“The UPC” [Reflections On Book - 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design Stephen Heller and Veronique Vienne - #91]
The Universal Pricing Code
To ID things, is printed bold
And stark, but artists twist
Effect (though still make use of it).It first appeared in fifty-two
In nineteen-seventy it grew
A set of standards for its use
In nineteen eighty it cut loose –For Yanks, Canadians – we have
“ISBN” on books – I’m glad
For it’s the signature I use
On books I make so folks can choose –My book and find its publisher;
It’s free for all to use, and blurs
The line twixt great and small
In publishing – it serves us all.Some artists have a heyday here –
Like Hitler’s mustache once appeared
On US president to say,
“He’s Fascist really in our day.”But I think how it could be read
Like scanning rectangle that’s fed
Into a cell-phone – joke appears?
When scanned – thus public’s mood is cheered.Thanks Lord for this.
navigation