Before the Internet, printed graphics standards manuals were practical tools for designers. Today, they sell for $80 a pop. In 2012, Pentagram designers Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth, along with their ...

The 1969 moon landing was a heady moment in American history. But the romance of putting men in space began to wane after NASA’s Apollo program ended in 1972, until the agency looked to design to help ...

Ever wonder about the NYC’s subway signage? Most New Yorkers who use the subway daily have probably never heard of the design firm Unimark. In 1970, designers Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda of ...

A page from the 2014 reissue of the New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual showing a diagram explaining the use of arrows in wayfinding signage in subway stations (photo courtesy of ...

Forty years ago, the United States turned 200. It was a divisive time, with the loss of the Vietnam War and the controversy of Nixon’s failed presidency, a time that the writer Thomas Hine labeled the ...

Many companies are reproducing old graphics standards manuals, like NASA’s 1975 graphics standards manual. As part of the movement to revitalize the past, Canadian graphic designer and art director ...

When I first broke into the graphic design profession in 1984, I already had two Graphic Standards Manuals under my belt as a Rochester Institute of Technology graduate. Manuals consisted of a ...

Perhaps it’s the contemporary obsession with nostalgia, but somehow, just like Brutalism, dated design manuals have made a comeback. Thanks to a few within the design industry—notably “typomaniac” ...

If you’re a fan of graphic design history, you might be familiar with Jesse Reed and Hamish Smyth. The duo are best known for reissuing the EPA and NASA’s graphics standard manuals from the 1970s and ...

The New York City subway was a confusing mess in the 1960s, with inconsistent, haphazard signage that made navigating the system a nightmare for commuters. In 1967, the New York City Transit Authority ...

We're big fans of NASA's graphics standards manual. You know, the one we wrote about this time. And this time. Oh, and this time, too. You could say we're a bit obsessed, but can can you blame us? The ...