Bidlack Creative Group

Atlanta Magazine invited Chris to illustrate their October 2025 cover, celebrating 100 years of Delta Air Lines and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The magazine’s creative director discovered Chris’s Jet Age Art style and reached out. After presenting several rough concepts, this final composition was chosen: a view of the ATL tarmac circa 1967, reimagined with a touch of artistic license.

In the foreground is the tail of Delta’s first Douglas DC-9, delivered in 1965 and a workhorse of the fleet for more than 40 years. Overhead, a Delta DC-8—the airline’s first jetliner—soars above the now-vanished 1961 terminal.

Aviation and Delta fans will want to dive into this issue (link below). Highlights include:

◉ The cover story, “Take Off: A Century of Delta and Hartsfield-Jackson” (page 58), by Salem Burdett, Skye Estroff, Lauren Finney-Harden, Catherine Jones, Madeline Shapiro, and Xavier Stevens, with photographs by John E. McDonald.

◉ “A City Between Departures,” a deep profile of ATL itself (page 60).

◉ A series of one-page profiles spotlighting Delta and airport employees.

◉ A 4‑page illustrated timeline of Delta/ATL milestones (page 68).

◉ Ads worth noting: the Atlanta Braves’ striking full‑page tribute to Delta featuring vintage artwork (page 15), and Delta’s own centennial ad (page 41).

Fun fact about the cover art: Delta’s early DC-9s carried the short-lived “sideways widget” version of their tail logo, while most of the fleet—including the DC‑8 overhead—bore the familiar “vertical widget.” Though inconsistent, the mix made for some striking visuals.

View the full issue here:
atlantamagazine.mydigitalpublication.com/atlanta-magazine-october-2025

Bidlack Creative Group was thrilled to have been asked to design promotional materials for three upcoming "Airliner Shows," taking place in San Francisco (this September), Los Angeles (Jan. 2024), and Dallas (April 2024). If you have an interest in aviation history, you should mark your calendar.

Elements used in the show card designs stem from Chris's "Jet Age Art" prints, including his SFO and LAX airport posters (bit.ly/SFOposter and bit.ly/LAXposter).

► The San Francisco show card pays homage to the airport's early Jet Age, including an illustration of a United Air Lines DC-8 (and a tip-of-the-hat to UAL's early SFO jet service, to Hawaii and elsewhere), and also to the fondly-remembered SFO Helicopter Airlines (1961-1976). At its base, layout includes the original airport terminal, illustrated as it appeared in 1954.*

► The LAX show card highlights the famous Theme Building, a Space Age design by James Langenheim, William Pereira, Charles Luckman, and others. ...Including the often-overlooked Gin Wong** of Pereira & Luckman Architects. This card also includes an illustrated United DC-10, sporting the Saul Bass-designed 1974 "Tulip" livery. (The DC-10 was a ubiquitous sight at LAX throughout the later 1970s and the 1980s.)

► The Dallas show card features "Big Orange" (also known as “747 Braniff Place"), Braniff's hard-to-miss and heavily-worked jumbo jet, which flew back-and-forth between Dallas and Honolulu for years. The airplane's paint scheme, part of Braniff's "Flying Colors" fleet inspired by pioneering ad woman Mary Wells, was quite radical for an airline in 1971, but the public loved it, and today Braniff's colorful liveries remain an idea revered the annals of commercial art and advertising history.

* The actual 1954 SFO terminal, designed by William Peyton and Harry Michelson, although buried under years of facelifts and renovations, is technically still there.

** According to Gizmodo.com, Gin Wong's architectural designs, including the LAX Theme Building, inspired the designers of "The Jetsons" in 1962.

Another great Daily Heller post...

The Daily Heller: I Lost My Heart at Olivetti on Fifth Avenue Steven Heller looks back on the days of clack.

One of our favorite graphic designers on the web is the great Steven Heller, who today (4/22/22) has posted several cartoons created by Will Eisner, for a 1944 U.S. Army primer for pilots-in-training.

Heller explains that the publication was...

"...a training booklet illustrated by none other than the creator of “The Spirit” comics, Will Eisner. Produced by the U.S. Army in 1944, it’s an instruction pamphlet for young pilots to master the basics of safe flying, complete with two quizzes and two pages of “Slanguage” at the end. ...The “art ideas” were contributed by the Air Traffic Control Division of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, and the guide was published by the Army Air Forces’s Flight Control Command."

See many more page scans and the full story here: bit.ly/3Mrwsqv

Here's Chris's 9th grade term paper on a day at Detroit Metro Airport, December, 1970, much of it inspired by his enthralling fascination with "Airport," both the book and the 1970 motion picture...

These are our top favorites from the new US Postal Service 2022 stamp lineup, announced yesterday 11/1/21. (Images via Linn's Stamp News, at linns.com). Designer credits below.

See also:

Full new stamp lineup for 20222 (as it stands at the moment):
https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2021/1101-usps-reveals-new-stamps-for-2022.htm?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top

"USPS honors former Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham with a new stamp"
WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/katharine-graham-us-postage-stamp/2021/11/01/6663f5e2-3b61-11ec-8ee9-4f14a26749d1_story.html

__________________________
Designer Credits:

Lunar New Year / Year of the Tiger - Antonio Alcalá art director/designer, original art by Camille Chew.

Katharine Graham - Derry Noyes art director, original art by Lynn Staley.

U.S. Flags- Laura Stutzman stamp designer and illustrator, Ethel Kessler art director.

Edmonia Lewis - Antonio Alcalá stamp art director, original art by Alex Bostic.

Title IX - Artist Melinda Beck designer, Derry Noyes art director.

Pete Seeger - Color-tinted black-and-white photograph by Dan Seeger, Antonio Alcalá art director/designer.

Women's Rowing - Nancy Stahl designer and illustrator, Ethel Kessler art director.

Pony Cars - Zack Bryant designer, original art by Tom Fritz, Greg Breeding art director.

Elephants - Derry Noyes art director/designer, original art by Rafael López.

Just back from the printer: Our design for next year’s Airliners International conference in Chicago.

At one time, most companies selling a large metal items had to have "raised chromium letters" riveted-on to the front, side, or rear of their product.

The Daily Heller: Raised-Letter Redux and Reflux In the days before decals, there was nothing more appealing than well-painted truck lettering—except raised chromium metal sign lettering.