Brushes with History
The 66th Quarterly Limited Edition from Field Notes, for the Spring of 2025 is “The Chicago Look,” Edition which explores a chapter of American design and typographic history through the lens of a single, highly influential — and sadly now-defunct — enterprise.
The Beverly Sign Co. put Chicago at the centre of the mid-century sign-painting map with its “panelised” compositions, novel typographic treatments, and bold colours. This style came to be known as “The Chicago Look.”
Chicago’s own Heart & Bone Signs, with collaborator Bob Behounek, have created two covers in the style of Beverly’s pencil sketches, featuring the original mock-ups’ distinctive diagonal “strike-thru” indicating the colours of the signs to the clients and the sign-painters (known as “Wall Dogs”).
These note books are a completely new size; a handy 6" × 8." The 64 pages are graph-ruled in “Non-Repro Blue,” a particular shade that is still used in the graphic arts industry to be easily removed from photostats or scans of black-and-white artwork. As usual, the inside covers are full of historical information, illustrations, and wise-cracking.
Specifications:
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Cover art by Heart & Bone Signs, Chicago, Ill. (chicagosignpainters.com) in collaboration with Bob Behounek.
- Printed by the good people of The Graphic Arts Studio, LLC, Barrington, Ill.
- Cover: Westrock Tango C1S 16pt “White,” with a thick, brute force 4-color application of process-color soy-based Superior inks.
- Innards: Domtar Lynx Opaque 60#T “White,” with a fine, 1-colour application of “Non-Repro Blue” soy-based Superior ink.
- Cover and innards printed on a Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102S six-colour printing press.
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Corners precisely rounded to a 3/8" (9.5mm) radius with a Challenge DCM double round-corner machine.
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Graph grid: 3/16" × 3/16" (4.7mm × 4.7mm).
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Note Book dimensions are 6" × 8" (152.6mm × 203.2mm).
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FIELD NOTES uses only the Futura typeface family (Paul Renner, 1927), in collaboration with Monotype.
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All FIELD NOTES note books and memo books are printed and manufactured in the U.S.A.
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Bound with a Muller Martini 6-pocket saddle stitcher with cover feeder/scorer.
