Communication and Design Arts: Visual Communication Design

1995 to Present

The Ad*Access Project, funded by the Duke Endowment "Library 2000" Fund, presents images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955.

"Thousands of television commercials created or collected by the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) advertising agency, dated 1950s - 1980s."

"The AIGA Design Archives is a vital record of all disciplines of communication design." Includes graphics, book covers, illustrations, etc. Includes search by color function.

The self-proclaimed "First Newspaper on the Internet," artdaily.com was founded in 1996, a year after its sister publication Museos was published in print and online. While the publication focuses on a wide range of arts — from architecture to digital arts — its strong suit is daily international art news and its own special reports. The site also offers some fun features, including 360-degree images of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and the Prado in Madrid; almost thirty 3D images of famous architectural jewels, including the Empire State Building, Stonehenge, the Coliseum in Rome, and the Sphinx; a weekly art puzzle; and comments and feedback from readers around the world.

Includes typographic and design examples.

Covers a variety of design topics and includes critical articles, essays, podcasts and interviews of and by international designers and others involved in the design field.

Founded in 1979 as part of the Dada Archive and Research Center, the International Dada Archive is a scholarly resource for the study of the historic Dada movement. A comprehensive collection of documentation and scholarship relating to Dada, the International Dada Archive is made up of works by and about the Dadaists including books, articles, microfilmed manuscript collections, videorecordings, sound recordings, and computer files.

Open Culture: Art explores cultural and educational media (podcasts, videos, online courses, etc.) that’s freely available on the web, and that makes learning dynamic, productive, and fun. We sift through all the media, highlight the good and jettison the bad, and centralize it in one place.

"...where creative people gather to inspire and build design dialogue."

Smarthistory.org is a free multi-media web-book designed as a dynamic enhancement (or even substitute) for the traditional art history textbook.

Browse over 100,000 vintage advertisements. Includes propaganda art, military posters, leaflets and flyers, comics, etc.

A very useful Javascript tool for developing a suite of colors that “play well together.”

Blog includes information on type history, making fonts, articles and links related to typography. Sponsored by Fonts by Hoefler & Co.

Color palette tool.

"The world's largest resource for symbols, signs and flags."

Search the historical digitized photograph archives at the Library of Congress.

The Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative of the ATLA and ATS is a repository of digital resources contributed by member libraries...The CDRI database provides access to digital images of woodcuts, photographs, slides, papyri, coins, maps, postcards, manuscripts, lithographs, sermons, shape-note tune books, and various forms of Christian art, architecture, and iconography.

"Find content you can share, use and remix."

"Free images for creatives, by creatives
A post production file, over 350,000 free stock photos for commercial use."

Includes National Geographic Photo of the Day archives and many other photographs from around the world.

"This site is a living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more."

Free art and design images for education. "VADS provides a considerable portfolio of visual art collections comprising over 140,000 images that are freely available and copyright cleared for use in learning, teaching and research in the UK."

Our mission is to empower artists with the techniques, knowledge, ideas and inspirations that help ignite their visions and bring them to life. We put those possibilities in your hands through compelling print publications, online media, video education and real-time experiences.

The American Printing History Association encourages the study of printing history and its related arts and skills, including calligraphy, typefounding, typography, papermaking, bookbinding, illustration, and publishing. APHA is especially, but by no means exclusively, interested in American printing history.

The College Art Association promotes excellent scholarship and teaching in the history and criticism of the visual arts, and creativity and technical skill in the teaching and practice of art. It also honors the highest ethical standards in the conduct of the profession.

The Indiana Arts Commission is a government agency that advocates arts development opportunities across the state, and stewards effective use of public and private resources for the arts. It stimulates public interest in, and participation with, Indiana's diverse arts resources and cultural heritage. The Arts Commission works to enhance public awareness of the arts, life-long learning opportunities, and arts education programs.

The Industrial Designers Society of America is the world's oldest, largest, member-driven society for product design, industrial design, interaction design, human factors, ergonomics, design research, design management, universal design and related design fields.

The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector.

The Musée du Louvre houses 35,000 works of art drawn from eight departments, displayed in over 60,000 square meters of exhibition space dedicated to the permanent collections. Explore the works on display, taking a thematic or cross-departmental approach.

The National Museum of American Illustration (NMAI) was founded in 1998 by Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence Cutler to house their art collection primarily from the 'Golden Age of Illustration" but comparing and exhibiting illustration from all periods, styles, and venues. The Museum’s American Imagist Collection features masterpieces of illustrative art and is the largest such collection in the world. Illustrators combine personal expression with pictorial representation in order to convey ideas.

The only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to recognizing the contributions of women artists.

The Vatican has acquired a remarkably rich collection of historically and aesthetically valuable objects: Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescos and rooms full of Raphael paintings, of course; but also Egyptian, Etruscan, and major "ethnological" pieces as well. This Web site offers easy and attractive access to these collections through informative texts and thoughtfully chosen coordinated images.