As Seen Online: HBO on-air graphics

As a young buck who spent a lot of time watching television in the early 1980s, I was always fascinated with the HBO intro... you know... the camera flying over the city and the giant chrome letters rising up and then turning into a neon space station. I found a bunch of earlier renditions of HBO's station identification animations which are also worth checking out, so here they are:

1978, quick animation. very hot rainbow stripe logo:



Late 1980, total Great Space Coaster style:



Late 1981, art deco disco laser style:



The main attraction:



Can't forget the April Fool's edition:





and now, one of the freshest things I've ever seen on Youtube, a stunning behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the infamous 1983 HBO "city" intro. Hold onto your hats...

OPP: Bryan Haker

Today I'm passing the baton to my dude Bryan Haker. Bred in Minneapolis, Hake The Snake gets 'er done in Do Or Die Bed Stuy and is a hell of a resource of modern design knowledge and Jamaican patois. Take it away my friend...




Yasaburo Kuwayama was born in Niigata prefecture, Japan in 1938. He graduated from the Musashino Art University in 1962 and taught Typography at Asagaya Acadademie de Beaux-Arts for 5 years from 1966. In 1969 he established the Kuwayama Design Room. In 1970 he began teaching typography at the Musashino Art University. In '75 he was teaching lettering at the Asahi Center and served as a permanent manager of the Japan Finish Work Association. In 1979 he retired from his posts and allowed him more time for other interests. 

Says here that at present (I doubt it, the book is pretty old) he is a member of the Association du Typographique Internationale, the Japan Typography Association, the Federation of German Typographers, The Tokyo Designers Space and the Japan Graphic Designer Association

And to top it off he's a Jehovah Witness ( Not that there's anything wrong with that) I trust the Pileup is an equal opportunity organization.

His main books include Lettering & Design, Typeface Design, and Graphic Elements of the World.





POW!

Most of this was taken from one of his other books I have. More over, I came upon the guy from finding one of his books at a book drive in a hipstered-out park in Brooklyn. Even better yet, It was free!!  Got over on that one.. I think I have 3-4 of his books now.. all holy grail steez.

Philately Fridays: Cuba 1983

This stamp was issued to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Cuba's Rebel Radio, a station started by Che Guevara (obviously pictured on the stamp) to provide music and news during the Cuban Revolution. Beautiful, simple, and brightly-colored design, very characteristic of many designs coming out of Cuba during this era.

Logos: Places and Spaces

Here are some logos based on cities and city names.


Elmhurst Cream & Milk Co., Elmhurst IL
Designed by Bill Wayman


Englewood
Designed by Kay Ritta


Lakehaven
Designed by Unicom


Lowell, MA
Designed by Marya Kraus

Old basketball cards

Look how fresh and well-designed basketball cards used to be! A photo of the player, a huge field of a single color in the background, and the team name in giant, clunky, angled type.

Pictured here is George Thompson's 1971 card from his stint playing for the Memphis Tams before he went on the play for the Bucks and then conceive his son.



Here's another one from the same series. My man can barely fit in the frame!

Making Music Your Own

Found this heatrock in a San Francisco thrift store a couple of years ago. The illustrations sprinkled throughout the book are OK - not nearly as robust and well-executed as the cover image. The artwork is by Ati Forberg, who illustrated a few other children's books throughout the 1960s.




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Fans of Diplo might recognize this cover as being from the same series as the volume ganked for the cover artwork for he and Tripledouble's incredible psych / funk mix CD "AEIOU 2."

Pocket Coffee

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I'd probably eat this. Maybe it's the chocolate aspect, maybe it's the gorgeous lettering designed by Herb Lubalin, who you can bet your bottom dollar you'll be reading a lot about here in the weeks and months to come, but either way this is really dope.

OPP: Aaron Draplin

Another hit from the freestyle fanatic... Aaron Draplin comes through with more straight heat. We take you now to Mr. Draplin, reporting live from Portland, OR:

My buddy Dale and I were junkin' high up on Mt. Tabor. Garage sales can be tough. There's only so much time in the day, so you gotta be picky. The trick is to do a slow "drive by" surveying the scene. This way if you see a table with baby clothes, you can floor it and get the fuck outta there.

Just beyond the tables of clothes and shit, you could see a little "media section." Enough of a reason to roll the dice. We parked and headed straight for the records, books and outdated software.

I was lucky enough to find an old book called "Aviation Fundamentals." The asking price was 50 cents. I took one look at the old sea hag sitting there—who eyeballed us from the time we set foot on her property—and offered her a quarter. She took the bait and we got the hell out of there. Just like that. That's is how we do it.

Philately Fridays: Israel, 1973

Super hot one from Israel, commemorating the 9th Maccabiah Games, a competitive sporting event similar to the Olympics held every four years for Israeli athletes. Excellent illustration work combining the Star of David with a runner and I love the typography in this one, specifically the way the Hebrew and English type flow so well together.

Young Musicians

Tune in. Turn On. Drop Out. Praise the Lord.




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