This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items from the newly acquired Santo Domingo collection.
The Day-Glo Designer’s Guide offers insights into the way that Day-Glo colors have been used in both art and advertising. Although Day-Glo is common today, the process wasn’t discovered until 1934 by Robert and Joseph Spitzer. While playing around in their fathers’ drug store, they discovered the interesting aspect of some medicines that glowed under black-light. From this initial finding they went on to create the Day-Glo corporation and to manufacture colors that glowed in regular light as well. The Day-Glo-Designer’s Guide gives a helpful background history on the discovery as well as the uses Day-Glo colors were soon put to, both artistically as well as practically.
This book gives stunning examples of both advertisements as well as artwork that utilized the paint. One notable example is Bert Stern’s Marilyn Monroe series, photographs of Monroe that have been silk-screen printed using Day-Glo inks.
Also included are examples of newspaper and magazine ads, music posters and record albums, as well as sales and packaging products.
For those readers who hope to use Day-Glo in their projects there is a section on design tips about getting the most out of fluorescent colors as well as several supplemental color charts in a pocket at the end.
The book The Day-Glo Designer’s Guide ; Cleveland, Oh. : Dayglo Color Corp., c1969. Fine Arts FAL-LC XCAGE NK1548 .D39 1969 F can be found at the Fine Arts Library.
Thanks to Emma Clement, Santo Domingo Library Assistant, for contributing this post.