This wallpaper border shows two landscape scenes with the bottom one illustrating different forms of transportation including an automobile, a steam-powered boat, and a bi-plane faintly visible in the sky. While the design contains three modes of transport in use at the time this wallpaper was produced, it seems surprising that a train was not...

Thought it was time to write about another children’s wallpaper. This is a post-war wallpaper, probably one of the first to be produced following the moratorium on new designs during the war. It took manufacturers about a year to get up to speed and introduce their first collections. This design shows a variety of different...

While interior designer Dorothy Draper is most well-known for baroque interiors featuring hallmarks of large floral patterns, plants, and vibrant colors, she adapted her vision to a range of spaces, including automobile and airplane interiors. This 1957 design for an airplane club area still evokes elements of the Draper fantasy but in a style more...

Ivan Chermayeff’s famous poster uses a system of found typography to represent the gathering of design professionals at the International Design Conference at Aspen. Chermayeff uses luggage tags to represent the array of countries from which the attendees hail. Ellen Lupton is Senior Curator of Contemporary Design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and Director of the...

When did you first see the Alitalia livery? A group of planes wearing the Alitalia livery It was designed by Walter Landor in 1967, working from his original headquarters, a retired ferryboat moored in San Francisco called The Klamath. He had already gained a strong reputation for original ideas about designing brands with just the...