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vintage posters

Design

Terrifying Vintage Workplace Safety Posters From the Netherlands

By Emily Temple on

You remember what Mother said: safety first. That way, you can keep yourself from being electrocuted by tiny dragons or suffocated by an exhaust ghost. Or at least that’s what these vintage Dutch workplace safety posters, spotted over at 50 Watts, suggest. The posters, which represent over 50 years of finger-wagging, are mostly terrifying, but each is also pretty gorgeous in its own way — much better than the inspirational or warning posters floating around offices today. A sad kitten and some Helvetica just don’t cut it. Check out some amazing vintage safety posters after the jump, and head on over to 50 Watts or Memory of the Netherlands for more. … Read More

Design

Crazy, Pop Culture-Referencing Japanese Subway Posters from the '70s

By Emily Temple on

Ever the lovers of vintage posters, especially vintage posters with a pop culture bent, we were pretty psyched to discover this collection of Japanese subway manner posters, which were displayed in Tokyo subways in the late ’70s and early ’80s, over at How to Be a Retronaut. The posters make use of figures ranging from Charlie Chaplin to Rodin’s Thinker to Jesus in order to remind passengers of the proper way to behave. Marilyn Monroe reminds you not to forget your umbrella (as do many others, apparently umbrella-forgetting is a huge problem on the Tokyo underground), Superman tells you where not to drop your chewing gum, and Napoleon shows you how to properly display your boarding pass. Click through to see our favorites from the collection, all originally published in Manner Poster 100 in 1983. … Read More

Art

Alternate Histories: Monstrously Modified Vintage City Prints

By Emily Temple on

Pittsburgh-based artist Matthew Buchholz imagines the past a little differently than the way it was in the history books. Sure, he sees redcoats and steamboats, galleons and waistcoats, but he also sees monsters at the battle of Bunker Hill and UFOs fueling the Great Chicago Fire. In his ongoing project entitled Alternate Histories, which we first spotted over at Boing Boing, Buchholz alters vintage prints to create fantastical visions of a history tinged with science fiction. We’ve collected some of our favorites here, but be sure to check out all Buchholz’s work in his Etsy shop, where you can also buy prints and postcards. We have a feeling some sea monsters will be gracing our apartment walls sometime soon. And not because of Hurricane Irene — although, after a look at these prints, we’ve gotta say that we have our doubts. … Read More

Design

David Klein’s Gorgeous Vintage Travel Posters

By Caroline Stanley on

Modern airlines take note: There’s something about David Klein’s brightly colored, and often abstract illustrations for TWA that manages to inspire wanderlust much more so than any present-day ad campaigns. In fact, his travel poster for New York was considered so iconic that it became a part of the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection in 1957. Click through to get a better look at his work, and let us know in the comments if you think Don Draper would approve. … Read More

Art

30 Vintage Zoo Posters

By Emily Temple on

Going to the zoo is a seminal part of any curious child’s life. It’s a brush, however controlled and cordoned off, with danger, nature and the exotic world. Or at least it used to be. However, zoo advertisements, like so many other things, have become over-streamlined and ultra-modern, not like the tactile, mysterious zoo posters of yore. Accordingly, we decided to take a look at a series of vintage zoo posters from home and abroad, to relive the days when the zoo was a dangerous, secret place where jaguars lurked in unseen corners and animals spoke to you through the glass. Check out our collection of vintage zoo posters after the jump and let us know your favorites in the comments. … Read More

Design

Bad Cinema: Vintage Sexploitation Film Posters

By Todd Van Luling on

The hyper-sexualization of the film industry is certainly not an exclusive product of the twenty-first century, even if directors such as Michael Bay attempt to keep pushing the bar farther. With recent movies filled with offensive decadence in luxury as well as heavily sex-themed plot lines such as Toy Story 3 (read not Toy Story 3) and Sex and the City 2 burning up the box office, it is easy to forget that Hollywood has always know that “sex sells.” Below, we have gathered some awesome yet “exploitive” posters of female starlets getting the sex object treatment in films from the “Golden Age” of… Read More

Design

Star Wars-Inspired Vintage Travel Posters

By Caroline Stanley on

Thanks to io9, we just discovered artist Justin van Genderen‘s minimalist takes on planets and places of the original Star Wars Galaxy. While the vintage graphic design trend is nothing new, and in fact, Zazzle created a series of Star Wars WPA-inspired travel posters last spring, it’s also something that we never tire of (please see: 10 Best TV Shows of the Decade as Minimalist Art or Popular Websites as Vintage Books). Our inner Stars Wars geek wishes that van Genderen had included Coruscant and Naboo in his series, but he had over 450 fictional planets to choose from. We’ll forgive him this time.

View more of his travel posters after the jump. … Read More

Design

Vintage Travel Posters vs. Today’s Versions

By Caroline Stanley on

Our design-minded friends at Grain Edit have thoughtfully rounded up a “handful of travel related posters from 1950s -1970s for all the desk jockeys that are itching to get out of town.”

They are simply stunning. Check out our five of our favorites after the jump, along with their modern counterparts. Let us know if you feel more inspired by the old-school versions to update your passport. We certainly… Read More

Daily Dose

Daily Dose Pick: Grain Edit

By Jason Jude Chan on

A font of retro-inspiration, Grain Edit is dedicated to mid-century graphic design and its contemporary disciples.

With an aesthetic shaped by design heroes such as Milton Glaser, Charley Harper, and Paul Rand, the Oakland-based site hand-picks vintage brochures, illustrations, stamps, children’s books, posters, and even home plans for its ongoing visual throwback. Visitors can also read in-depth interviews with today’s leading designers, download one-of-a-kind desktop wallpapers, and vie for coveted giveaways. … Read More