More than often in the last few weeks I came across images of interesting remedies of back in the day. I thought to share a few below. These psychoactive medicines and other products were widely available during the late-19th century through the mid-20th century. I guess in those times, if it is legal and can do the job, why not!

A bottle of Bayer’s ‘Heroin’

The German drug company Bayer named its new over the counter drug “Heroin” in 1895. It was most importantly developed as a morphine substitute for cough suppressants, that did not have morphine’s addictive side-effects.

Vin Mariani (Coca Wine)

As the name goes, Coca Wine was an alcoholic beverage that is wine and cocaine combined. Mariani wine (1875) was the most famous Coca Wine of its time. Apparently Pope Leo XIII used to carry one bottle with him all the time and he awarded Angelo Mariani (the producer) with a Vatican gold medal.

Metcalf’s Coca Wine

Metcalf’s Coca Wine was another cocaine-containing wine available on the market. All claimed medicinal effects, although they were undoubtedly consumed for their sociable value as well.

Maltine with Coca Wine

This coca wine was made by the Maltine Manufacturing Company (New York). The dosage indicated on the back of the bottle reads: “A wine glass full with, or immediately after, meals. Children in proportion.” The malt extract was taken for its health-promoting effects and alcohol, as considered by many, for its medicinal effects.

Cocaine Tablets

Cocaine-containing throat lozenges, “indispensable for singers, teachers, and public speakers“. This box of lozenges is from a Belgium pharmacy (c. 1900). Local pharmacies often bought their drugs in bulk and packaged them for consumers under their own labels. Sure thing for maximum performance!

Cocaine Toothache Drops

The design of the packaging, from around 1885, indicates that it was not just popular with adults, but kids was the target market too. They required no prescription and was indeed “For sale by all druggists”.

A paper weight

This paperweight is an advertisement for C.F. Boehringer & Soehne (Mannheim, Germany); largest makers in the world of quinine and cocaine. This chemical manufacturer was proud of its leading position in the world’s cocaine market.

Opium for Asthma

The National Vaporizer Vapor-OL (opium) Treatment no. 6 was a cure for asthma. The liquid went into a small metal dish on a kerosene lamp that is heated. It was basically a way of smoking opium.

Stickney and Poor’s Pure Paregoric

Stickney & Poor Spice Company’s main trade was mustard. But they also had other items on their list, for example Paregoric syrup. It consist of camphorated 46% alcohol with 1.8 grains opium (117 mg) per fluid ounce (equivalent to around 11.7 mg morphine). Doses for infants, children and adults are given on the back of the bottle. Perfect recipe to knock anyone out that has trouble sleeping!

Interesting how we moved from all of that to Herbal Remedies…

A friend of mine, that lives and works in Kazakhstan for the last few years, came to visit the UK. Catching up, we somehow start looking at Kazakhstan money notes. I was intrigued by the graphics on the notes and a few drinks later I had one of each in my hand for a closer study.

A bit of history

After Kazakhstan became independent, they chose to still rely on the Russian ruble. Kazakhstan was not really in the position to introduce their own currency, but also did not like the decisions by the Russian financial authorities. In summer 1992, Russia made the ruble a fully convertible currency. After the ruble became tradable on the international market, it lost a lot of value immediately (falling from 130 to over 450 rubles to the U.S. dollar). This caused a movement of huge amounts of old rubles to post-Soviet countries, particularly Kazakhstan, where the ruble was still the only legal currency. This lead to Kazakhstan’s money to quadrupled in just a few months. In November 1993, Kazakhstan introduced the tenge (Kazakh: теңге, teñge), their own new national currency at a rate of 1 tenge = 500 rubles.

Below is the first version of the tenge:

Latest banknotes

In 2006 the National Bank of Kazakhstan issued a new exotic series of banknotes (200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10 000 tenge) with the same values as the previous ones.

The design on the obverse (front) has a portrait layout with the denomination written in Kazakh. The obverse all have the same design. The only difference are the size, colours, values (…obviously) and shapes and patterns in the background.

The most striking element is the handprint. In the hand is the signature of president Nazarbayev with fragments of the national anthem. Also, clearly noticeable at the first glimpse, is the Astana Bayterek monument/observation tower. Astana is the capital of Kazakhstan and the monument symbolises this status. It is also meant to embody a folktale about a mythical tree of life with a ‘gold egg’ that was laid by the magic bird of happiness, Samruk. Close to the top of the note is the blue and yellow national flag of Kazakhstan. More towards the middle is the Coat of Arms.

The reverse of the notes are all different with the value written in Russian. One striking element they do all have in common is the outline of Kazakhstan’s border. Inside the outline map each note has a different geographical ‘view’ and on the outside a unique architectural structure. The name of issuing in Kazakh, the logo of the issuing bank and inscription in Russian stating that counterfeiting banknotes is against the law can also be seen on the back of all of the notes.

200 Tenge (size 126х64 mm)

Outside the outline map is the Transport and Communication Ministry and a winged snow leopard on the bridge over River Ishim. Inside of the outline map is Ministry of Defence and steppes in the background.

500 Tenge (size 130х67 mm)

Outside the outline map is the Ministry of Finance and Akimat (City Hall) of Astana. The inside of the outline map are filled with gulls over the sea in background.

1000 Tenge (size 134х70 mm)

Outside the outline map is the President Culture Center. The inside of the outline map are with mountains in background.

2000 Tenge (size 139х73 mm)

Outside the outline map is the Abai Opera House. The inside of the outline map are with a mountain and lake in background.

5000 Tenge (size 144х76 mm)

Outside the outline map is the Independence Monument. The look of the monument is of great interest to me. It is in the middle of Almaty’s (the capital of Kazakhstan) main square. It is a six-meter figure of the Golden Man* and a winged snow leopard and features the most important periods of Kazakhstan’s history. On the note next to it is the Kazakhstan Hotel. The inside of the outline map are with mountains in background.

10000 Tenge (size 149х79 mm)

Outside the outline map is the Residence Akorda, the official residence of the President. The inside of the outline map are with canyons in background.

Central Bank of Kazakhstan misspells ‘bank’ on money

The first lot of the 2,000 and 5,000 tenge notes, issued in 2006 and printed, had the word ‘bank’ spelled incorrectly. This mistake was not just a spelling problem, but also a political issue. During Soviet times, Kazakhs were encouraged to speak Russian, which is written in Cyrillic script. Since independence in 1991, the country’s own Kazakh language came to use. The Kazakh word for ‘bank’ is “банкі”. On the new note, the word was written with an alternate Cyrillic form of the letter K – “банқі” – which has a slightly different pronunciation.

During the writing of this post, digging into the tenge, I also looked at actual photographs of the architectural structures on the money. Also looking at the different types of mountains on the 1000, 2000, 5000 and the canyons on the 10000 tenge. Kazakhstan has great travel opportunities for an interesting picturesque experience. Something I need to consider at some point for another blog post!

* The Golden Man is an ancient Sacae warrior’s golden costume discovered in the Issyk burial mound near Almaty in 1970; it is now on display in the Central State Museum in Almaty. The snow leopard, according to ancient Kazakh philosophy, guards the Universe. Together, they symbolize the freedom, peace, stability, grand spirit and spiritual unity inherent in the Kazakh people and Kazakh traditions since ancient times. The base of the tower has a group of allegoric sculptures – Mother Heaven and Mother Earth, and two children riding colts, who symbolize the future of Kazakhstan.

A couple of weeks ago the announcement of 8 Faces took the design world by storm. It is a limited edition magazine about typography and design. For the first issue a thousand copies was sold out in 2 hours. It also caught the interest of The Independent, New Statesman, Typedia, Needs/Wants, and PSFK. I was one of the lucky ones to get my hands on a copy.

My first impression, holding the magazine in my hands — a bit smaller than I thought— 21X21cm to be exact. I think the sneak peek from the PDF, viewed from view port to view port on a relatively big monitor, put me under the wrong impression. To justify the excellent overall design and layout I had more along the lines of 25X25cm in mind.

Besides size and the excellent overall design and layout, I love the attention to detail. I received the magazine in decent packaging to avoid any damage in the post with a little 8 Faces sticker on the outside front. It is printed on a heavy uncoated stock. As a huge fan of print finishes, the silver foil blocked title is the cherry on the cake! Oh, last but not least, included is a bookmark (a MOO card) to say ‘thank you for the purchase’. Even though it is the digital age and a lot of people think print is dying, clearly there was a gap in the market for a venture like this.

The concept is an interview with eight leading designers from the fields of web design, print design, illustration and type design. Each interview end with the answer to the question; If you could use just eight typefaces for the rest of your life, which would you choose? The first issue feature interviews with designers Erik Spiekermann, Jessica Hische, Ian Coyle, Jason Santa Maria, Jos Buivenga, Jon Tan and Bruce Willen & Nolen Strals and The League of Movable Type. I guess, not strangely enough, the type designers choose mostly their own fonts.

The editor also hits it on the nail with the articles and interviewees. It ties in well with a few lines out of Jason Santa Maria‘s interview:

What matters is the story that we’re telling: the content. And the design of that content is there to reinforce it – it’s there to help tell that story.

All in all 8 Faces #1, with Loreena McKennitt in the background, completed my Saturday afternoon. It is a great read on great designers touching topics such as lettering, typography and typography on the web today.

On the printing side of things

I read Elliot Jay Stock’s blog post On publishing. He talks about the production process of the magazine, different printing processes and how he decided to go with the digital print option.

For a print run of a thousand copies or higher, I am definitely a fan of lithographic printing. Some of the known issues with digital printing are the dot size, especially when it comes to printing a shade of a colour. Even more so, with gray shapes that is made up of a percentage of black ink only. Even though the quality of digital printers has improved a lot over the last years, lithographic printers are still ahead of the game when it comes to quality. The dot pattern of lithographic printing are a lot finer. This is noticeable in the gray text and lines in the magazine.

The advantage though with this issue printed digitally, was to dynamically number each copy. Even though I am more of a litho printed gray dot fan, for a digital printed magazine it is made really well. Another issue with printing digital is getting the registration spot on. The design of the magazine has a thick stroke that runs horizontal across the page through out the magazine. And through out the magazine it matches up perfectly, including from one spread to another.

From a print point of view it would be interesting the compare the first digital printed issue with the second lithographic printed issue. From an overall magazine point of view, I am looking forward to read the next issue!

I wrote a blog post for Printhouse Corporation about different examples of print finishes.

In this week I had a meeting with a client. Their company has a beautiful designed, working website. But he still has the need to get a brochure/flyer printed. His reason was: When someone receive it, hopefully they will pin it up and see it all the time. Then it should be easy for them to phone us when they require our services.

The great thing about print is, it can result in items that can serve as something useful. A lot of situations still require to hold a beautiful finished off brochure with high quality photos in your hands. Or a special invitaton that someone can open and keep as a reminder of an event. Excellent reasons to spice up the design even more.

Print finishing is a commercial and/or personal value-added process that takes place after printing. Often print finishes are overlooked as an option when designing for print. In my blog post The use of Print Finishes with Design you can read about a few options and to view examples.