Minimalissimo

In 1971, graphic design firm Chermayeff & Geismar made these beautiful posters for Pan Am World Airways.

It’s interesting to see how the designers have been able to create the desired effect with just one image. The MoMA site says it beautifully:

… Cultural fantasies and ideals are projected through monumental imagery, presenting people and environments as distant objects of beauty.

All images courtesy of Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives.

 

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  1. minor keys

    Wow, I really love these. My favorites are USA, Argentina and Portugal. Definitely look like they’re from 1971; I own many old National Geographics from the 70s and they reminded me of travel ads from them.

  2. matthew

    Fantastic posters! I love the look and feel of the US and Argentina posters. Thanks for sharing.

  3. up_today_arch

    honesty not so minimal:)))…. but very nice to see:)………… minimal aproach in nature images is something very dificult subject I think…

  4. Derek

    Very nice, and I would argue these are very minimal.

    Using one picture to try and depict the feeling of a whole country is a difficult task without being too general or cliched (I would think anyway). I say they’ve done an excellent job.

  5. Robin Lundgren

    Three elements; brand name, picture of destination and the name of the destination. No need to convince people with a slogan or a short text about the destinations awesomeness, the picture in each poster says it all.
    Very minimal indeed.

  6. Emily Lorene

    Brilliant! People don’t want to go somewhere because of brightly colored pamphlets talking about tourist attractions.