Hasta La Ideas

The book publishing industry may be shifting tectonically and perhaps irrevocably as we speak, but, as with vinyl, the cover endures as a canonical canvas for graphic design. The follow-worthy Casual Optimist recently brought a series of Gunter Rambow‘s amazing book-centric posters to our attention. Designed for the S. Fischer Verlag publishing house in the 70’s, these graphics exemplify the light touch required to pull off visual self-reference. These book posters tread between clean forms and surrealist art, walking the delicate line of sight gags without crossing into the crap zone.

Magritte would be proud…

It should go without saying that Rambow created these works of art before the advent of Photoshop and its epiphenomenal ‘bombardment,’ though it’s worth noting that the clever visual puns still hold up today.

…as would M.C. Escher.

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