Decorative Sunday
A few months ago, I posted images from the first Graphis Annual, check out that post for some background on the early days of Graphis. Since that inaugural Graphis Annual in 1952/53, the Graphis family of publications has expanded to include a number of annual reviews, starting with the Graphis Photo Annual in 1966 and the Graphis Poster Annual in 1973. The images here are from the Design Annual 2022, published by Graphis Inc. in New York, NY. Graphis also now publishes annuals in advertising as well as a New Talent Annual highlighting exceptional student work.
It is interesting to compare more current Graphis Annuals with earlier ones, not only to note changes in aesthetic sensibility, but also to note the expansion of ambitious design work into areas like corporate annuals and/or environmental reports. The image above that looks like the cover of a manga, for example, is actually the annual report for Nissin Foods Holdings Co., LTD., a Japanese company that specialized in convenience foods like Cup Noodles (which I was very surprised to learn hasn’t been called Cup O’ Noodles since 1993 … Mandela effect?). I was also pleased to see how much book design was featured in the annual, though I do admit to over-representing book design in my choices here. I just couldn’t help myself!
Find more Decorative Sunday posts here.
-Olivia, Special Collections Graduate Intern