DEC Manual Covers

In the late 1970s, Digital Equipment Corporation produced a set of manuals for their terminal and printer equipment that I think are unmistakably of their decade, with simple line designs in browns and oranges. I’ve always loved the simplicity of these designs, so during the first pandemic lockdown, I decided to spend some time with Inkscape, recreating the covers, without the scratches, fading and curling edges that my physical manuals had accumulated over the past 40 years.

I’ve come across six different designs so far, and drawn five of them. The four that are most alike are now on my office wall as a montage, which you are welcome to print yourself:

The covers used for this design are cropped from these full ones:

During the next decade, the covers either had no pictures on them at all, or had simple line drawings, which is really disappointing!