BooksGraphic Design

Classic '70s design manual brought back to life

Some (non-creative) people might think it's weird, but at Creative Boom, we have a particular love for design manuals. So we're delighted to hear that designers Hamish Smyth and Jesse Reed of New York publishers Standards Manual are planning to reissue the 1977 Graphic Standards System for America's EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) as a hardcover book.

Written By:
Open ring-bound design manual showing coloured horizontal bars with EPA logo repeated in matching colours on the right-hand page

Designed in 1977 by Ivan Chermayeff, Tom Geismar, and Steff Geissbuhler, the manual details a customised system created to unify the federal program’s communications across hundreds of offices. It's a beautiful encapsulation of the role design has played in advancing government programs for the public good.

Now Smyth and Reed two have partnered with The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and design firm Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv to launch a Kickstarter campaign to bring this iconic design book back to physical life.

You can order your copy via Kickstarter now, and a portion of the proceeds of every book sold will go to Earthjustice and AIGA.

Pages of the 1977 EPA Graphic Standards System manual showing repeated logo variations and the word "varia" in different typefaces
A hand pointing at the large EPA logo on an open page of the reissued 1977 EPA Graphic Standards System design manual
EPA logo from the 1977 Graphic Standards System manual, showing bold black geometric letterforms and leaf symbol on cream pages
EPA logo and "Graphic Standards System" title text on the cover of the 1977 design manual
Page from the 1977 EPA Graphic Standards System showing a colour palette guide with numbered sections displaying orange, red, purple, blue, teal, green and brown swatches alongside pattern variations
Page spread from the 1977 EPA Graphic Standards System manual showing various pattern designs and wavy line treatments in black and white
Spreads from the 1977 EPA Graphic Standards System manual showing typography guidelines, typeface samples and specifications for federal communications design standards.
Share

Further Reading