Blog: Design history
29 October 2012
Giants of the visual imagination
While others struggle with ‘personal expression’, the Vignellis prove that a simple approach and focus makes great design, writes Quentin Newark.
Quentin Newark writes: As I was designing the catalogue for the Tate Modern exhibition ‘Albers…
10 October 2012
The magazine that wasn't
Aspen, the cultural journal that challenged the limits of its form, goes on display at Whitechapel Gallery in London
To read an edition of Aspen magazine is to flip through a booklet, unfurl a…
3 October 2012
The purpose of posters
London Transport’s spare posters go under the hammer at Christie’s tomorrow.
‘Of course it's not about graphic design,’ said my friend, glancing at the high proportion…
26 September 2012
‘Shake hands with the devil’
liz farrelly
The final hours of Graphic Design: Now in Production (the New York leg) provided a snapshot of contemporary practice, from the Stone Twins to Metahaven.
For the final Saturday of Cooper-Hewitt’s ‘Graphic Design: Now in Production’ exhibition in New York…
12 September 2012
Information inspiration
Commercial Type’s Paul Barnes will give the annual Beatrice Warde lecture at St Bride Library.
Type design and lettering today stands atop of a pile of historical information collected over…
17 August 2012
Give us back our design!
East Germany’s biggest design archive is about to be put under wraps, inaccessible to scholars and the general public, writes Jessica Jenkins
In the period of political upheaval immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, an…
3 August 2012
Not pasted over
East German posters are given a place in design history, thanks to Plakat Ost’s exhibition in Berlin
The rituals of telling the story of East Germany have become as tired as the…
31 July 2012
The notes may be fabricated
capitalism, currency, finance, money
Alternative currencies show that money is just an idea that can be redesigned. By Livia Lima
We live in an age when it is difficult to trust our banks, writes Livia…
24 July 2012
Crashing through the type
Time magazine infographics by Nigel Holmes, 1970s – infodesign in Eye 82
It was good luck, really, writes Nigel Holmes. Walter Bernard, Time’s art director, was looking…
24 July 2012
Type Tuesday: Presstival
type tuesday
Preview of a late summer festival for British print and type enthusiasts
We like the sound of ‘Presstival’, otherwise known as the annual open day of the…