ultramarine

John F Kennedy with significant input from the First Lady choose the iconic design of the airplanes bearing the designation Air Force One and that standard has endured out of respect for both Kennedy’s memory and aesthetic principles for fifty-five years. Now reportedly, Trump plans to change the design, decrying that the fleet of planes don’t look American enough unlike his signature transport whilst campaigning and are lacking red accents, calling the particular shade of blue a relic and a Jackie Kennedy colour. One can only guess what sort of crass and gaudy redesign that might be proposed.

chamomile tea party

Under the guise of his subversive collective, we learn via Hyperallergic, the creative graphic designer Jeff Gates has channelled his talents to make a statement on the sorry state of civil discourse in the United States of America (their chief export it seems) by remixing antique propaganda posters to reflect the current atmosphere, a decline that was fermenting for years and whose vintage predates but possibly prefigures the slovenly scourge of Trump and his best people. Also curated under Google’s Arts & Culture portal, Gates has been prolific in his activism and there’s an entire gallery of images, newer renditions juxtaposed with the origins, to reflect on.

me, poor man, my library!

Discovered via Coudal Partners’ Fresh Signals, we appreciated the introduction to the vibrant art work of graphic designer Manuja Waldia, whose illustrations have been featured in several prominent publications, in the form of her commission with Penguin Random House paperbacks to design the covers for a new edition of the Pelican Shakespeare series, regularly re-issued with new research and scholastic updates since 1956. Be sure to visit the website at the link above to see more cover art and her other works that can weave a story all on their own merit.