John Rombola (b. 1933 ), a Brooklyn-born artist, has always marched to the beat of his own whimsical rhythm. And fittingly so, when radio station WPaT, which also moved to its own rhythm, commissioned Rombola to provide illustrations for its 1963 advertising campaign “In the Air Everywhere,” to be displayed in subway cars across New...

Mechanical book: Tony Sargs Treasure Book This colorful movable book contains adaptations of Rip Van Winkle, Treasure Island, and Alices Adventures in Wonderland by Tony Sarg, a German-American craftsman and illustrator best known for creating puppets for the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade in 1928 and the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair. Created by Tony Sarg (18821942)...

One of the themes running through Design Life Now is the opening up of media to everyday citizens. There’s been an explosion of “social media”—Web sites that allow people to build communities and talk with each other on-line. (Blogs like this are one example.) This communications revolution is affecting print as well digital media. Fueled...