May 1986 Signs of the Times Celebrates 80 Years and New Designer

Circle of History

IN CELEBRATION OF the magazine’s 80th anniversary, Signs of the Times’ May 1986 issue came with another logo change, a scrapbook-style cover comprising cutouts of past covers, and a concise overview of how the sign industry had progressed up to that point. The covers form a jagged circle interspersed with the years in which they were published — 1906, 1913, 1918, 1926, 1930, 1937, 1952 and a sudden jump to 1985 — while a constellation of print and plastic stars, crescent moon, leaf and bird complete the scrappy aesthetics. See complete issues of Signs of the Times dating from 1906 to 1921 at signsofthetimes.com/archive.

• Portrait of the Artist
  Slotted next to the sign industry retrospective is a profile on Magno Relojo, Jr., the magazine’s new art director who was responsible for the issue’s facelift, from the logo to layout. Growing up in the Philippines during a time of great poverty and turbulence, Relojo made his first artistic mark designing logos for gang jackets, then attended architectural school and earned a B.A. in Fine Arts. His father helped him emigrate to the US in 1973, and he spent his first few years in New York working for Norcross Greeting Cards. He moved to Cincinnati in 1979 where, in search of better job security, he snatched up ST’s offer.