We kick off this edition of Vintage InfoDesign with a reference to recent blog posts by two of the most outstanding infographic artists of the past two decades – and that we have the pleasure to have among our featured community members: John Grimwade and Juan and Samuel Velasco’s 5wGraphics.
In both blog posts, the topic at hand is vintage infomation design, more specifically from the early 1950s. In the 5W Blog, Samuel Velasco presents the cutaway illustration work of Fred Freeman, as part of the two-year research for their fantastic book LOOK INSIDE. An unmissable treat, to explore these masters of the cutaway.
Equally impressive are the images John Grimwade picked out of the 1953 World Geo-Graphic Atlas by Herbert Bayer. The atlas took five years to be produced for the Container Corporation of America to commemorate their 25th anniversary and contains a few thousand infographics. Professor Michael Stoll has one of the 30,000 copies that were printed -It was never produced commercially, or reprinted, so original atlases in good condition are quite rare – and John had the opportunity to view it in person.
Here are all the vintage visual goodies we picked today:
World Geo-Graphic Atlas (1953) | Herbert Bayer/Container Corporation of America
(image: Herbert Bayer/Container Corporation of America)
(image: Herbert Bayer/Container Corporation of America)
(image: Herbert Bayer/Container Corporation of America)
(Via John Grimwade Blog)
Man Will Conquer Space Soon (1952-54) | Fred Freeman/Collier’s magazine
(image: Fred Freeman/Collier’s magazine)
(image: Fred Freeman/Collier’s magazine)
(image: Fred Freeman/Collier’s magazine)
(Via 5W Blog)
Let Them Have It All, And Be Done With It! (1882) | Frederick Burr Opper
(image: Frederick Burr Opper)
(Via PJ Mode Collection of Persuasive Maps)
The Great War Map (1926) | Ernest Clegg
(image: Ernest Clegg)
(Via David Rumsey Historical Map Collection)
Armored Speed Boat is Target for Bombers (1934) | Popular Mechanics
(image: Popular Mechanics)
(Via JF Ptak Science Books)
China: Major new railroad construction 1953-1957 (1959) | CIA
(image: CIA)
(Via Central Intelligence Agency on Flickr)
A Map and History of Peiping (1936) | Frank Dorn
(image: Frank Dorn)
(Via Rare Maps)
Official United States scheduled air services (1940) | Skelly Oil Company
(image: Skelly Oil Company)
(Via David Rumsey Historical Map Collection)
Variations of the Compass for the Year 1925 (1926) | US Hydrographic Office
(image: US Hydrographic Office)
(Via World Digital Library)
Cross Section of Hell (1855) | Michelangelo Caetani
(image: Michelangelo Caetani)
(Via PJ Mode Collection of Persuasive Maps)
Alaska: Far North frontier (1959) | Klengston Rude
(image: Klengston Rude)
(Via David Rumsey Historical Map Collection)
That’s it for today’s round up! We’ll be back next week with another selection, but until then, enjoy our Pinterest board, just with old maps and infographics.
Written by Tiago Veloso
Tiago Veloso is the founder and editor of Visualoop and Visualoop Brasil . He is Portuguese, currently based in Bonito, Brazil.