Standards Manual

“Helvetica, once the hippest design choice in town, then ubiquitous, then tired, has come back into style.”

From the essay "Stand Clear."
By Christopher Bonabos. Read it here.

“There was always something harder to work on.”

Read the essay by Alex Honnold

Reproduced from a
rare original copy with
over 165 highly-
detailed scans of the
legendary art by José
Luis García-López.

“These creative teams understood the timeless principles of design— balance, alignment, hierarchy, contrast, rhythm, proximity, color, and space.”

Shelton and Josh Carnley

Step into the world
of ham radio and the
(often overlooked)
visual language of
QSL cards.

1969–1979

A pivotal event in
design history: the 1978
debate between
Massimo Vignelli and
John Tauranac over the
future of the NYC
Subway Map.

“If our national parks embody the spirit of America, their maps are the physical manifesta-
tion of those ideals.”

Read the introduction by
Lyz Nagan-Powell

“The affectionate Meatball will replace the slick NASA logo, and slowly it will die into the horizon and never be seen again”

Dan Golden, former NASA Administrator, on the reinstatement of the meatball logo. From the essay “Are you Team Meatball, or Team Worm?” by Christopher Bonanos. Read it here.

“Our trademark designs can be seen as eclectic because they take many forms, and are expressed in many styles. 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.”

Tom Geismar

“It all went well until 1980 or so, when Ronald Reagan appointed a new head of the EPA.”

Read the introduction by
Steff Geissbühler

“It was the president of the United States who said, I want that. And he got it.”

Bruce Blackburn, quoted in the essay
“The Spirit and Swoop of ‘76” by Christopher
Bonanos. Read it here.

“…it's an intimate view of the city's history, merging design and infrastructure over the past 150 years.”

Read the introduction by
Eric Greene