Categories: DesignNews

Sign Adjacent

With spring in the air and most everyone either tending a garden or mowing a lawn, it’s a great time to revisit, and pay tribute to, vintage produce labels. These collectible pieces of Americana helped inform, and were informed by, much of the signage of the era.
Notice the gorgeous, hand-drawn typefaces, the first-rate artwork and the distinct motifs that literally started this country’s branding revolution. As is true for signage, much of this wonderful artwork is taken for granted. If not for collectors and aficionados, much of it would be lost forever.
Springtime is a season of rebirth and renewal, and, in that vein, let’s enjoy these long-lost labels as perhaps signage’s second-cousins. Enjoy!

Jeff Russ

Jeff Russ is a content studio manager for SmartWork Media and was the senior art director of Signs of the Times from 1996-2021. A graphic designer and illustrator with an interest in sign design and sign history, Jeff documents important, interesting and notable design trends in the sign industry as a contributor to Signs of the Times. He has written dozens of features for Signs, and his column, Design Matters, was published for more than a decade.