Our design for Star Waggons’ 2011 holiday card. We went with a mid-century modern look, featuring a slightly-modified Buffalo from Photo-Lettering. (more…)
Star Waggons Happy Holidays card
Categories: General updates
Tag Archives: lettering
The Ludlow: Typographic Influence, 1931–1962
Categories: General updates
On Saturday, November 12, I gave a brief presentation at the International Printing Museum about a selection of typefaces that were designed by Robert Hunter Middleton for the Ludlow Typograph, a letterpress linecasting machine (for which we just so happen to be doing a Kickstarter Campaign). Focusing on the idea of “typographic influence,” I have […]
Brenton Hall Identity and Signage
Categories: Case studies
Every design project is a collaboration. Successful projects take two to tango; the best results happen when client and designer each bring something unique and important to the table. Working with Eli Holtman of the CPM Group (Conscientious Property Management) in Narberth, Pennsylvaia is about as collaborative as it can get. Eli contacted me back […]
ZYZZYVA brand identity, website, and publication design
Categories: Case studies
Identity Design In late 2010, Three Steps Ahead was commissioned by ZYZZYVA, the premiere West Coast art and literature journal, to create an entirely new brand identity, including a redesign of their print collateral, their website, and the magazine itself. (more…)
Wiener Städtische original poster art
Categories: Inspiration
This is a very proud acquisition for me: it’s the original, hand-constructed artwork that was used to create a mid-century modern Austrian poster, advertising the Wiener Städtische Versicherung (Vienna Insurance Group). I’ve done a little searching, but I haven’t found any of the actual posters; it’s possible that this was never produced, or it might […]
Vari-Typer T-Shirt
Categories: General updates
A sneak peek at a t-shirt the Night Shift created at the International Printing Museum. The silkscreen was created without the use of cameras, scanners, computers, or the like; it’s completely analog. The Vari-Typer Headliner, a photocomposition typesetting machine from the 1950s, was the descendant of a line of complex typewriters. Unlike its predecessors, the […]
The Ludlow Project, Kickstarter, and Mitten’s
Categories: Case studies, General updates, Inspiration
One of the ongoing projects we’ve been working on at the International Printing Museum has been The Ludlow Project, an effort to augment our collection of Ludlow matrices to be as complete as possible. Months ago, we decided to bring the campaign to Kickstarter, where there have been a significant number of successful letterpress-themed projects. […]
Diagonal: Fake Vertigo Poster?
Categories: Inspiration, Rants
While I’m on the topic of prop documents, this has been bothering me for months: a while back I was watching TV1, and I saw a poster in the background that looked quite a bit like Saul Bass‘s famous Vertigo one-sheet. The typography is almost identical in style. The colors too. The imagery and composition—same […]
Incredible Secret Night Shift Knowledge
Categories: Case studies
While perusing through one of the many beautiful type specimens at the International Printing Museum, a looseleaf page advertising “incredible, logic-defying, outrageous secret knowledge” fell out unexpectedly1. Seems that there may have been a Night Shift long ago. Seriously, though, if anyone knows of a film studio or prop house looking for an obsessive level […]
Dodge Ram “Guts & Glory” Letterpress Commercial at the Museum
Categories: General updates
Not too long ago, the creative team behind Dodge Ram’s marketing decided to do a series of commercial spots touting the rough-and-tough machismo of their client’s product line. Naturally they chose to use a rugged, Old West wood type treatment for their typography, and somehow along the line it was decided that they would shoot […]
