ISO50

RSS

Archive for October 16, 2007

1971 – Reprinted

Posted by Scott

iso50-1971c.jpg
The 1971 Print has been reprinted and is now in stock at the ISO50 Shop.
A lot of people have asked me what the significance of the year 1971 is (no, it’s not the year I was born). Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” first appeared as a two part series in Rolling Stone magazine that year. Wikipedia sums up the main theme of the book which was based on these articles:

“It explores the idea that 1971 was a turning point in hippie and drug culture in America, when the countercultural movement no longer had momentum and its innocence and optimism of the late 1960s turned to cynicism.”

This print sort of juxtaposes the design ideals of the 60’s: the earth-tones and swirling, psychedelic, patterns; with the harsh, solid forms of the gothic lettering.
Oh, and also 1971 just looks badass all stretched out like that.

1972 NY Transit Map

Posted by Scott

1972ny_subway_map.jpg
A 1972 map of the New York Subway system. Going to be using this a lot in a couple weeks so thought I would post it up. This is of course based on English graphic designer Harry Beck’s original topographic map of the London Underground (as Paul Mison pointed out in the comments, this is a later version of the map, not Beck’s original). This style of map was revolutionary at the time (1933) since it eschewed the geographically correct maps of the age for topographic representations of systems.

“A schematic diagram rather than a map, it represents not geography but relations. It considerably distorts the actual relative positions of stations, but accurately represents their sequential and connective relations with each other along the lines and their placement within fare zones.”
– From Wikipedia “Tube Map” Article

This must have been a very big logical departure for a lot of people and a lot of credit is due to Beck for having the intuition to draw the map in this new way. Of course all this is beside the fact that it’s just plain beautiful to look at and a great work of graphic art in it’s own right. To this day, Beck’s map still influences the way networked systems are represented, the above image being a great example. I don’t think many designers can claim such a revolutionary concept as their own.