We love vintage here at The Resource Exchange and even better we love vintage with a story! These vintage graphic design essentials now have a chance to be put to good use as a part of your modern graphic design and not to waste.

Whether you’re new to graphic design or a seasoned pro, it is always fun to visit the origins of any craft. Forty years ago, a graphic design degree was a much more hands on experience and a course called Paste-Up was required of every student. A process that involved working with Exacto knives, layout boards, and a rubber cement. It could be tedious and literally painful. Rubber cement was a mess, not to mention toxic, and made it difficult for designers to reposition pieces within their layouts without the use of harmful solvents.

Then came the hand-held waxer, which was a dream and a massive improvement over previous adhering methods. The hand waxer, like the Pyrawaxer Tool we recently received in store, made it possible to remove and reposition on the layout board without the use of toxic thinners. Using gentle heat, the Pyrawaxer melts a cube of wax and applies a thin coating of wax to the back of a piece of paper in a honeycomb pattern.

Lettering sets were another must have tool for early graphic designers for precise typeface. Any designer could achieve uniform vertical and slanted letters using a straightedge, letter template, and adjustable scriber simply by adjusting the angle. These tools are shown in the photo below in our TechGraphic Lettering Set displayed in their vintage case.

There was also Letratype for projects that required more intricate letter templates. Letratype offered a wide range of typefaces on transfer lettering sheets.

Our final picks for the analog graphic designer are Pantone graphic design paper and markers. A company best known for their color matching system and color of the year. Sheets of vintage Pantone paper were only in production from mid 1960’s – 1980’s and can be found here at The Resource Exchange.