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Back when surfing was just beginning to catch fire in southern California and elsewhere, there was an intrepid band of film producers from this region (themselves legendary surfers, like Greg Noll) who were contributing to the sport’s popularity by making a series of films that documented the first big wave riders and their assault on Oahu’s fabled North Shore.

Complimenting this furious output of homegrown moviemaking was a series of film posters that more than anything else serve as a time capsule to the early days of  surfing and the artistic sensibilities that surrounded our culture at that time.

The posters in many instances have a common type usage and format similar to the popular film posters of graphic designer Saul Bass but begin to play off in wildly imaginitive tangents, each one a small document to the heady days of the burgeoning surf scene.

The films themselves had their world premieres in locales such as the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and Van Nuys High School. The venues may not seem that impressive in comparison to their Hollywood counterparts, but these locations, these movies and these incredible posters all played a seminal role in influencing generations of young surfers and skaters – such as the legendary Z Boys of Dogtown – creating a youth culture phenomenon that continues to this day.

Trompe l’oeil (trick of the eye) artist John Pugh is a native Californian whose deceptive murals decorate walls from Honalulu to Hayward, CA.

Pugh has brought the structure of an architect, the intellectual vision of a scholar, the humor of a comedian, and the narrative ability of a master storyteller to his craft. His murals cleverly fool the viewer into seeing a modern facade’s broken wall revealing Greek columns or a bull grazing in front of an unfinished mural. But his art also captures the imagination and engages the mind. “Once captivated by the deception,” he says, “the viewer is lured into crossing an artistic threshold and is seduced into exploring the concept of the piece.”

If only New York had his talents for the subway cars of the seventies…

Amazing how some methods of visual communication during world crises never seem to lose their shelf life. This article from the Guardian comments on the resurrection of a British WW II propaganda poster which was never really displayed to the general public. It was designed for use and distribution in the dire event that England was invaded.

The simplicity of the design and the caption seem perfectly suited to today’s world crises and the poster has become a national sensation in England.

I found this packaging from Newton Running on creativity-online.com. Really embraces the whole green concept, and the box can be reused for other storage purposes (action figures anyone?).