Nice sample of your father’s work that highlights his talent in creating many iconic designs. Thanks for sharing.
Package Design Starting in the Fifties
- Thread starter jpmcwjr
- Start date
The whole era of music CD's passed without having a practical easily opened CD "jewelry" box. In order to prevent theft (apparently) they used impenetrable uncooperative tapes and cellophanes, and then added little opening blades that didn't work very well. Meantime, the whole CD technology and market disappeared from view and now isn't even as popular as vinyl disks. And they still don't open easily. They're the poster children for poor packaging.
I think Blue Tooth and similar music technology is terrible, but maybe that's my technology ineptitude. I think you had to have grown up digital and with video games to make this equipment work, to attain that mindset.
To me, it's a wall of exasperation, irritation, and bother. I didn't meet digital until I was in my forties, and had a poor introduction in the work place, and later at home, aversion therapy in effect.
I think Blue Tooth and similar music technology is terrible, but maybe that's my technology ineptitude. I think you had to have grown up digital and with video games to make this equipment work, to attain that mindset.
To me, it's a wall of exasperation, irritation, and bother. I didn't meet digital until I was in my forties, and had a poor introduction in the work place, and later at home, aversion therapy in effect.
Very cool thread and souvenirs from your father.
Thanks for posting that!
Thanks for posting that!
I am forever grateful we have reached a good spot in digital media. As a kid, I did my own splicing, and cutting of reel-to-reel tape recorders. Then cassettes, then cassettes with Dolby. (Somehow I missed 8 track at least as far as owning any). Video tapes, poor Betamax! VHS sucked. CD's, laser discs, DVD's, Blu-ray.
Finally! No more storage or labelling of physical media. No difficult upgrades.
BlueTooth? It started very low fidelity, but I believe it's way up there now. In my car, moving, I cannot tell the difference between hi-q MP3's and how they sound via Blue Tooth.
I'm not sure if this was an annual report or just a spiral bound brochure my Dad did for Sun Chemical. It mentions the company being founded in 1961 inside—this likely precedes their transformation into Pantone, which emerged in 1963.
This brochure made me think of @hoosierpipeguy . After you open the cover, it shows a golf club head on the left hand page; when you open the foldout, it reveals the full club across the tri-fold.
My Dad did a ton of work for Pfizer. Since they've been in the news the last couple of years, I thought it would make sense to share this. Below is a hand painted dummy/mock up of a Pfizer package and the printed version of a larger version.
Below are Annual Reports for Conair, BIC, and General Electric:
The psychedelic advertising flyer below is for KORD Color Prints in New York—they printed postcards, flyers, display cards, brochures, etc. I remember my father hand painting the lettering on the photograph of the woman in his studio in the basement of our house.
Below is a hand drawn marker comp for an accordion fold brochure featuring some spirits some of you may recognize:
I looked for the album cover slicks in my flat file cabinets, but, didn't come across them. I'll continue to look.
This brochure made me think of @hoosierpipeguy . After you open the cover, it shows a golf club head on the left hand page; when you open the foldout, it reveals the full club across the tri-fold.
My Dad did a ton of work for Pfizer. Since they've been in the news the last couple of years, I thought it would make sense to share this. Below is a hand painted dummy/mock up of a Pfizer package and the printed version of a larger version.
Below are Annual Reports for Conair, BIC, and General Electric:
The psychedelic advertising flyer below is for KORD Color Prints in New York—they printed postcards, flyers, display cards, brochures, etc. I remember my father hand painting the lettering on the photograph of the woman in his studio in the basement of our house.
Below is a hand drawn marker comp for an accordion fold brochure featuring some spirits some of you may recognize:
I looked for the album cover slicks in my flat file cabinets, but, didn't come across them. I'll continue to look.
Attachments
We recently bought a 750 ml bottle of Clan MacGregor for $8.99 to "age" in a Paglione Oak Bottle. It was surprisingly smooth and better than we expected in its unadulterated state, especially considering its price. The folder below is pretty nifty design—it has a pull tab inside that drags a bottle of the whisky across a die cut window.
I always loved the soap box below. It seems like something out of a Warner Bros. cartoon:
Below are handmade dummies/mock ups for Mennen, Clairol, and Vitabath.
Got dandruff?
Some candy and what you'd need after eating it.
I always loved the soap box below. It seems like something out of a Warner Bros. cartoon:
Below are handmade dummies/mock ups for Mennen, Clairol, and Vitabath.
Got dandruff?
Some candy and what you'd need after eating it.
Attachments
Quite awhile back, I promised to share some record jacket artwork that my father did in the ’50s. I recently moved everything out of the storage unit in Long Island, New York, to our house in Pennsylvania. One of the many, many, boxes we hauled back over the last few months contained a bunch of record related material that my father designed. I thought you might enjoy seeing a two-sided display he worked on for a Howdy Doody record player and two mechanicals for some two colour record jackets (one plate represents a plate for one colour and the other for black).
There are many jackets he worked on in the box, but the ones below have his name typeset (Mon G. Wong) or in the case of the Bach: The St. Matthew Passion, signed (M.G. Wong) which means he also did the drawings, too.
There are some bigger label jackets (London) that I’m pretty sure he worked on, but did not do the illustrations, so I’m just sharing the ones I can say were 100% his.
There are many jackets he worked on in the box, but the ones below have his name typeset (Mon G. Wong) or in the case of the Bach: The St. Matthew Passion, signed (M.G. Wong) which means he also did the drawings, too.
There are some bigger label jackets (London) that I’m pretty sure he worked on, but did not do the illustrations, so I’m just sharing the ones I can say were 100% his.
Ah, it runs in the family!
Thanks for posting those works of art.
Thanks for posting those works of art.
Fantastic stuff - I'd totally let him do the artwork on a cover of mine.
Is he still with us?
Edit: I'm guessing that's a long shot.
What an incredible career! He worked on such iconic brands. It's awesome you have such a collection of his work. It's a museum quality collection IMO.
Beautiful work and some evocative of that era! Thanks for sharing.
That’s a wonderful thought, but he passed away in 2002.
I feel lucky to have what I do. Unfortunately, a lot of stuff was lost in the late ’60s in a flood. There could’ve been a greater record of his work extant had things not gotten damaged. A friend of mine wanted to write an article about my father for the AIGA, but my father refused—he didn’t want to make waves for people who had already claimed credit for work he had done. His feeling was it was the past, why stir up things? But, he knew what he did and created. He was a humble immigrant with a thick accent working in a time when this country was fearful of foreigners; there were business people who took advantage back then. My friend was disappointed my father didn’t want to participate because this was an era that is not well documented—appropriate credit was not given to creators like we see today, just the ad exec in charge of the account, or the agency of record.
Thanks for looking and commenting!
Wow, your Dad created brand looks, that were a big part of the image of America. 
I remember the look of many of these old brands, I’d say were a part of my life, so cool, thanks for sharing @TheIronMonkey
I remember the look of many of these old brands, I’d say were a part of my life, so cool, thanks for sharing @TheIronMonkey
I just stumbled across this thread. Commercial art from that era is fascinating to me. Your dad did some really cool work. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! Thanks for sharing that! A very moving tribute to your father and your relationship, not to mention wonderful memories that you have of your time with him. Sometimes our fathers don't realize what an impact they have on our lives. My father is still alive, but I know he would be surprised at the memories I have of him when I was a kid; the little daily things, the things I'm sure he doesn't even remember - like your remembering the pipe tobacco he was smoking and all the memories that that brings up. But those are the things that stay deep with us. And I'm glad they do!
And that's not even mentioning what an amazing talent your father was! Some others mentioned - iconic work - I would definitely agree with that. Wow! I'm sure you're very proud of him. Thank you for sharing - especially the personal asides and memories that go with it - like remembering him drawing the psychedelic lettering.
And that's not even mentioning what an amazing talent your father was! Some others mentioned - iconic work - I would definitely agree with that. Wow! I'm sure you're very proud of him. Thank you for sharing - especially the personal asides and memories that go with it - like remembering him drawing the psychedelic lettering.
Thank you for taking the time to look. I am very proud of him. He (and my mother) worked very hard to keep a roof over our heads. They were hard working immigrants and made it possible for us to flourish here. I hope to do a graphic novel about how both my parents came to America and my growing up between cultures—not Chinese enough to fit into the Chinese community and having yellow skin (which kind of equates to not being white enough) to truly fit into America. The story involves murder, swapping identities, WWII, love and sacrifice. I've ruminated for years on how I want to do it, but it's very daunting because I want it to be truly special. Wanting it to be perfect has crippled me in some ways; fear of failure factors in because I have this expectation of what I know I could do and how great it could and needs to be.
Thank You for posting your Fathers work, His art rekindled many forgotten memories.