CHRONICLE BOOKS: The Push Pin Graphic
The Push Pin Graphic: A Quarter Century of Innovative Design and Illustration Chronicle Books, 2006
The Push Pin Graphic
A Quarter Century of Innovative Design and Illustration
A Quarter Century of Innovative Design and Illustration
by Seymour Chwast, edited by Steven Heller and Martin Venezky
Introduction by Milton Glaser
Chronicle Books, 2006
“The Push Pin Graphic” was my introduction to the pleasures of graphic design. The first copy I came across, Number 72, the “Exploring New Jersey” issue, combined illustration, typography, layout, and writing into a witty, charming whole. I had never seen this kind of tour de force before, and as an impressionable 20-year-old, I sensed this was my calling. In the years since then, the closest I’ve come to rubbing shoulders with the masters was in creating this very book to honor Chwast’s and Glaser’s achievement.
I proposed “The Push Pin Graphic” to Chronicle Books because of my deep affection for the material. Alongside the expertise of Chronicle’s inimitable Alan Rapp, I assembled the team, helped to organize the material, and was responsible for the realization of this first book to fully catalog Push Pin’s signature product.
Not only was there a wealth of great material to sort through, but accounting for all 86 issues of the Push Pin Graphic carried with it a number of challenges. First of all, several of the early issues are extremely rare. For some we could only rescue a single copy jammed in the back of Seymour’s flat files. The earliest copies were printed on newsprint and not meant to be archival, so some literally crumbled in our hands and had to be captured on film before they dissolved completely.
The creative energy of the Push Pin crew immersed itself in a spectacular variety of formats. Sizes and materials changed radically from issue to issue. Unusual paper stock, die cuts, fold-outs, and inserts all kept each issue surprising. It wasn't until 1976, and issue 64, that the magazine format became standardized.
Within this book, I tried to honor the Push Pin ingenuity by tipping in a faithful reprint of issue 54, “The South,” complete with matching stock and die-cut. Further into the volume, I included the fold-out 1977 calendar from issue 65, “The Complete History and Knowledge of the World.”
After all 86 issues were accounted for, I included an Appendix. This was where I was able to show off a number of features that made the magazine extra-special. The Push Pin fellows designed all the ads for their suppliers, and these were as entertaining and vital to the magazine as the rest of the pages. Here we included a gallery of our favorites. We also devoted ten pages to a “Push Pin Miscellany,” compiled by Steven Heller, which illuminated many corners or the vast Push Pin world.
