[5 industrial brochures designed by Ladislav Sutnar]

When Ladislav Sutnar came to the United States and became the art director for Sweet’s Catalog Service, he worked to make industrial products look good—because before he started at Sweet’s, those catalogues were an ugly mess. You wouldn’t want to order a 10–inch brass-plated bass-lubricated percolution compressor out of one. You’d never even be able to find one. But Sutnar came along and made things clear and bright and dynamic, setting a  landmark in the history of graphic design and information architecture. Here are five slender brochures for his work with Sweet’s and/or done independently. What’ve we got here? We’ve got:

1. Cuno Engineering Corporation, “Cuno Continuously Cleanable Filters,” circa 1944
2. Traffic & Street Sign Company, “Tubular Masts for: Radar—FM—Television,” undated
3. Andersen Corporation, “Wood Window Units,” undated
4. Allis-Chalmers, “Basic Machinery for the Processing Industries,” undated
5. Radio Corporation of America, “RCA sound systems,” 1944