This is the third post in small series of previously unpublished short essays to feature a selection of objects that have served as inspiration for designers. Each item would have about 150 or so words written to describe them and what inspiration they provided. The book unfortunately didn’t get published, and I thought it’d be great to share some of the shorts in a series of posts here on our Bulletin.

 

3.

Another uncle-in-law gave me a good amount of this beautiful French magazine. The issues range in date from the 50s to 60s and were originally his parents’, whom had a subscription when they lived in France. Completely in French, the magazine primarily covered contemporary art of the time. 

While each issue may have a full color cover combined with a few pages inside, it is primarily an exercise in two color design. Layouts typically include black and white photography with an accent of one contrasting color. 

Many things inspire me regularly about them—from the art covered within, to the gallery advertisements using only black text, to the patina the pages have acquired with age. The covers simply have the magazine title and full bleeding art, and nothing else.  

For me, the magazine marks a time that maybe culture wasn’t quite as literal as it is now and a little mystery was welcome. 

This is the second post in a small series of previously unpublished short essays to feature a selection of objects that have served as inspiration for designers. Each item would have about 150 or so words written to describe them and what inspiration they provided. The book unfortunately didn’t get published, and I thought it’d be great to share some of the shorts in a series of posts here on our Bulletin. 

 

2.

This is a Matchbox Porsche I played with as a kid. While I can’t remember the occasion I received it anymore, I remember having the toy as the moment I learned about Porsche and my love of cars and their design. From there forward, I vowed to one day have a Porsche 911 Turbo as my daily driver (dream car was reserved for a Lamborghini Diablo).  

The Porsche 911 has remained a timeless design influence for its balance of the impractical and practical—I could easily haul ass to the grocery store AND fit groceries in the car. For me, the car is a reminder of my kid self—curious of the world, freedom, and going fast. I grew up in Houston, Texas, where there is wide open space and a strong car culture (see: art cars, slabs/swangas, among others). I started to learn to drive at 11 and the idea of having my own car one day was a means of independence I looked forward to. Not too many other girls I knew growing up played with toy cars, let alone drew out maps of places to drive and park toy cars.

While I can’t say I have extensive knowledge about things like engines, cam shafts, et cetera, I believe my introduction through play has fueled many nontraditional interests and the hunger for equally nontraditional ideas and abilities—fast. 

 

This is the first in a small series of previously unpublished short essays to feature a selection of objects that have served as inspiration for designers. Each item would have about 150 or so words written to describe them and what inspiration they provided. The book unfortunately didn’t get published, and I thought it’d be great to share some of the shorts in a series of posts here on our Bulletin. 

 

1.

Since being introduced by my grandparents to camping, hiking, and the mountains as a kid, I have longed to be there. My grandmother was a very strong, creative woman and inspired a curiosity of the world in me. Needless to say, I hike—A LOT. No hiking trip to any park—especially National Parks—can start without picking up the latest brochure at the ranger station. Current guides today are still based off of the infamous designer Massimo Vignelli’s orderly Unigrid, which is what makes the two shown here special: they are a part of the problem he and the National Park Service (NPS) sought to fix. Pre-1977, which as the year Vignelli assigned the new brand system, NPS collateral was a cacophony of styles and sizes. It was like the brand system was made up of a multitude of brands, likely because a different person (designer?) created the piece without consideration of the style of any other parks collectively.  

These guides are two of many given to me for safe keeping by an uncle-in-law. His grandparents collected a brochure for nearly every place they traveled to. They are special to me not just for their connection to design history, but for the simplicity of two color design and map rendering. I have no idea who designed this brochure style, but whomever it was, did a pretty visually stunning and useful job prior to the new order to come later.

I return to these brochures from time to time as a reminder of how to use less for more, and also to break some of my own ideas about design systems. Outside of design, I think of the previous owners traveling the country, collecting their own artifacts and accidentally leaving behind markers of culture. 

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PS. Standards Manual just published this fantastic collection of the NPS guides in “Parks”. Check it out here.