Brooklyn, NYC

Beyond the amazing first hand accounts of the immigrants who passed through Ellis Island as they entered America, the prints and posters from the era are a treasure trove of wonderful design and typography. Here’s a sampling (although the photos don’t do them justice).

Fantastic typography detail from a Southern Pacific rail map. Note how it was important to include “correct” in the title.

Detail of the typography from a rail poster advertising land.

Poster advertising land in Minnesota. Note the wide variety of typefaces used — not uncommon for the time period. Serifs, sans-serifs, stylized display faces, heavily condensed faces and even extra wide faces at the bottom. Also note the odd kerning in the phrase, “The Great Land Grant”. It might just be the typeface itself as the “GR” letter combo looks weird.

Another land grant poster — this time in French. The design of the top half really struck me as innovative and unique. The typography also takes a different track than many of the others using a thin slab serif face liberally and more classic serifs throughout. Note the poor kerning between the “A” and “V” in the word “travers”. It also looks like the poster was run once and then either stamped or re-printed with the agent’s name and info — the type block on the right is misaligned.

Red Hook, Brooklyn, NYC

South Brooklyn, NYC

The coolest punctuation mark in the alphabet as a stencil in black spray paint. With very nice curves too. South Brooklyn.

Huge, heavily detailed illustration wheat pasted up on construction site wall panels. Awesome concept with incredible execution. South Brooklyn.

A section of wall from Tomorrowland in Disneyland. I’m completely mesmerized by this kind of psuedo-futuristic architecture. It’s the kind of thing I’ve been growing up with (and obsessing over) since I was a kid reading tons of science fiction. The bevels, the suggestion of order amongst the randomness and in true Disney fashion – the epic scale of it – are awesome. This is only one of the two futuristic walls as you enter Tomorrowland and this photo doesn’t capture the whole thing. It’s huge. It even seems to be referenced in later films such as Star Wars in the design of the surface of the Death Star. In fact, this type of architecture almost seems to be a prerequsite in science fiction which begs the question, how influential was this wall (or Tomorrowland as a whole) in shaping the look and feel of science fiction?

From the official Disneyland site:

Shiny orbs, kinetic sculptures, metallic finishes and mechanical touches also raise your sights skyward, lending a feeling of otherworldliness to the attraction architecture.

I’m not sure if it was part of the original design of Tomorrowland or part of the redesign in 1967. I’m guessing it was part of the 1967 renovation and therefore pre-dates a large portion of the science fiction film genre and can be argued to be a fundamental inspiration for what futuristic architecture should look like. In any case, it’s awesome and I wouldn’t mind my house looking like it.