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Editor Andy Plumb Lays Out His Vision

Updated: Feb 27, 2019





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Brad Ensminger
Brad Ensminger
Feb 20, 2019

Hello Bob,


Thanks for your comments, and compliments.


I remember your campaign running for Student Body President. And I remember designing the poster you mention. It was definitely influenced by the Fillmore concert posters-- very popular at the time. (Please also note: the hand lettering of the Smoke Signal logo that I designed. This was done in the same psychedelic style.)


Bob, If I remember correctly, you were the youngest Student Body President elected. The time was ripe. It seemed like anything was possible. I believed in your leadership. It was fun to work on your campaign.


I look forward to our Reunion in October. I will be there. I hope we can all make it.


Brad

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Unknown member
Feb 20, 2019

Brad, I was the happy beneficiary of your instinct to "... work on fun and interesting projects." At the end of our sophomore year, during my campaign for Student Body President, you pitched in and designed and produced for me one of the coolest campaign posters ever. It was in the style of a psychedelic Fillmore concert poster, in blues and yellows and you silk screened them. They were a hit! Not only did they give my campaign a boost, but they were works of art that became collectibles and showed up months later still hanging inside people's lockers and on friend's walls at home.


So as you've thanked Andy, I thank you for your creativity and generosity during that…


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Brad Ensminger
Brad Ensminger
Jan 20, 2019

Thanks Terry for hosting the SS blog.

I’d forgotten about the newspaper. And I never save things from the past, so I haven’t seen a copy for about 50 years. My recollections may be faulty.


Thanks Mark for your observations about the typography, layout, and technology at the time.


My first job as a professional designer, in 1973, we set type using metal type, like Gutenberg did. So Andy’s headline, *Contribute and Improve the SS,* was either set in press-type, or set in metal. In 1968 photo type was in it’s infancy, so that technology was still on the horizon. And of course, digital type and desktop publishing, didn’t really catch-on in the industry until about 1989.


Brad

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° ® °
° ® °
Jan 20, 2019

I have the last Smoke Signal from June 4, 1969. And that's all. I am looking at the ads. That's what's really intriguing. And the layout. What was it like back there in typewriter-land prior to computers to produce this newspaper? I mean look at Andy's front page blurb. the spacing of the words is... not like anything one would see today so having never got involved in any of the publications details suddenly now it is interesting to me how this all came to be

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Brad Ensminger
Brad Ensminger
Jan 19, 2019

Thanks Bob and Mark for your posts.


*Contribute and Improve the SS*--

The description brings back fond memories.


Andy’s visionary proposal for the newspaper in 1968 was the reason I worked on it. He has always been smart and forward thinking. I enjoyed my time at the SS.


His mandate also became a platform in my life-- to folllow my instincts, and work on interesting and fun projects. I thank him.


Brad Ensminger

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