"If you found yourself in the New York City subway in the 1960s, you were probably lost. Signs didn't help you find your way, standards didn't exist,even handmade lettering was common. Mass confusion was the status quo. In 1970, the Standards Manual changed everything. In 1967 the New York City Transit Authority hired Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda of the design firm Unimark International to design a signage and wayfinding system that would solve the problem underground. The work they delivered, the 1970 New York City Transit Authority Graphic Standards Manual, succeeded in that goal and, perhaps unintentionally, the Standards Manual became one of the world's classic examples of modern design." An original copy of this book is on display in MOMA. Full-size reprint of the original 1970 edition (the original was an over-sized orange plastic 5-ring binder.) Printed in Italy on 100 and 140 gsm Munken Pure ivory offset paper. 8.5 pounds; 14" x 14"; 364 pp; illustrations throughout, some in color; a few gatefold pages. Bound in Cialux cloth wrap with a hand-sewn binding. 12 page Introduction and Essay. Out of print. This copy, licensed by the MTA, is part of a one-time only limited print run of 6490 copies.

New York City Transit Authority: Graphics Standard Manual

Massimo Vignelli

Bob Noorda

Unimark International

Standards Manual

The NYCTA Graphics Standards Manual contains scans of Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda's (Unimark) modernist masterpiece. The manual describes the design and construction for the iconic NYC subway signs that we still see and use.

New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual

Arts & Photography

Graphic Design

The NASA Graphics Standards Manual, by Richard Danne and Bruce Blackburn, is a futuristic vision for an agency at the cutting edge of science and exploration. Housed in a special anti-static package, the book features a foreword by Richard Danne, an essay by Christopher Bonanos, scans of the original manual (from Danne's personal copy), reproductions of the original NASA 35mm slide presentation, and scans of the Managers Guide, a follow-up booklet distributed by NASA.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Graphics Standards Manual

The 1976 American Revolution Bicentennial symbol was the logo for America's 200th birthday party and a precursor to the NASA logo that Bruce Blackburn at Chermayeff &amp; Geismar would design in 1974. This edition is a perfect facsimile of the original, wrapped in a black jacket with a foreword from Bruce Blackburn and an essay from Christopher Bonanos.

Official Symbol of the American Revolution Bicentennial: Guidelines for Authorized Usage: Official Graphics Standards Manual

Bonanos, Christopher

Blackburn, Bruce

In 1970, President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to confront environmental pollution and protect the health of the American people. One of the EPA's top priorities was consolidating numerous state offices to more efficiently carry out its goal of "working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people."
But there was one area in which the EPA--like many government agencies of the time--was terribly inefficient: their graphic design and communications department. Millions of dollars were being wasted annually due to nonstandardized formats, inefficient processes and almost everything being designed from scratch.
In 1977 the EPA began working with the legendary New York design firm Chermayeff &amp; Geismar (now Chermayeff &amp; Geismar &amp; Haviv, or CGH), responsible for some of the most recognizable visual identities in the world, such as Chase Bank, PBS, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, Mobil Oil and NBC. Partners Ivan Chermayeff, Tom Geismar and Steff Geissbuhler set about tackling this problem. The result was the 1977 US Environmental Protection Agency Graphic Standards System.
Forty years later, Jesse Reed &amp; Hamish Smyth--creators of the NYCTA and NASA Graphics Standards Manual reissues--have partnered with CGH and AIGA, the US's oldest and largest professional organization for design, to publish this classic graphic standards EPA manual as a hardcover volume. Each page is reproduced at the same size as the original three-ring binder pages, using the same vibrant Pantone inks with a total of 14 colors.

United States Environmental Protection Agency Graphic Standards System

The evolving design of New York subway ephemera: a collector's story
New York City Transit Authority: Objects originated as a photography experiment. In 2011, New York photographer Brian Kelley began documenting collections of used MetroCards in his Brooklyn studio, arranging them in various grids with the goal of perfecting the lighting of an image. His brother suggested he make the grids more interesting by finding other types of cards. Having exhausted his search for discarded MetroCards in many of the city's 472 subway stations, Kelley turned to eBay for new finds. The online rabbit-hole gave him a crash course in the history of NYC transportation. He discovered tokens dating back to 1860, a ticket stub from 1885 when it cost three cents to take the train across the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as patches, matchbooks, tokens, timetables, pins and signs, posting his photographs of these finds on Tumblr and Instagram. Six years on, many MTA employees follow and advocate his project, sometimes contacting him with information and tips on rare items. As the collection grew, Kelley recognized that there were no comparable digital archives documenting the city's transportation evolution.
New York City Transit Authority: Objects is a story told through the evolving design that spans decades of the city's history. Kelley's objects tell a greater story of New York's past. For him, The NYCTA Project remains a photography experiment and self-funded hobby, archiving the culture of his home city. For the reader, it's an intimate view of the city's history that merges design and infrastructure over the past 150 years.

New York City Transit Authority: Objects

The NBC peacock, the PBS faces, the red Mobil O, the Smithsonian sun: Chermayeff &amp; Geismar &amp; Haviv created some of America's best-known logos
Seminal New York design firm Chermayeff &amp; Geismar &amp; Haviv, founded by Tom Geismar and Ivan Chermayeff, has designed countless brand logos that have become indelible parts of American visual culture: the Chase Bank octagon, the NBC peacock, the PBS faces, the red Mobil O, the Smithsonian sun and many more. Still at the forefront today with the addition of partner Sagi Haviv, the firm has more recently designed logos and identities for the Library of Congress and Harvard University Press.
Instead of consolidating a signature style in their design, Chermayeff &amp; Geismar &amp; Haviv focused on creating immediately legible, memorable identities for their clients. "Our trademark designs can be seen as eclectic because they take many forms and are expressed in many styles," admits Tom Geismar. "But they are deliberately this way because each has been designed to provide a distinctive, memorable and appropriate visual expression of the organization it represents." 
Identity: Chermayeff &amp; Geismar &amp; Haviv presents 60 years of the firm's work in a gorgeous, oversized volume, featuring interviews with the firm's partners alongside contributions from Alexandra Lange, Milton Glaser, John Maeda and Roman Mars. The cover, designed by the partners, is a work of art in its own right--a new design constructed out of the firm's 30 most influential logos, silkscreened on a textured canvas cover.
Tom Geismar (born 1931) and Ivan Chermayeff (1932-2017) founded Chermayeff &amp; Geismar in 1957, pioneering the field of corporate graphics with their bold designs. Sagi Haviv (born 1974) became the third partner at the firm in 2006. Before his death, Chermayeff was involved, along with the other partners, in this publication's design and development.

Identity: Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv

Lange, Alexandra

Mars, Roman

Chermayeff, Ivan

MAEDA, John

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