Today, two covers from the Air BP trade journal, thanks to my artist colleague Ian Bott, who said in 2016: “Picked these up at Duxford yesterday: beautifully-designed, inventive and effortlessly-cool BP in-house trade magazines from, I assume, the 1960s. Those must have been the days for a graphic designer.”

As well as the straight ‘art’ and design elements, it’s the very creative angles and use of technically accurate elements (given the audience would be very aware of any approximations on the subjects).

The first, a plan view of a man refuelling with a fuselage, wings and engine to provide the shapes in almost a visual joke the viewer ‘gets’ by seeing the man. The middle handles the US and UK angles of air freight well, with distinctive tails (Boeing 707 on the left, Vickers Viscount on the right, flags to nail home the point) and the last, my favourite, is completely abstract until you realise it’s the shockwave diamonds from the rocket exhaust of the North American X-15 aircraft. It’s an ‘if you know, you’ll know’, a sophisticated magazine talking to a very aware audience. I wonder how they were received at the time?

James Kightly, Vintage Aero Writer.

Thanks to Ian Bott who originally posted them here.