I’ve kept this blog for a year, and have posted twice a week for the past six months.

The time has come to focus on new projects, so this is the final post.

My aim in starting this blog was to find out more about what I liked in design. I’m no designer, and I felt that I didn’t have a strong sense of what kind of thing appealed to me.

This is one of my favourite designs. It’s an ad for cognac by Otard Dupuy & Co, dating back to 1910.

I’ve come across individual images like this that I wouldn’t otherwise have found. But looking back through the posts (this is #70), I can see that a handful of themes have emerged.

The idea of this final post is to pick out three of those themes, and the designs that best embody them.

Theme 1: Stark dark/light contrasts

I wrote several times about dark text or images on a light background. The contrast of colours, and the space around the focus of the design, make a real impression on me.

You can see this in the posts about Symonds Cider, Kuala Lumpur Dreaming, and The Lion King.

Here are some examples:

Theme 2: Simplified images

I’ve found a number of designs in which simplifying the subject increases its power.

The most recent was my favourite Christmas card; before that I wrote about Michael Schwab and George Butler’s travel sketch blog.

Theme 3: Retro styling

Some of my favourite posts have involved modern references to retro designs.

A couple of my earliest posts featured adverts or travel posters from the first half of the 20th century. But I prefer the latter-day versions - like Cheddar Ales, the Ping Pong Parlour, and Bertelli’s beautiful bikes.

My final word, though, goes to Sanna Annukka, whose designs for Keane’s Under The Iron Sea album were the spark for this blog.

My post on the artwork for that album can be found here. I thought it appropriate that her pictures, having been the first to appear on this blog, should also be the last.

If you’re interested in what I’m doing next, you can follow @toddmgreen on Twitter. 

Thanks for reading.

~ Todd

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/fX8km9

Badass way of showing the samples in a mash-up. Click the link to see this song in action.

This is my penultimate post. If I did this blog over again, there would be more stuff like this: cool ways of doing the visual display of information.

http://mashupbreakdown.com/

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/gg7dnW

Cool label, and rather an arty shot to make the most of it.

britvic.co.uk

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/g0N0Cq

Sweet-tasting root beer, available from a local diner. Goes well with burgers and cheesy fries, as it turns out. 

gooseisland.com/pages/chicago_style_root_beer/61

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/dSkGe1

I found this a few years ago, and decided to keep it because I liked it so much. It looks to me like a woodcut print from a Norse myth.

Merry Christmas, dear readers!

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/ie17g6

Beer mat I nabbed from the excellent King’s Arms pubs near Waterloo station. I thought the front design was very evocative (though that might in part have been due to the beer), and the back was attractive in its cleanliness and simplicity.

adnams.co.uk

Classic icon on a napkin from a German chocolatier. 

leysieffer.de/englisch

Full

Logo close-up

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/fgsFHC

Beautifully stylish flyer for an Edward Burne-Jones exhibition in Stuttgart. 

staatsgalerie.de/ausstellung_e/rueckblick/burnejones

Front cover

Inside cover info

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/edl7m6

Sign outside The Green Dragon pub near Hawes, through which you can reach England’s largest single drop waterfall: the amazingly-named Hardraw Force.

I like everything about that sign.

hardrawforce.com

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/eLvtOo

Best book cover ever!

This is a fantastically bold book cover that refers to the period that is its subject. 

The book was published in 1975, but became famous when Warren Buffett recommended it to a friend.

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/fzXqbG

I’ve always liked the black on yellow logo for The Lion King, and when I was looking for other artwork to go along with it I found a load of amazing stuff - the mix of red, yellow and black on the second picture, and of the ‘African sun’ colours on the third and fourth, is striking and brilliant.

disney.co.uk/musicaltheatre/thelionking

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/eSKcVz

Clean menu cover design and logo from a local pub. I particularly like the stark simplicity of the logo. 

hammersmith.thedistillerspub.com

Standard menu

Standard menu logo close-up

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/gpbQ0n

Charmingly wistful film poster for Mike Leigh’s latest. I’ve only seen the landscape version around, but the portrait orientation, with the empty space above and below, is more striking. 

anotheryear-movie.com

Landscape orientation

Portrait orientation

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/gvA0FU

Business-card size flyer for this Belgian beer bar in London’s Covent Garden. I picked it up on an afternoon/evening/night out there with my colleagues. After extensive research, I can recommend the Palm. 

lowlander.com

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/fxXjeV

Colour vs monochrome - stylish stuff.

virgintrains.co.uk

Link to this post: http://bit.ly/9tyhF1