Studio A

The newest issue of the National Museum of Women in the Arts magazine is back from the printer. Here are a few layouts highlighting currents shows. And for those type aficionados, the face for the Super Natural article is Reina. It’s glorious, no?

Memorial Day 2015. It was moving to read the many tributes on Facebook honoring relatives who served in the military and are no longer alive. At the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC, there was a First Day of Issue ceremony for the latest Medal of Honor stamps. Our design commemorates Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipients, and includes a new stamp showing the Air Force Medal of Honor. Here are a few photos from the day.

Like us, you probably missed the 399th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death last week. But AIGA Eye on Design did not! They posted this clever little piece using their Design Archives and included one of Antonio’s book covers from twenty years ago!

https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/design-history-101-happy-anniversary-to-shakespeare-and-his-unruly-women/

Fresh from the printer! Here’s a first peek at the exhibition catalogue we designed for Shirin Neshat’s upcoming show at the Hirshhorn (Opening May 18). If you’re unfamiliar with her work, Neshat is a contemporary photographer and filmmaker. Her art is deeply personal yet looks closely at broad societal subjects like gender, culture and history. The book attempts to reflect her efforts to look at boundaries with a fresh perspective. See the show. Get the catalogue. We think you’ll like them both!

President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated 150 years ago today, on April 14, 1865. One of our eeriest assignments was art directing the photography of these hoods from the Smithsonian’s collection. The eight accused conspirators were forced to wear them at all times during their imprisonment except in court. Although intimately connected to tragedy, it was a privilege to work with these important artifacts of our nation’s history. This spread is from the book we designed “Smithsonian’s Civil War: Inside the National Collection.”

Design Observer has a nice piece by John Foster on the Ramírez stamps, including a short interview with Antonio. Nice examples of Ramírez’s work and the stamps. Thanks DO! http://designobserver.com/feature/released-from-obscurity/38828

Now ArtNews is talking about the new Ramírez stamps! We like this!

http://www.artnews.com/2015/03/23/the-postal-service-is-printing-martin-ramirez-stamps/

The First Day of Issue for the new Martín Ramírez stamps we helped design is this Friday at the Ricco-Maresca Gallery in NYC. Here’s a link to the gallery and some of the incredible work by Ramírez that is on display: https://www.riccomaresca.com/portfolio-items/martin-ramirez-a-journey/?portfolioCats=32

We are so proud to have helped create the new US postage stamps honoring the work of the artist Martín Ramírez! This notice appeared in Friday’s NYTimes art blog:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/outsider-artist-gets-stamp-of-approval/?_r=2

We know there are a lot of Jessica Hische fans out there. Here’s a link to a video by USPS where she talks about love and the recent Forever Love Hearts we did. Just in time for Valentine’s Day! https://postalnews.com/blog/2015/02/13/video-artist-jessica-hische-creates-hand-lettered-forever-hearts-stamps-for-usps/

One of our favorite twentieth century designers was the Czech emigre Ladislav Sutnar. Today, Steven Heller did a nice post related tied to Sutnar, with a link to this little video from the Cooper-Hewitt. Stop by the office anytime to see more work by Sutnar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDLwOMPo_uA&et_mid=721028&rid=240700935

Thirty years ago, I was in my final year of graduate school. The more I learned, the more I discovered I knew hardly anything. I was a newcomer to the field. I went to bookstores looking for supplementary help. One of the first books I found and bought was “Typographic Design” By Rob Carter, Ben Day, and Phil Meggs. The book began with a timeline chronicling the evolution of typography from cuneiform to the first digital fonts of 1980. I had no idea what most of the entries were, or why they were included, but I sure liked looking at them, even in black-and-white.
I still have that book. And now, the 6th edition of the book has been published, revised with the help of Sandra Maxa and Mark Saunders. It’s a tremendous book, with many contemporary projects added illuminating such areas as type and grids, type and film, online typography, and many others. Of course, the book still begins with the typographic timeline. There on the last page of the updated version, sandwiched between such designers as Rick Valicenti and Martin Venezky, and Experimental Jetset and Studio Dumbar, are the Waves of Color Stamps I art directed, designed by my former student, employee, and now colleague and friend Michael Dyer. It’s humbling, and at the same time I’m very proud
Who knows where you may find yourself in 30 years?—Antonio

Good news! Communication Arts is featuring our new Love stamp design for their online exhibit! Check out the fine work by us and Jessica Hische! http://www.commarts.com/exhibit/forever-hearts-stamps.html

More love in the new year! On January 22, the new “LOVE” stamp(s) will go on sale. It started with a sketch combining a heart-shape formed by the word “forever.” The concept suggests both the enduring power of love and more prosaically, the value of the “first-class” stamp once purchased. We then hired Jessica Hische to turn the concept sketch into beautiful reality. We hope you LOVE it!