Graphic Design

If there's a better movie poster designer working today than Midnight Marauder, please let me know. His consistency reminds me of 50s/60s Reid Miles or Hipgnosis in their heyday.

His illustrations, image choices, cropping, and typography are second-to-none. He never seems to make a wrong move.

I first discovered him in 2011 when he had a Tumblr displaying what I considered to be "DVD cover art for films Criterion hasn't released," which I posted about on Metafilter. I'm delighted that he's still at it and designing for Criterion and many others. Extraordinary and consistent work.

You can find more on his websites: Midnight Marauder, Alphaville, and Tony Stella. And here's that Tumblr I mentioned that I first shared on MeFi back in 2011.

Reid Miles?! Hipnosis?!

Blue Note Records has some of the best designed album jackets ever. The Reid Miles-designed covers of the 50s and 60s are particularly stunning and used label co-founder Francis Wolff's photos to great effect.

The label was formed in 1939 and is still operating today. Check out these covers — they're all gorgeous —

A number of them I'd even call iconic (Una Mas, No Room for Squares, Evolution, Smoke Stack, Idle Moments, My Point of View...). Unbelievably, all of the above are from just one year: 1963 — and they're not even all of the '63 covers!

A complete timeline of Blue Note Records album covers is available on the label's website.