Linweave Tarot deck / Brown Company / 1967

Amerika Illustrated / United States Information Agency / 1963

The United States Information Agency published for many years during the Cold War Amerika Illustrated, a large (13.5 by 10.5 inches) glossy magazine which was sold in the Russian speaking Soviet Union. Issue eighty-three was devoted to graphic arts in America and was published in December 7, 1963 to coincide with a Moscow exhibition: Grahic Arts - USA. 
     This was a special edition of the magazine and it kicked off with a brilliant Saul Bass designed front and back cover printed on silver foil. The other special section was Carnival of the eye a center sixteen pages designed by Herb Lubalin. This had a fascinating look at American photography, typography, illustrations and logos from the late Fifties onward. The four sections were introduced by whole page photos. Of the ninety-five graphic items shown Lubalin had at least eight.

  

Sunkist brochure / 1974

Whoever designed this sixteen page brochure had a clever idea to make it interesting: use old orange crate labels to provide the eye-candy. The pages promote the Sunkist brand to the retail food industry though the copy doesn’t take up much space but the wonderful labels do.
    Another clever idea was to include four life-size (ten inches deep by eleven wide) reprinted labels in a flap inside the back cover. Include there is a bit of label history stating that of the 250 Sunkist packing houses in California each one had five or six label in regular use. Early labels were printed using stone litho with the images created by hand for each color with some labels using up to eight colors.
    The art of the label slowly declined through the Forties and Fifties and ended in 1956 when wooden crates were replaced by cheaper cardboard.  With such elaborate and colorful designs it's hardly surprising that these are very collectable though I'm not aware of many books that cover this little corner of graphic design.  The hundreds and hundreds of different labels are just waiting for some art book publisher.