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BR DBURY THO
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1934 Graduated Washburn University 1944, 1945 Monalphabet
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1945 Started as art director for Art News
1938 Started at Westvaco
1911 Born in Topeka, Kansas
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1950 Alphabet 26 1955 Dies as one of the most admired
1979 Washburn College Bible
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2000
designers in the United States.
1956 Began teaching at Yale
Early Life
Thompson was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1911 and later attended Washburn University. He graduated in 1934 with a degree in economics. During his time at Washburn he worked as a student editor and designer at Capper Publications where he learned everything about printing, typesetting, and binding.
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In 1938 he moved to New York and soon began work for the Westvaco Corporation. A large majority of his work and influence comes from his time at this company
Westvaco Inspirations 115. War and Peace. Spread from the first publication Thompson worked on with Westvaco Inspirations.
Thompson worked on Westvaco Inspirations - a publication showcasing the paper produced at the mills. The publication showcases typography, photography art and graphic design. Thompson and the cooperation’s leaders thought that the publication should not only showcase their products, but also good graphics. The audience of the publications were designers, printers, teachers and students. By showcasing design work this way, Westvaco was able to reach a large audience and become a premiere example of advertising and commercial art.
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Westvaco
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“The printing press and the print shop were my canvas, easel, and second studio.�
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Color Thompson used process colors (CYMK) as his primary color scheme. His background in printing gave him an understanding of printing channels and color.
CMYK 8
Westvaco Inspirations 194. Liberty.
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Type Thompson commonly used type in a variety of different ways in his designs. Type could be used in many different ways so create movement, emphasis, or be the artwork itself.
“type can be a toy, a tool, and a teacher.�
Westvaco Inspirations 192. R Stands for Righteous.
In many of his designs he incorporates the type as part of the illustration. Some move your eyes around the page, some emphasize elements, and some become the shapes in the artwork becoming the artwork themselves.
Westvaco Inspirations 177. Fishing in Typography.
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Westvaco Inspirations 177. Kerr-choo-00.
Westvaco Inspirations 172. Humor.
Westvaco Inspirations 210. Dance.
Westvaco Inspirations 210. Photo and Type as Teammates.
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The Monalphabet The Monalphabet was developed in 1945 by Westvaco Inspirations. This system of experimental type was developed as a form of simplified readability. The Monalphabet went through 7 different ‘experiments’ originally using the font Futura, trying to find the most graphically logical solution. Westvaco used the different experiments in many of their projects.
1 The first experiment used only lowercase characters. 2 Experiment 2 was set in entirely uppercase. 3 The third experiment was set in traditional uppercase lowercase where uppercase denoted the beginning of sentences and proper nouns.
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the application of the monalphabet.
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THE APPLICATION OF THE MONALPHABET.
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The application of the Monalphabet.
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• the application of the monalphabet.
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the application of the monalphabet.
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the application of the monalphabet.
7 the application of the monalphabet.
4 The fourth experiment is set in lowercase and uses a bullet point to mark the beginning of a new sentence. In this experiment no notation of proper nouns in created. 5 Experiment 5 continues to use the entirely lowercase method, but notes the begging of sentences and first letters of proper nouns with an underline. 6 Experiment 5 is similar to experiment 6 in that it uses all lowercase. However, it changes the marking of sentence beginnings and proper nouns by bolding the letters instead of underlining them. 7 The final experiment, experiment 7, increases the size of the ‘capital’ letters in order to differentiate them. This system utilizes only 26 characters.
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Alphabet 26 In 1950, Westvaco created Alphabet 26 which used only one character for each letter, as opposed to differing characters for upper and lowercase. They argued that there is a confusion that occurs when one letter has two different forms of representation. ( Example ‘A’ and ‘a’). Westvaco utilized the font family Baskerville to illustrate this idea. However, any font was intended to be substituted in its place. The uppercase design is used for these letters. The lowercase design is used for these letters. Only one design exists for these characters.
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a
B C D
e
FGHIJK L
mnOP
Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Westvaco Inspirations 180. The Art of Seamanship.
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Graphics in Motion Thompson used color and brought it into his innovative design strategies. Using the four process colors, graphics in motion was created to synthesize moving illustrations. The idea that facing pages could interact and become a single composition was still a new idea at the end of the war. Taking a single image and printing it in the four process colors would add life to the page. By doing this, Thompson was exploring the process of print itself and exposing and educating the process to his readers.
Westvaco Inspirations 210. Rock’n’Roll.
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Westvaco Inspirations 152. Bombardier.
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Works
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Stamps Thompson is credited with creating over 90 different stamps. His influence also extended to assisting others who created stamps after 1969. One of the most popular stamps is the LOVE stamps from 1973.
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Education Thompson started guest lecturing and teaching at Yale in 1956 . His fascination with books and creating publications like Westvaco’s Inspirations, prompted him to create projects for his students to create similar things. A course he designed for his first year at Yale required students to select a topic of their choice and create seven spreads that reflected the time period and style. Although the students were required to capture the fonts and images of the time period they selected, they were required to represent the work in the style of the current era.
Westvaco Inspirations 206. High Renaissance.
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Westvaco Inspirations 206. Rococo into Neoclassic.
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Magazines Thompson’s work in magazines spanned from Westvaco inspirations to the Smithsonian, Progressive Architecture, Mademoiselle, Art News and others. He was consistently involved with magazines, being involved with at least two at a time since WWI.
“ Appropriateness is the key to Brad Thompson’s system.”
Smithsonian. 1967.
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Art News Annual. 1964.
Mademoiselle. March 1950.
25 Progressive Architecture. November 1976.
Mademoiselle. February 1950.
Washburn College Bible Some consider the Washburn College Bible as the summa of Thompson’s work. Thompson worked with designer Jan Tschichold in deciding on a font for the text, eventually using a font Tschichold designed. Thompson combined modern abstract designs, classic images, typographic explorations and classic styles. The original project separated the Bible into three parts, but was later condensed for ease of production.
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Washburn Bible.
Washburn Bible.
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sources “Bradbury Thompson.” ADC • Global Awards & Club. ADC, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. <http://adcglobal.org/hall-of-fame/ bradbury-thompson/>. “Bradbury Thompson.” Graphic Design Archive. RIT Libraries, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015. <http://library.rit.edu/gda/designer/ bradbury-thompson>. Gelder, Lawrence Van. “J. Bradbury Thompson Dies; Designer and Art Director, 84.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 03 Nov. 1995. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nytimes. com/1995/11/04/arts/j-bradbury-thompson-dies-designer-andart-director-84.html>. Thompson, Bradbury. The Art of Graphic Design. New Haven: 29 Yale UP, 1988. Print.