Recently updated on October 12th, 2017 at 06:35 pm
Steampunk is one of those late 90’s fashions that has entered our culture and stuck. This is largely thanks to movies, video games, and fashion, but also because it draws from a Victorian/Edwardian period in time that was so innovative and stylish. The world of print is no exception to this retro style with designers adopting retro calligraphy, Victorian iconography, and the other peculiarities of steampunk to create beautiful vintage business cards, flyers, posters, and other prints.
This blog post celebrates the steampunk trend in all its many design facets from elegant vintage style business cards to bizarre poster collages and encourages you to use these incredible designs as inspiration for your own print designs.
When viewing these prints, let us never forget to keep a stiff upper lip and sing our steampunk praises to Queen and country!
Designer Bruce Paulson created this matchbox inspired design on beautiful felt paper to create a retro regal look.
Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fortressletterpress/4468565017/in/photostream/
Australian designer, Bobby Haiqalsyah created this poster print to showcase his exceptional design and typography skills. There’s no better design style than steampunk to explore typography and composition.
Original source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/16453489/Apparatus-for-Transtemporal-Occurrence
Tattooist Paul Roe has perfectly captured the steampunk aesthetic with these victorian style business cards that harken back to an age of hidden eroticism.
Original source: http://www.britishinkdc.com/menu/
Photo illustration and manipulation is a major aspect of the steampunk design aesthetic, and artist Jack Stoltz is a master at creating vintage style posters with a modern twist. Characters such as diving-bell divers are typical steampunk icons.
Original source: https://www.etsy.com/shop/stoltzdesign
Nathaniel Winter-Hébert from Papineauville, Quebec has created these amazing postcards for a 300 year-old Apothecary in Canada. The branding maybe retro but it looks super cool and modern.
Original source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/11341297/The-Provincial-Trading-Co
Christy Guan from the UK has created this retro booklet design in the “collage” graphical style that many steampunk fans have become familiar with. This design is especially colorful, weird, and brilliant.
Squid-headed things and the giant tentacled God Cthulhu are other recurring characters in the steampunk universe. Chilean designer, Eliseo Peña has used this character to great effect in this series of wonderfully detailed poster designs for a steampunk festival.
Original source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/11247421/Afiche-III-Aniversario-Steampunk-Chile
Nothing says steampunk more than a old timey boxer with a big mustache and Felix Auer’s graphic design work packs a heck of a punch with these embossing and foil stamp effects.
UK designer and comic book store manager, Sarah Anne Langton created these beautifully crafted steampunk style flyers to advertise some instore signings.
Original source: http://www.pinterest.com/xhellosarahx/
Kerry Cole has re-imagined some wonderful Victorian peculiarities in these invitation designs. This etched illustration style is very steampunk in flavor.
Original source: https://www.etsy.com/shop/colesfineart
Southern Californian artist, Brian Giberson has created some amazing photo-colored and manipulated prints in the steampunk style with references to fantastical and outlandish steam-powered machinery
Original source: https://www.etsy.com/shop/indigolights
Argentinean designer, Vito Rodriguez Christensen created these rad posters that are incredibly detailed with various patterns and machinations. Superlative illustration my good man!
Original source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/10743839/Graphic-Design-International-Steampunk-Day
