Intro

Where’s all this stuff come from?

So what kind of stuff is on here?

Ok there are tons of amazing images but what’s LOLC got for me?

Where’s all this stuff come from?

The Land of Lost Content is the world’s largest archive of 20th century popular culture. This online resource is the result of a lifetime of collecting by Stella and Dave Mitchell, who house their collection in the wonderful LOLC museum in Shropshire, and a lifetime of building a design research and inspiration resource by Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway from their Red or Dead days through to HemingwayDesign.

These collections are now online, searchable, downloadable and ready to be utilised by students and academics. Our philosophy is to keep Land of Lost Content, simple, fun, fast moving, affordable and above all a cultural archive that will be here forever.

With regard to copyright, we have highlighted subject matter where we haven’t been able to trace the originator so if you know who any of these are then let us know. Our aim is to ensure that everyone gets their fair dues.

If you can’t find what you want, if there is a rich vein of cultural history that we are failing to mine, if you know a source, or if you want your collection on Land of Lost Content then contact us.

Do keep coming back to us. It has taken 40 years to put this collection together and it will take years to photograph everything. The collection is also growing on a daily basis; we just can’t stop collecting. Have a good rummage

So what kind of stuff is on here?

Want an image of a lovely lady lying across the bonnet of a 1960’s hot rod?

The contents of a Second World War bomb shelter?

Or a classic mid century modern room set?

A collection of washing powder packets from every decade of the 20th century?

The front cover of the first editions of magazines from Jackie through The Face and ID to Wallpaper?

Want to see vintage adverts from your clients, your rivals, your industry, your own company?

Try searching for “Cheesy model pointing into the distance”, “crimplene”, “mini skirts” or for any youth culture you can think of.

From cultural icons like Russ Abbott to Milli Vanilli they are all there.

Want an image of a “Straw Donkey from Benidorm”, or “a man in a shellsuit with a dodgy haircut, medallion and moustache”?

Or what about “That print on the living room wall in Abigail’s Party”?

There is the world’s largest collection of mass market art from Tretchikoff, through Margaret and Walter Keane, JH Lynch to Athena

Do you need inspiration for that next t shirt or textile print?

Are you a shoe designer who has been through kitten heels, stilettos, flats, square toe, pointed and round and now needs to think where next?

There are houses, apartments, public space, furniture designs, vintage fonts, illustrations

There are vintage greeting cards, post cards, record covers, instruction booklets etc.

There are choppers, vintage toys, leather case footballs, basically just about everything covered in I love the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s and if the BBC had covered the 50’s, 40’s, 30’s and 20’s they could have got everything they need from Land of Lost Content There are advertising, graphic, font, fashion, textiles, beauty, product design, photographic, architecture, landscape, transport, editorial ideas and images by the thousand and what is more, we expect the Land of Lost Content’s image library to grow on a weekly basis as we photograph more of our collections and add in stuff from collectors around the world.

One of our LOLC images used on a swimming pool wall

Ok there are tons of amazing images but what’s LOLC got for me?

Here are the facts:

Every image on the LOLC is downloadable. This means that you can buy any image you want and use it for your design work. Each image only costs £2 and the more you buy the cheaper it gets.
We know how important referencing is for students. As far as it is possible all our images are available with bibliographical material. This way your referencing can be as accurate and detailed as possible.
We want LOLC to be as interactive as possible. Our aim for LOLC is to make it as community orientated as we can. You are able to show off your own LOLC inspired work and we will display every month some of the best images from our huge collection. We also have regular competitions and a detailed forum.
Your LOLC account will follow you throughout your studies and your career. With your own individual account you can create goodie bags which store your favourite images or images you have used for specific courses, projects and designs. The unique way LOLC works, means that you can use the goodie bags you have created and images you have chosen throughout your school, college and university studies. When you finish your studies LOLC will hold onto to your account and goodie bags for two years. This will allow time for you to find work in your chosen career and, if your business subscribes, reclaim you old account and images.

How else can it help me?

We have designed ‘The Magic LOLC’ to help you not only find your perfect image but also to provide detailed historical, social and artistic knowledge which you can use within your designs or your contextual studies.

The Magic LOLC has 16 ‘mini sites’ each with their own theme and content. Each mini site has three unique ways of sharing information.

Specific Searches: These searches do the work for you! We have created loads of searches which give you images specific to that mini site. For example in the LOLC House we have specific searches relating to each room in the house and the objects you might find in them.
Timeline: The timeline focuses on a particular area of each mini site and works in the same way as the specific searches but in a chronological order. So if you need to find out what decade the Atari 2600 videogame console was released look no further than the LOLC house’s living room entertainment timeline.
Object History: At LOLC we understand that sometimes an image just isn’t enough. That is why we have created our object histories. Each mini site has links to our object history database and to objects which can be found there. This means not only can you buy images from LOLC but you can find the answers to such questions as: What year is it from? Who created it? Who used it and Why did it become a design icon? Each object’s history is carefully researched, referenced and linked to other useful internet sources.

How much does it cost?

LOLC is primarily a resource which is designed to inspire a new generation of students. All our images can be searched for and studied at no cost to students. If you do find an image you like, you do not have to immediately pay for the image to get a copy. You can right click and save the image for later use. This image does contain a water mark but we believe it is good enough to be used in mock ups and preliminary/rough sketches. If you are happy with the image you can then buy it for your final project.

Our prices for downloading images are:

£2 per image or

6 images for £10

12 images for £20

15 images for £25

20 images for £34

25 images for £40

50 images for £80

Images downloaded will be10x13cm at 72dpi.

We have tried to cost our images at a competitive rate and we believe that ours costs comparable to the cost of colour photocopies. If you throw in the fact that our images get cheaper the more you buy we feel we have provided a good deal.

Each image on the website had been scanned, cropped and sized by our team of scanners. By using our images, students can spend less time messing about trying to get a scanner to work or an image straight and more time designing their own work.

Finally, and possibly most importantly, the reason we charge for our images is because we want to protect those using them. We have put in place a system which allows students and academics to reuse images in their work and not have to worry about being sued by the originators. This allows our images to be used at their fullest potential without fear of reprimand.