Philately Fridays: Canada, 1974

Here's a block of stamps celebrating Canada Post (Postes Canada). Four fantastic illustrations reminding us to keep the postal system alive and running no matter where we live.



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Wes Wilson for Playboy, 1967

Wrapping up the year with a fantastically illustrated December 1967 Playboy Magazine cover by the legendary Bay Area psychedelic poster artist Wes Wilson.



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See (and purchase) more of Wes Wilson's artwork over at Wolfgang's Vault.

Herb Lubalin and the PBS logo

One of my all-time favorites, the fantastic Herb Lubalin, talking about working with PBS to develop their logo, all with a great animation of the different logos transforming from one to the next. Love it.

Philately Fridays: Merry Christmas from Bulgaria

Happy holidays to you and yours from legendary Bulgarian graphic artist Stefan Kanchev. Here are three of his annual Christmas stamps from 1984, '85, and '87.

Philately Fridays: Cuba, 1986

Here are two stamps marking the 25th anniversary of both UNEAC (Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba) and Radio Habana Cuba. Wait a minute... that would make this year the 50th anniversary of both of these organizations!

Hlava Rezatá, Noha Strakatá

Super shoutout to my designer / drummer / film enthusiast friend Sam Smith (Sam's Myth) for putting me up on this incredible children's book from the Czech Republic. He came across a copy in Japan and showed it to me when we were nerding out over design books during Thanksgiving break. This book, written by Vera Provazníková and illustrated by Jan Kubícek, was released in 1983 but has a distinct early '70s feel to it. Maybe it's because they weren't able to easily keep up with new design trends in the rest of the world or maybe it's because they loved these styles, but alot of Eastern European designers held onto the popular design and illustration styles from the early 1970s all throughout the '80s and I don't have a problem with that at all.

OK, now sit back and enjoy just a few samples from this great book:

Philately Fridays: Bulgaria, 1973

Two stamp-set from Bulgaria featuring some super-stylized illustrations of scenes of underwater exploration.

Philately Fridays: Spain, 1984

Safety first!

Philately Fridays: Canada, 1976

Well, since 123Klan is in town getting ready for their big show opening at CO Exhibitions this weekend, we're really in the Montréal mindstate, so here's a set of three stamps from the 1976 Summer Olympic games, held in their hometown.

Philately Fridays: Argentina, 1977

Two stamps from Argentina in anticipation of the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Argentina went on to win the tournament by beating The Netherlands in the final game, 3-1.





Related: Here's Gauchito, the official mascot the '78 World Cup:

Philately Fridays: Brazil, 1978

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Deceptively intricate design from Brazil marking the 70th anniversary of their Cruz Vermelha (Red Cross). Those little health and first aid-related icons are really nicely done.

Gurafiku

I've been exploring Gurafiku, an online archive of Japanese graphic design. The site allows you to view work split up by decade and there are a lot of fantastic posters, book covers, and more collected here. Take a moment to look around. Here are a few of my favorites:


Ikko Tanaka, 1977


Yusaku Kamekura, 1968


Shigeo Fukuda, 1974


Kisho Kurokawa, 1970


1980

Jim Beam holiday stickers

Groovy holiday stickers from a Jim Beam magazine ad. Show your friends and family you put some thought and care into that gift and weren't just trying to carelessly feed their alcohol addiction. Not sure who the artist is on these. Has anyone seen these before? No year was indicated on the ad, but I'm guessing this is from 1970.

My buddy Jerry Campbell mailed this in to me. If you're reading, thanks Jerry!



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Philately Fridays: Djibouti, 1982

This is the first and only stamp I've ever found from the small Eastern African nation of Djibouti. Sort of a clusterfuck of graphic elements, but I really enjoy how haphazard and jerry-rigged the whole design is. Wild West lettering at the top with Arabic right underneath, the serif 150F, super angular satellite tower, and that gorgeous ultrabright cubic shape. Somehow it works!

Pepsi ad, 1969

Graphic artist John Alcorn takes us away to a dreamlike world filled with sunshine, moutains, rainbows, and, of course, Pepsi.


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Louis & Gilbert Hotel Cocktails

2 1980-era newspaper advertisements designed by Robert Miller for Louis & Gilbert's pre-mixed cocktail concoctions. These scream 1880 just as much as they do 1980.

Philately Fridays: Bulgaria, 1969

Another fantastic designed by the incomparable Stefan Kanchev. Part of a series of stamps entitled "Means of Communication."

Japan Pavilion at the 1982 World's Fair

Here are an artist's renderings of Japan's pavilion at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, TN.


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Philately Fridays: Mexico, 1972

Otl Aicher's branding for the 1972 Munich Olympics is one of my favorite identity systems of all time. Here are some of those fantastic colors and graphics applied to a postage stamp from Mexico.



Click here to see more of Aicher's design work for the '72 Olympics.