You don't see a lot of airbrushing anymore. These days everything is Photoshopped to perfection; tools automatically adjusting the placing of images to ensure a graphic that is pleasing to the eye.
30 years ago, man discovered the airbrush, and for a while there was scarcely a book, album, video game or magazine cover which didn't feature the stumbling first efforts of graphic designers to get to grips with this new technology. You know: like a caveman accidentally inventing the wheel, and initially using it as a serving tray at dinner parties.
Some of the worst airbrush art of the era could be found on the covers of Practical Computing - a dull periodical. Here's a gallery.
30 years ago, man discovered the airbrush, and for a while there was scarcely a book, album, video game or magazine cover which didn't feature the stumbling first efforts of graphic designers to get to grips with this new technology. You know: like a caveman accidentally inventing the wheel, and initially using it as a serving tray at dinner parties.
Some of the worst airbrush art of the era could be found on the covers of Practical Computing - a dull periodical. Here's a gallery.
MICRO BOOM
Growing up in the 1980s, you were never less than five minutes away from reading/hearing that we were all about to die in a nuclear war. Not even Practical Computing was immune to the fear-mongering. Observe this mid-apocalyptic cover which - other than bluntly reinforcing the fragility of the Cold War geo-political situation - doesn't work on any level whatsoever.
Look at the cack-fisted way the computer is sort of superimposed on the mushroom cloud. It's like a terrible prog rock album cover by a band with a name like Persephone's Follicle, or Bilbo's Sternum, or Moonhormone.
Look at the cack-fisted way the computer is sort of superimposed on the mushroom cloud. It's like a terrible prog rock album cover by a band with a name like Persephone's Follicle, or Bilbo's Sternum, or Moonhormone.
SPECIAL ISSUE!
Why is it a special issue? Because there's a 'phant on the cover, and it has floppy disks for ears, brah!
It makes a certain degree of sense; 'phants "never forget", and presumably the message they're trying to convey is that floppy disks will never forget your data, unless you put a magnet near them. Has anyone ever put a big magnet near an elephant to see if it gets amnesia? This must be done.
Really, with that sort of enquiring thinking I should've been a scientist, except for the fact that I vomit with anxiety whenever I see a sum.
Regardless, none of this particularly helps to explain why the 'phant is green.
It makes a certain degree of sense; 'phants "never forget", and presumably the message they're trying to convey is that floppy disks will never forget your data, unless you put a magnet near them. Has anyone ever put a big magnet near an elephant to see if it gets amnesia? This must be done.
Really, with that sort of enquiring thinking I should've been a scientist, except for the fact that I vomit with anxiety whenever I see a sum.
Regardless, none of this particularly helps to explain why the 'phant is green.
PUB STOCK CONTROL
Another of Practical Computing's trademark make-it-look-like-a-computer-and-to-hell-with-whether-that-works-or-not covers. So, here we have a sort of pub/computer monitor hybrid, with a patron of the boozer sat at a microchip table.
One of the biggest issues here is the tree in front of the pub, which - upon first glance - makes it look as if the establishment is cracking apart. Also: the corn-on-the-cob keyboard.
One of the biggest issues here is the tree in front of the pub, which - upon first glance - makes it look as if the establishment is cracking apart. Also: the corn-on-the-cob keyboard.
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?
It's hard to know how this relates to the contents of the magazine, and it's not very good, but it's still better than most of the examples in this gallery. However, what's with the feller bottom left? What's his problem exactly?
Alright, mate. Chill out, yeah?
Alright, mate. Chill out, yeah?
RISE OF THE COWBOYS
Behold a gurning cowboy wearing a penis hat. No messing about; this is one of the most unattractive pieces of art ever created.
PERSONAL MONEY MANAGEMENT
From the most unattractive cover to the most boring. Was there any reason this couldn't have been a photograph, and save someone a couple of hours' work? I mean, what was the brief: "I dunno... two people standing in their kitchen, and a boy begging, and put a computer in there or something... oh just do what you want - I'm leaving next week anyway"?
THE CHILE EXPERIMENT
What was The Chile Experiment? This bizarre, Python-esque cover isn't giving anything away. Maybe an experiment to see if the giant ghost of Charles Darwin can use a computer to point at things in South America?
HEALTH
Good graphic design is about images which are understood immediately. This took me half a dozen attempts before I could work out what's going on. Part of the issue was the fact that the person (I presume it's a person) on the receiving end of the robot doctor's examination has about three times the normal number of teeth.
CHIPS
Do you see what they did there? Fish... and chips!!! Except fish and chips fish is usually battered, and this fish doesn't even look as if it has been gutted let alone cooked, thereby making it appear to be the final meal of a doomed psychopath. Oh, and nice quilted placemat, looooserrrrrrrr!
BABY'S FIRST BYTE
A woman feeds a baby a floppy disk. 'Nuff said.
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