Photo ©2008 Louise Sandhaus Design

Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires & Riots: California and Graphic Design is an exhibition of the book-in-progress by designer Louise Sandhaus. As her research and design assistant on the project, I’ve had the pleasure of learning far more about the early history of California Graphic Design than I ever thought possible. The exhibition was designed by Louise and one of her design classes at CalArts.

The opening party for the show (as a part of the COLA Individual Artists Fellowship 2008 recipient exhibition) is this Sunday, May 18, 2-5pm. The show runs from May 16, 2008 to July 13, 2008 at Municipal Art Gallery in Barnsdall Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd.

more information at californiagraphicdesign.net

John Carroll emailed us to let us know that he had found two Erik Nitsche covers we didn’t have archived yet.

While we loved seeing the great Nitsche covers he sent us, we were just as glad to find that John runs a site called Vinyl Divas. Its an amazing collection—he has some great “cheesecake” covers, but he also has some great modernist gems hidden in there as well (I see a lot of Alex Steinweiss work in his “Design Classics” collection).

(If youre looking for the Erik Nitsche albums, they’re under “Design Classics,” then “Early American Design.”)

Purpose Coming from Meditation, photogram by Elwood Decker. 1952–1955.

Bird Peterson is not only an awesome DJ, he’s also a great designer. So it’s with some hesitation that we designed his new EP for Flamin’ Hotz—afterall, its not like we’re known for designing crazy animated gif flyers the way Bird is. We worked closely with him and chose to work within the context of the record (the first side is all Bird originals, the second is all remixes). Pretty soon we had a cover that worked right side up and upside down and used typography referencing “new” and “classic.” Bird then wrote some fantastic copy for each track and we referenced all those classic records that were text-laden on the backside of the sleeve. In the end we had a record design that we hope lives up to the Bird Peterson standard…even if people can’t figure out the true title of the record.

Lest we forget, we’re just wrapping for the great music inside, and—as with all of our Flamin’ Hotz releases—look for secret clues to “the game” (this one even includes a weblink if you’re saavy).

Available in limited edition of 1000 from select stores, including TurntableLab

Thanks to everyone who has linked to or viewed the Erik Nitsche Flickr page. We’re now past 10,000 individual views, which is fantastic! We’re thankful to everyone for the positive words and encouragement about the project.

After a long hiatus, we’re finally back to posting images of his work from our archive. We’ll continue to post new images every so often. Please keep checking the site and leave comments if you’re so inclined.