It’s great to be inspired from by-gone eras. From clever concepts to layout and colours, looking back in time and gleaning these graphical gems can be profitable for any creative person especially a graphic designer. Welcome to the Time Machine part 1!
Today we go back in time to the Victorians. The Victorian era marked the height of the British Industrial Revolution. During the era historic styles and cross-cultural influences were revived which is why Victorian architecture, crafts and graphic design are so interesting. Also the Victorian era sparked a massive increase in regards to printing and although limited in comparison to today’s standards – with the explosion of personal computers, home printers, printer ink cartridges, and desktop publishing programs - it’s extremely fresh. The Victorians were the first “graphic designers”, but even they were influenced from by-gone times.
Here is a collection of examples of Victorian graphic design:
We love the simplicity and the literal depictions. Also the cleanness and innocence of it all compared to the world we live in today. The typography is especially interesting.
So – be inspired and if you have a suggestion or comments use the comment form below…
Disclaimer: We are not attempting to take any credit for the above work – we have had nothing to do with any of the designs shown. If you have any questions regarding this please contact us.
March 28th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
I absolutely love these old advertisements. This is probably a dumb question but I am asking it anyway, you actually made these yourself with some sort of graphics software right. They look so authentic. They would even look good framed as art. What do you do with them
September 4th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Thanks a lot, this is an ace resource!
Really interesting, doing a project in a victorian style at the moment, never worked that way before. Good fun. Thanks.
November 28th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
This is highly fascinating!
I have a project to do and have decided to do it based on the Victorian style so this was very inspiring! Thanks!
December 9th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Totally inspiring…
I found an ace i could keep…
Thank you!!
December 9th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
is there an actual website were these prints can be bought online,,or even framed.
August 2nd, 2009 at 8:14 am
hey i’m doing victorian design for a project too, thank you soooo much for this wonderful, wonderful resource.
mark, you might want to look here, they have copyright-free vintage art: Vintage Printable.