Nostalgic Glow is an archival research book a part of the Wonder Type found text project. Handmade typography taking the form of bent Neon signage is examined in the Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada area circa 1950-1980. Letters of the English alphabet are showcased through sampled images appropriated from the University Library Las Vegas digital archives. Typographic anatomy, font pairings, and design compositions are analyzed for each sample, giving a complete record of the diverse signs’ historic and aesethic significance. Nostalgic Glow effectively showcases the splendor and potential of expressive type in many investigations of unique and personable signage. Corporate design decisions and public identities are not as engaging as the casinos, lounges, and hotels found in Nostalgic Glow, a reminder of our ever progressive slide towards minimalism and loss of visual interest. The effects of globalization and the desire for universal recognizability has left modern life an uninteresting desert of repeats. Open Nostalgic Glow for an inspiring remembrance of the beginning of late-stage capitalistic consumption.
About the Author: Tristen Trivett

Tristen Trivett is addicted to design in all forms. Trivett constantly seeks to find the art in everyday life and to challenge the traditionalist mindset. They aim to create shocking works which haunt the consumer into reflection and transformation. As a firm advocate for abolitionist and radical politics, Trivett aims to incite class consciousness through the use and study of Art and Design. Trivett pursues and explores exhibition work, publications, printmaking, photography, philosophy, and nature. An ultimate goal of Trivett’s is to change how the world defines value. What beliefs are in place when we make decisions regarding what is good or bad for our future. How do modern commodities continue to use old systems of exploitation to remain intact? Who’s voices go unheard? How do we dissolve the leeches of the past to ensure a sustainable, free world hereafter? Through systemic rebuilding, we can use contemporary knowledge and design thinking to create a society liberated from currency and obsessive privatization, a new world no longer dragging its feet in the repetitive horrors of the status quo.
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Wander Type: Nostalgic Glow/ Las Vegas