Iconic Advertisements + Inspiration from 1950’s LIFE Magazine

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Looking for graphic design inspiration in thrift stores and old book stores is one of my favorite things to do. I instantly look for the photography/art section and start digging for anything that looks cool. A lot of the books that I have, I actually read from a visual perspective…. The whole ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’ thing, but it’s the exact opposite. I only judge the book by it’s cover and a skim through – if it looks cool enough (and it doesn’t cost me too much), then I buy it so that I can analyze it from a graphic design perspective when I get home.

The last time I was in Chicago, I stopped by one of my all-time favorite thrift stores, Kokoroko, mainly to wreak havoc on the clothing racks for old t-shirts, but when I stumbled on their crates / piles of books I was amazed to find some old LIFE Magazines, some really cool vintage tv magazines, and even a few other gems.

I got home and had some many design ideas once I started looking through all the magazines and books that I got, and I knew I needed to share this with someone else. The advertisements, the typography, the design of everything – we all need to learn from it, which is why I’ve scanned some of my favorite designs/graphics, advertisements, and textures!



We hope that you enjoyed this round-up of iconic LIFE Magazine advertisements as much as we do! Looking through these rare old designs and graphics has me super inspired to try something different in my work and I hope that you were able to learn from this as much as we are.

Whenever you’re feeling like you need some more inspiration, refer to some of these ads and you’ll be refreshed in no time!

LIFE Magazine is, and will forever always be, iconic. All credit goes to LIFE Magazine and their partners.


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