Ontwerp voor een briefhoofd van Motshagens handel in apotheek- en drogisterijbenodigdheden 1884 - 1952

This "Ontwerp voor een briefhoofd van Motshagens handel in apotheek- en drogisterijbenodigdheden", or design for a letterhead for Motshagen's pharmacy and drugstore supply business, was made by Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries. I see it as a concentrated shot of utilitarian design, squeezed onto a small rectangle. Look closely at how the dense, black typography fights with the limited space, creating a kind of visual tension. The words are so close together that the letters almost blur. There’s a real sense of immediacy here. You can almost feel the designer wrestling with the constraints of the commission, trying to cram as much information as possible into a tiny format. It reminds me of some of Ed Ruscha's word paintings. Both artists share a fascination with the graphic potential of everyday language. This piece is a reminder that art and design are always in conversation, influencing each other in unexpected ways. It’s not about perfection, but about the messy, human process of making something work.