1930s – 1980s Pelican Covers

A very nice array of old Pelican book cover designs ranging from the 30s up to the 80s, hosted by (and thanks to) Things Magazine. Pretty amazing changes in design styles, especially within the last 20 years. The next logical thought is what will design styles look like in another 20 years? Good luck trying to figure that out. Whatever… for now, Enjoy!

Book Design Winners–Their Top 10 Typeface Choices

The American Association of University Presses (AAUP) holds an annual juried design show cataloging the best designs from across the country. FontFeed tallied the typefaces used from the past three year’s winners, and came up with a Top 10 list of fonts. The only surprise is… that there’s no surprise: classic choices top to bottom. While I wholeheartedly agree that there are lots of other choices out there, the alternatives aren’t typically going to show up in a Top 10 list. The classics are classic for a reason: they’re readable, predictable (in a good way), don’t draw too much attention to themselves, and work well in a variety of design situations. But trends do change, and I’m sure another review in a year or two will yield a couple new names. Meanwhile, you won’t go wrong with any on this year’s list.

A Fine Collection of Old Book Trade Labels

Excellent collection of old book trade labels can be found HERE, with thanks to SevenRoads.org for compiling all of these little gems in one place. Several really good designs, along with a bunch that are only average–but all of them interesting and worthy in some small way. “Publishers, printers, binders, importers, distributors and sellers of books–new, second-hand and antiquarian–used to advertise in this way their contribution to bringing the book to market.” The intention is to grow the collection, so it’ll be worth checking back in every so often.