Vintage Vornado Tracy Holdeman
reports that he’s used
retro references in
many projects, but
until this assignment
he’d never had a client
not only ask for
retro, but also be able
to provide the historic
reference material.
His client, Vornado
Air Circulation
Systems, decided to
bring one of its former
products—the
VornadoFan—back to
life. Holdeman’s firm
developed packaging
and a sales brochure
based on an old owner’s
guide cover—even
recreating a worn,
faded look for the
background color—
along with elements
of Vornado advertisements
from the 1950s.
Holdeman recreated
the Vornado logotype,
invoking the era of the
original hand lettering.
Original
Redesign
Nostalgic display Michael Doret has a large collection
of interesting historic
type samples and
uses them to bring
fresh perspectives to
his work. His logo for
Cliff’s Amusement
Park in Albuquerque,
N.M., features display
type created to evoke
a prior era. The new
design includes a
visual nod to the previous
Cliff’s logo by
including a hint of the
typestyle: thick and
thin with Copperplate
style serifs. In addition
to matchbook covers,
decals, and old lettering
books, Doret
keeps his camera
handy to document
out-of-the-ordinary
things as he sees them.
17th Century
20th Century
Distinctive scripts
Some designers have
discovered the beauty
of work of pre-20th
century origin. Margo
Chase of Chase Design
Group bought
a book—published in
Paris in 1647—from
a rare-book dealer
and used it as inspiration
for the cover of
Desire, a journal she
created for Chronicle
Books. The influence
of the older book’s
ornate scripts is
evident in the flourishes
in the journal,
although the new
book is undeniably
original in its design.
Period
Conemporary
From old to new
Other hand-drawn
display type by Chase
is startlingly contemporary,
despite being
influenced by antique
styles. In part this may
be due to the intricacy
of her work; such skill
is rare today. Shown
here are logos for
Charmed, a television
series on The WB;
The Flying Dutchman,
an animated feature film title for Curious
Pictures; and Tattoo
Teardrop, a short film
about gangs in L.A.
About the author Sheree Clark is managing partner
of Sayles Graphic
Design in Des Moines,
Iowa; an author and
speaker on organizational
and business
issues; and owner of
Art/Smart Consulting,
which provides selfpromotion
and business
strategies to
creative professionals.
