Past Print: May 2012

In March I posted a couple of examples of how design studios sold themselves in the sixties. Here are two more examples from 4916 Kelvin, named after their location in Houston. I think there are still some graphics folk there today.
    The first item is a long hanging calendar for 1960, 22 by 11 inches. Strictly a selling job because it was only for the last six months of that year so why not cut 1960 in half, as on the cover.
    The second is their 1963 Annual Report and diary, 11 by 8.5 inches. The studio wasn’t a public company but used the format to have some fun and give their work a pseudo business feel. The diary pages are cleverly joined to the Report by ring binding so that the whole book folds out to 24 inches wide. The nine partners get a diary spread each to design as they liked. The remaining spreads cover the studio facilities, client list and an all important spread for the book’s printers so the studio got a cheaper print job.
    I kept these because I liked the designs, especially the Report cover and thought they were good examples of the effervescent style of creativity back then.