Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires & Riots: California and Graphic Design, 1936-1986

Beautiful book! Unfortunate that I received a copy that has trimming errors in multiple consecutive pages.

I love Everything about this book

This book is a spectacular tour through the various designers and innovations that came out of California in a fifty year spread across the middle of the last century. Looking and reading through it, I'm not sure which part is better: the discussions of the designers, or having all this material in one place.Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires & Riots just became one of my favorite references.

When I heard “California graphic design,” the first things that came to mind were the rock concert posters, with psychedelic colors and art nouveau letters. That style comes later in the book, obviously, because no book on California can be complete without the 60’s and the hippie phenomena. Back in 2008, there was an exhibit at the Whitney Museum in NYC on hippie art and culture, and while it did have a vast collection of wacky far out collection, it left out the origin. How exactly did this off-color style begin?California seems to have started late with publishing, so whatever graphic design it generated would’ve come in late too. Take the early 1920’s, for instance; New York City and Chicago were the place for music, theater, literature, and radical ideas, so these cities had a big commercial art industry. California, on the other hand, was nothing like New York or Chicago. Even after Hollywood came in, the state wasn’t known for printing or publishing. But it seems like California’s style of graphics have a lot to do with Disneyland and travel. The posters for 1950’s Disneyland use blocks of color and simple letters, not much shading or depth. Rich details probably weren’t required.The hippie graphics may have had to do with California being far from the conservative East. With no example to follow, the artists could come into their own with the underground comics movement. One example is Victor Moscoso, a classically trained artist from the east coast, who became a commercial artist in California in the 60’s. He combined art nouveau letters with mismatched colors, eliminating the need for dayglow inks. Since these were usually for rock bands, there were fewer constraints and you could let your imagination run wild.The examples are extensive, with lots of samples from newspaper, magazines, and books of the period. The style fades in the 80’s, as the state’s publishing sector increased and competed more with New York.

This book is beautiful. It's one of those books you should judge by the cover, because the inside is splashed with bright colors and poignant designs. Also a quarter of it is devoted to the birth of motion graphics! Recommend 10/10

This book is so amazing—hearty, enthusiastic thumbs WAAAAY up!!