacy of your home and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy here and here.

Travel brochure “Tours to the USSR 1932.” Published by Intourist. Signed “A. Salensky ’31.”

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Aaron Perry-Zucker, of Design for Obama fame,  is launching a new project on May 27, called “Recovering the Classics.” “In a nutshell,” he says, “we’re asking artists and designers to make new covers for 50 classic books [in] the public domain. All books and covers will be available as ebooks and as physical books (printed on demand) by the Harvard book store.”

The site is here. And here are some of their first covers.

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Mao Gorilla

Rick Meyerowitz, whose Mona Gorilla is one of the classic National Lampoon covers, along with “If You Don’t Buy This Magazine, We’ll Kill This Dog,” on May 18, will be lampooning it up in China with classes and a retrospective of his hilarious work in Beijing at the School of New Media Art and Design at Beihang University.

The Weekend Heller covers design news that’ll inspire, inform and invigorate. For more Steven Heller, check out Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility, one of the many Heller titles available at MyDesignShop.com.

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“Tall Tales” is an exhibition of uniquely conceptual totem pole designs by SVA’s MFA Design: Designer as Author + Entrepreneur students. Curated by Kevin O’Callaghan, the exhibit re-imagines the classic totem pole for today’s tribal and social cultures. While some tackle heavy sociopolitical issues such as gun violence in New York City, the world’s leading dictators and sanctioned criminal torture; others celebrate the lighter side of life, with a timeline of donuts, the evolution of pixels, and an ode to Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road”.

VICTIM OF TORTURE, Diana Haj Ahmad. “I don’t approve of any form of torture, and I feel that there is no justification for inflicting physical or psychological pain on anybody or anything. Since ancient times, many cultures have created various instruments to inflict suffering. Unfortunately, we still use some of these medieval instruments behind closed prison doors today.”

CULT OF PERSONALITY, Tomas de Carcer. This totem pole represents some of the deadliest dictators of the 20th century. The quest for absolute power drove these men at any cost – murder, oppression, brutality – to attain their personal interests and ambitions.

THIS BOHEMIAN LIFE, Danah Abdal. Telling the story of a person and space that conveys an eclectic style. Together, all these elements come together to tell the story of the bohemian lifestyle. The story of a modern day space – the story of a modern day totem pole.

ANNUIT CŒPTIS, Timothy Cohan. This piece depicts the housing crisis that ultimately caused the Great Recession, from which we are still recovering. The Latin phrase “Annuit cœptis,” found on the reverse side of the US one dollar bill, translates to “He has favored our undertakings”.

EVOLUTION OF DONUTS, Jamie Kim. The totem pole shows different types and flavors of donuts that have been invented over the past 60 years by New York’s most famous donut shop, Dunkin’ Donuts.

Each totem presents a story as varied as the materials used to tell them; from paper to plexiglass, to metal and wood. One totem is comprised of hundreds of eight-track cassettes and another scores of vinyl LPs. The show, which is housed in The School of Visual Arts’ SVA Gallery at 209 East 23rd Street (ground floor) is as technically beautiful as it is thought-provoking. The exhibit of 20 (average 12′ high) totem poles, curated by Kevin O’Callaghan, is waiting to tower over you through May 25.

VEGAS TO COMMUNIST, Chiara Bajardi. In the abstract, the tale of Havana can be told through its architecture. With its fading colors and chipping paint, we see decay. Yet, the illustrative typography found on signage throughout the city reminds us of a culture-rich time gone by.

AN ODE TO 8-TRACKS, Shimeah Davis. These days, 8-track tapes are considered archaic. Available only by sifting through old dusty boxes, tucked away at antique stores, or sold privately on eBay. They have been replaced by the newer, faster and better sounding cassettes.

1977 – THE SUMMER OF PARANOIA, Simone Noronha. Nothing is more fascinating than New York in 1977. From the city’s near bankruptcy and inept mayor, to a 24-hour blackout that led to New York’s largest mass arrest, and the ceaseless hunt for one mad murderer.

ON A ROLL, Yiming Bao. The idea of this totem pole comes from the method Jack Kerouac used to write his most successful novel, On the Road. In 1951, Kerouac wrote this novel in three weeks by continuously typing onto a 120-foot-long teletype paper roll. On this totem, I selected several important quotes from the book and cut them out on a long paper roll to pay tribute to the original draft.

The exhibition includes work by: Danah Abdal, In Hee Bae, Chiara Bajardi, Yiming Bao, Kara Bermejo, Tomas de Carcer, Timothy Cohan, Camille Collazo Ortiz, Shimeah Davis, Bridget Dearborn, Ali Dogramaci, Diana Haj Ahmad, Francisco J. Hernandez, Donica Ida, Tiffany Jen, Jamie Kim, Kimberly McGuire, Simone Noronha, Elliot Salazar and Hena Seo.

The SVA Gallery, located at 209 East 23rd Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, is open 9am to 7pm, Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm on Saturday. Admission is free. The gallery is accessible by wheelchair. For further information call 212.592.2145.

CHAPTER FIVE, Donica Ida. Chapter Five is based on Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In this chapter, Alice meets a hookah-smoking caterpillar who repeatedly asks her, “Who are you?” It is the part of the story when Alice realizes she has been in Wonderland for too long, and that she no longer remembers who she is.

MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (left), Tiffany Jen. One rainy night, the girls are waiting for their father’s bus and grow worried when he does not arrive on the bus they expect him on. As they wait, Mei (the little sister) eventually falls asleep on Satsuki’s back and Totoro (the large grey animal) appears beside them, allowing Satsuki to see him for the first time. THE HISTORY OF BIG DATA: VISUALIZED (middle), Kimberly McGuire. From clay tablets to the invention of the printing press to the digital revolution, 90 percent of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. A term known as “big data” describes massive data sets and the challenges they present.

Kevin O’Calaghan (left), Tiffany Jen (right)

Photos by Esther Ro Schofield

For more Steven Heller, check out Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility, one of the many Heller titles available at MyDesignShop.com.

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Signal covered combat conditions of the German troops and their allies. It was not governed by the propaganda ministry and so it was somewhat independent of the Nazi bureaucracy. Nonetheless, it promoted a unified Europe ruled by the New Order (e.g. Nazi government).

Although different in various nuanced ways from the Signal magazine logo, the typeface, which was (and still is) sold in the United States has a Germanic, indeed Prussian, aesthetic quality. This sales brochure issued by Continental Typefounders Association, Inc., in New York, from the 1940s ignores its tainted origin while emphasizing how “easy it is to use” and “how you will quickly get the ‘feel’ of this face and discover many original uses for it.”

For more Steven Heller, check out Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility, one of the many Heller titles available at MyDesignShop.com.

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During the 1920s and 1930s jacket illustrations were frequently based on a vivid but not always exact descriptions, rendered in a realistic or stylized manner with contempo hand lettering, like those below culled from a salesman’s sample book. The sole purpose of the jacket was to attract and hook a reader, so the artists took many liberties with fact and while this might have been false advertising, the disparity between the author’s intent and the artist’s interpretation was rarely questioned—such was the book jacket racket.

The old saying “you can’t tell a book by its cover,” is valid enough, nonetheless the jacket’s ultimate allure was more important than silly old plot details—in some cases the jacket was indeed the best part of the book (i.e. Rasputin below). Nonetheless, these jackets from an arguably more innocent (or perhaps more corrupt) period of literary marketing have poster-like appeal. The lettering is sometimes raw but totally apt. The sophisticated designs today draw on the past, but these jackets were the real deal. Like them or not, they don’t skimp on the allure.

For more Steven Heller, check out Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility, one of the many Heller titles available at MyDesignShop.com.

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