New Typography and Illustration Treasures

Last weekend, I went about an hour south of Minneapolis to Oronoco to attend Gold Rush Days. It was a huge flea market in the center of the town with items ranging from antique furniture, toys, clothes, jewelry to tin packaging and lawn ornaments. It was an amazing experience not only to just wander and take some unique photographs, but also to seek out some great keepsakes.

For $1 a piece, I landed two booklets with some beautiful typography examples that I could not pass up. One was a Kerr booklet with recipes for canning from the 1950s and a Palmer Handwriting book from the late 19th century.

They also had some wonderful, vintage photography and illustrations. Here are some samples from the booklets.
















So often my students ask where I find my examples or inspiration for design projects. My answer is always to just keep your eyes open all the time. Pull examples from places that are not familiar or where you might not think. Good typography and references for future work is all over the place if you take the time to look carefully and do not pass by things that may seem ordinary at first glance. You may use the style later on for a design that you are stuck on. Magazines and websites have a lot of good references but sometimes the most authentic and textured are ones that have a real world use.