100 Years of Illustration

Driving in Switzerland by Design

Click on images to enlarge them.

Swiss traffic used to look a lot like this when there was much less traffic. The signage is what was important. It was clear, crisp, and in the right place. This photo was taken in downtown Zurich among the big department stores.

Easy to follow directions to drive out of the city.

Swiss lady traffic cop. Note the directional sign so handy she can point to it. She's wearing huge wide gloves and a black Swiss version of a ten-gallon Stetson.

Close up of the above, with apologies for the fuzziness. You can only get so much out of a Kodachrome.

Parking meters were readily identified.

User friendly and well designed.

Parking garages were also readily found. Follow the arrow.

To pay, there was a large vending machine with instructions in four languages.

Even match books located where to park a car.

Even at the top of the St. Gotthard Pass the same signage indicated where to park.

Conveniently located nearby was an emergency phone and the ubiquitous abfallen basket for trash.

Illuminated destination signs were attractive and strategically placed. No mystery about where you were. You had better keep your speed to 60 km/hour in the city of Muralto, in the province of Ticino.

Swissair had it all

Once upon a time in the middle of the last century, just about fifty years ago, it was really a pleasure to fly -- particularly as a passenger on Swissair. There even was a direct flight from Boston to Zurich. I remember seeing the CEO of Polaroid across the aisle in economy class. It was that good.

Swissair's graphics and promo were the best in the world. This is one of their posters promoting travel to Japan. Click on this and the other images to enlarge them.

Swissair ticket folder. Notice that all the sell is confined to the inside.

Equipment Swissair flew at the time, from one of their postcards.

One of the earlier Swissair prop planes.

Swissair routes worldwide.

Passenger promo material. Those are oversize post cards, beautiful photos and great printing.

Litttle boxes of almonds served before dinner with beverage of your choice, as offered by attractive young female flight attendants. No, I'm not a sexist but you should know that at the same time U.S. airlines were under pressure to hire older women who could be, on occasion, nags and scolds.

Just think of it, decent champagne as well!

Dinner menus! Remember, this was in economy class.

They were having lobster in First. I swear.

Swissair newspaper in at least three languages with tourist information.

And a gratis carry-off bag.

Sorry about the paucity of new material

First there were the two carpal tunnel syndrome surgeries

And just recently the first cataract surgery.

I hope to get back with more material next week. Thanks for your patience.

The Golden Age of Type Design: Origins

The Panthenon in Rome with its impeccable frieze of capital letters identifying the emperor Agrippa who built the first one. This is the second Pantheon, built by Hadrian in A.D. 125 and dedicated to Agrippa.

Classic Roman letters from marble slabs seen in the Roman Forum in 1955.

Example of letterpress printing found in the Swiss publication Typografie published circa 1950. I sold my copy on eBay several years ago but not before photographing this and the following examples on Kodachrome. Didy was/is a flower shop in Lucerne.

Edler was a schmuck? No, schmuck is German for jeweler.

Bottle label for Swiss kirschwasser, distilled from cherries, and drunk as a digestive and with cheese fondue throughout Switzerland. I particularly love it on a ripe fruit Macedonia and on ice cream. But I digress. . .

Swiss burghers as I saw them at meal times in Switzerland staring as they so often did at a young American couple and wondering what they were doing eating in the same restaurants as they.

But I was young and given to playing with my food, I guess.