Design Inspiration: 1920's Posters From Chicago

Mar 31, 2009 by Jennifer Farley    3 Comments    Posted under: Blog, Design Resources, Poster design

I stumbled upon a beautiful collection of posters which were illustrated in the 1920′s and thought you might be interested for inspiration purposes. I love design and illustration from this era and the craftsmanship is lovely. The images and text below are from the Chicago L.org website, where you can find lots more examples.

Designed by Rocco D. Navigato. Navigato presents Wacker Drive in a similar manner as his earlier “Boul Mich” poster.

Designed by Ervine Metzl, this poster, designed in 1923, depicts the Grosse Point Lighthouse in northern Evanston, a landmark in the north Chicago suburb.

Designed by Arthur A. Johnson, “Avoid Street Congestion” was the only poster that actually depicted the “L” itself. The posters made in this program for the elevated, North Shore Line, and South Shore Line rarely showed the trains of the carriers, except on a few posters. The version of the poster shown here is a reprint done for the Loop Centennial and Chicago Transit Authority by Poster Plus. The original, of course, did not mention the CTA®; The bottom originally read “Rapid Transit Lines, Fast…Reliable”.

What do you think? Is this an era of design that you find appealing?

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