Three posters to enjoy
assorted archival inspiration
I’m a big fan of finding archive treasures and getting inspiration from things made decades ago. This past week I’ve been working on two new labels for Vino Potable1, my wine brand. The three labels we currently have were all inspired from old documentaries, magazine covers and public domain posters. So I’ve been immersed in archive.org and some other public domain websites browsing through thousands of incredible posters. It surprises me how contemporary they look when taken out of context. Today I’m sharing three posters that I loved, and some links in case you’re interested in looking for more.
1. Florio, 1911 — Leonetto Cappiello
While looking for wine labels, the ones that feature happy people with bottles will always capture my attention. This one was made by Leonetto Cappiello for Florio, a historical Marsala wine, he was a poster designer with no formal training that defied conventions by making high contrast posters with dark backgrounds and light figures. This poster also reminds me of the three of cups tarot card, that also features three female figures wearing white, red and yellow dancing and celebrating. You can see more of his posters here.
2. Plate XVI: Copper, Malachite (1859) — Johann Gottlob Kurr
I love this type of illustrations and this poster in particular is interesting because it’s mixing realistic depictions and geometric diagrams. It was really hard to choose just one but this one is so vibrant with the different blues and greens. Kurr was a pharmacist and naturalist, and it’s so cool that part of his job was making these ellaborated illustrations. He also had a doctorate in medicine and surgery, just because making contributions to two scientific fields was not enough. Here’s the book where the illustrations come from and here’s the link to more high res posters. They’re all amazing.
3. MIT school of engineering (1967) — Dietmar Winkler
This is just so extra for a school of engineering. Everything is impeccable: the composition, colors, typography. So much to learn from these posters, the decision to make something bold, colorful and big instead of sticking to simplicity or whatever that it is expected from engineers is inspiring to me and something I struggle in my own practice. I love this one because it is iconic and fun. Also really hard to choose just one, check this link for more.
That’s it for today! Have an amazing week and leave me a comment if you enjoyed any of this.
Vino potable means potable wine