2023 has been a more productive year in reading books to the end than the previous one. I read different books in parallel and pause some in favor of others. So I end up with piles of books that wait like in the media encoder queue. I plan to stay more organized in the coming year and keep track of the titles and notes. Anyway, here are the top 5 books that I most enjoyed this year:

My favorite book on design was Paula Scher's–25 Years at the Public, A Love Story. As the title reads, it's about Scher's ongoing project with the Public Theatre in New York City, for whom Paula Scher designed a unified identity, created the graphics season after season, and worked alongside architects to redesign the theater's interior. She gives insight into her process, including the collaboration with other professionals, the ups and downs, and all the challenges a project may bring. I like how open she is in evaluating the work. Culture changing. Looking forward to more of her books.

The best memoir was Patti Smith's Just Kids. I actually listened to the audiobook. It's about the funky New York of the 60s and 70s. It depicts the relationship between Patti and Robert Mapplethorpe (the book was a promise and an homage to him) as well as their youth times and how artists were, how they related to each other, and how they worked. Even in the most challenging times, creative easiness shines, as well as love and respect. I like how natural things happen, how confidence extrudes from simply existing. I recommend the audiobook–who else can better set the tone than Patti herself?

The nr.1 belletristic book was Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee. I like how the author writes in the style of classic literature. The characters are complex and humane–there is no hero, no good and evil, all flawed and relatable, their stories developing throughout the book. As in life, difficulties make them grow the most. Next on my list is Pachinko (supposedly the author's masterpiece by critics).

I liked many books in the personal development department this year. Still, I picked Seth Godin's The Dip as my favorite. Reasonable things are put under sharp light in Seth's kick-ass style, but I most liked the obviousness of the dip-the place where things get complicated and we get stuck. It's also about standards and knowing when to stick and when to drop. It's short, more like an essay; I put it on my re-read list.

I devoured Steven King's On Writing–A Memoir of the Craft (a melange book on writing and personal stories). It was my beach book this year, and it had it all: it's funny and entertaining and shares his writing principles, with do's and don'ts, giving examples, listing the books he read, and critiquing different texts. This book deserves more credit!

That was it. As we enter the new year, I'm reading Adams Grant's Hidden Potential, Mason Currey's Daily Rituals, and When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön. I like them all. 

That was it. I wish you a happy New Year!

2023 has been a more productive year in reading books to the end than the previous one. I read different books in parallel and pause some in favor of others. So I end up with piles of books that wait like in the media encoder queue. I plan to stay more organized in the coming year and keep track of the titles and notes. Anyway, here are the top 5 books that I most enjoyed this year:

My favorite book on design was Paula Scher's–25 Years at the Public, A Love Story. As the title reads, it's about Scher's ongoing project with the Public Theatre in New York City, for whom Paula Scher designed a unified identity, created the graphics season after season, and worked alongside architects to redesign the theater's interior. She gives insight into her process, including the collaboration with other professionals, the ups and downs, and all the challenges a project may bring. I like how open she is in evaluating the work. Culture changing. Looking forward to more of her books.

The best memoir was Patti Smith's Just Kids. I actually listened to the audiobook. It's about the funky New York of the 60s and 70s. It depicts the relationship between Patti and Robert Mapplethorpe (the book was a promise and an homage to him) as well as their youth times and how artists were, how they related to each other, and how they worked. Even in the most challenging times, creative easiness shines, as well as love and respect. I like how natural things happen, how confidence extrudes from simply existing. I recommend the audiobook–who else can better set the tone than Patti herself?

The nr.1 belletristic book was Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee. I like how the author writes in the style of classic literature. The characters are complex and humane–there is no hero, no good and evil, all flawed and relatable, their stories developing throughout the book. As in life, difficulties make them grow the most. Next on my list is Pachinko (supposedly the author's masterpiece by critics).

I liked many books in the personal development department this year. Still, I picked Seth Godin's The Dip as my favorite. Reasonable things are put under sharp light in Seth's kick-ass style, but I most liked the obviousness of the dip-the place where things get complicated and we get stuck. It's also about standards and knowing when to stick and when to drop. It's short, more like an essay; I put it on my re-read list.

I devoured Steven King's On Writing–A Memoir of the Craft (a melange book on writing and personal stories). It was my beach book this year, and it had it all: it's funny and entertaining and shares his writing principles, with do's and don'ts, giving examples, listing the books he read, and critiquing different texts. This book deserves more credit!

That was it. As we enter the new year, I'm reading Adams Grant's Hidden Potential, Mason Currey's Daily Rituals, and When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön. I like them all. 

That was it. I wish you a happy New Year!

I never thought about stock graphics before the digital era. History keeps track of the best and most original work. So it's easy to romanticize the past. The designer did the work himself or worked with commissioned artists. Sometimes, the illustrations and graphics came from a copyright-free catalog.

In 1976, right before Halloween, Jim Phillips worked on a two-color poster for an upcoming rock concert and party. Here‘s what he writes in his graphic memoir Rock Posters:

[Featuring a local landmark into a poster] spoke directly to the locals, and to me, it announced “It ain’t clipart!”. One of the unfortunate things about most public art is the proliferation of what I call “clipart” in advertising. Newspapers and ad agents have giant books full of them. So everyone is used to seeing thousands of illustrations every day, all drawn by hundreds of “moles” deep underground in New York City. You can get a CD of 250,000 clipart images for $99 or less.

I found this EXPRESS Art catalog, a Belvedere publication from Rome/Milan, Italy 1993. As it reads, it offers 500 creative designs, images, motifs, and illustrations of eagles, ready to use and copyright-free.
On their website, you can look at more Belvedere copies from the 80s and 90s with different subjects (I think you can also buy them). Some issues included CDs with high-res art.

Volk Clip Art Inc (formerly Harry Volk Jr. Advertising, Harry Volk Jr. Art Studio, and Volk Corporation) was founded as early as 1948 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and functioned till 1996, mainly selling monthly booklets with clip art. You could do anything with the designs except reselling the art. Unfortunately, this policy wasn’t followed much, as many companies recycled the images and resold them further.

Although reproduced artwork was everywhere, and Jim Phillips has a point regarding the lack of originality, behind the clipart were very talented illustrators. Read more about (the real) Tom Sawyer, one of the most prominent illustrators behind Volks Clip Art. However, even if their designs were everywhere at an international level, being commissioned for this kind of art also had a downside–other artists and agencies were not happy about them spoiling the market, and they suffered a loss of prestige.

Ironically, Volk Clip Art didn’t commission one of his artists to design their logo. But Herb Lubalin.