The Chicago Look | Field Notes

Our 66th Quarterly Limited Edition for the Spring of 2025 is “The Chicago Look,” Edition which explores a chapter of American design and typographic history through the lens of a single, highly influential — and sadly now-defunct — enterprise. The Beverly Sign Co. put Chicago at the center of the mid-century sign-painting map with its “panelized” compositions, novel typographic treatments, and bold colors. This style came to be known as “The Chicago Look.” Watch the film below for lots more about the history and techniques behind the look.  Chicago’s own Heart & Bone Signs, with collaborator Bob Behounek, have created two covers in the style of Beverly’s pencil sketches, featuring the original mock-ups’ distinctive diagonal “strike-thru” indicating the colors of the signs to the clients and the sign-painters (known as “Wall Dogs”). These note books are a new size for us; a handy 6" × 8." The 64 pages are graph-ruled in “Non-Repro Blue,” a particular shade that is still used in the