Topics: Color, Layouts

I'm a big fan of used book stores. I love their musty smell... and you never know what you'll find while hunting for hidden treasures. In 1995 when my company took a fortuitous trip to Chicago, we hung out with designer extraordinaire Carlos Seguraa. He took us to Bookman's Alley in Evanston, Illinois, where we scored some of the best books ever, including a large collection of Gebrauchsgraphik, a German design magazine first published in 1924. Our treasure find included every issue from 1961 through 1969, for the incredible bargain price of $2 each.

I knew very little about Gebrauchsgraphik, but a quick Google search revealed that the publication was a "German monthly journal for visual communication and artistic advertising." After browsing many issues I now understand why Gebrauchsgraphik is one of the most blogged-about vintage design magazines. Published in both German and English, the articles cover a broad range of subjects, among them graphic design, advertising, illustration and typography.

The magazine covers I've included in this post are a great example of the kind of work I find inspiring: a wonderful mix of illustration and design. Filled with ultra-modern 1960s visual images, the magazine was truly international in scope and assembled classic examples of the early pop and avant-garde art movements in Europe.

My discovery was a lucky find, but Issues of Gebrauchsgraphik are available on eBay. Older issues from the '30s and '40s sell for about $30 and up, but my favorites, from the '60s and '70s, start around $15 an issue. Of course, the best place to begin a search is your local used book store. Sometimes you get the bonus of finding unexpected items tucked between the pages: the long forgotten letters, ticket stubs and receipts that time forgot. There's even a wonderful website dedicated to things found in books, the appropriately-named thingsinbooks.com.

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