Articles

A selection of graphic design articles based on the design artefacts in the archive. Articles discussing aspects of design such as logos, advertisements, posters and book covers. Explore historical context and its impact on the field of graphic design.
A new interpretation of the work of Bramante, suggesting an agenda for contemporary architectural practice.
Support American Bauhaus on Kickstarter to pre-finance the project and its production: www.kickstarter.com/projects/908813786/american-bauhaus
Marin Lorenz has had an amazing career, designing for clients such as ESPN and Nike, teaching at some of Europe's leading design schools and publishing books, such as Flexible Visual Sytems, documenting his research and approach to design practice.
Flexible Visual Systems is the design manual for contemporary visual identities. It teaches you a variety of approaches on how to design flexible systems, adjustable to any aesthetic or project in need of an identifiable visual language.
The Cuban film poster conveys the spirit and ideals of the Cuban revolution. A time of political change, an uprising that ended the brutal dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. The Danish Film Institute have a collection of Cuban Film Posters from the past 50 years.
Parallel Public is a new publication by Sara Blaylock, published by MIT Press. The book documents the East German artists pioneering work that made their country’s experimental art scene a form of (counter) public life.
Mark Bloom has designs for globally recognised brands, produces some of the finest, most accessible modern typefaces and heads up Mash Creative and CoType Foundry. His type foundry has always been a port of call for our studio's brand projects and he continues to develop these, each with a fantastic print specimen.
Triest Verlag für Architektur, Design und Typografie are a Swiss independent publisher producing specialist design books in the realms of typography, graphic design and architecture. Their books provide valuable insights and the print production is of exceptional quality. I interviewed the founders, to find out more about their books.
I have long been a fan of Counter-Print, as a student, I would order their newsprint publications, peruse their Flickr albums and now, over a decade later I still buy their latest releases and their site provides our staff with great giftse throughout the year. I interviewed one of the founders, Jon Dowling to find out more about setting up Counter-Print, their favourite books and which publishers inspire them.

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Olle Eksell is well known for his advertising illustration, book jackets and playful packaging design. He first studied engineering and later decided to become a graphic artist. He began his career as a window decorator in 1935, and studied under Hugo Steiner between 1939 and 1941.
Emiliano Grignani is the grandson of Franco Grignani, one of the most versatile and influential Italian designers. Well-known for his advertising, painting and the way he could visualise motion in such a unique way. I interviewed Emiliano to find out more about Franco and his influence on graphic design and the great resource, https://www.francogrignani.info.
I have always loved the design work created for Olivetti. The colourful midcentury designs by Italian designer Giovanni Pintori, the minimal typographic poster by Swiss designer Walter Ballmer and my personal favourite the 1959 poster for Olivetti designed by Herbert Bayer. I recently found out Triest Verlag released a new book, Visual identity and branding at Olivetti which contains further work by Xanti Schawinsky, Renato Zveteremich, Ettore Sottsass, Hans von Klier, Egidio Bonfante and Walter Ballmer.
Elizabeth Resnick is a Professor Emerita, former chairperson of the Graphic Design Department, and current part-time faculty at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, Massachusetts, since 1977. She ran her own independent Boston design studio from 1973 to 1996, working with many high-profile clients and is a passionate design curator who has organized seven comprehensive design exhibitions. I interviewed Elizabeth about her journey in the field, her early influences and some of the many items in her collection.
I have been reproached for this, and I will surely be reproached again. I have also been reproached for reading more and more obscure works whose readership must be limited to a handful of specialists and a few hobbyists like myself. It’s a heavy passion or a passion that sucks.

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Omnibus was Published by the journalism working group of the Technical University of Braunschweig. A square publication measuring 290mm. The publication included features on politics, arts and culture. With advertisements carefully selected to be in keeping with the visual aesthetic. Content also included exhibition information and a fine example of concrete poetry, among artists such as Schröder-Sonnenstern and Sine Hansen.
Direction of Travel is a project by Christian Nolle, a half Danish/half German London based artist and map collector. He has spent decades creating work, often in photographic form, that looks at the interplay between aviation, politics and the cities we live in. Christian is also the Founder and Head of Good Caesar, a design and technology studio.
How design can transcend the logics, structures, and subjectivities of capitalism: a framework, theoretical grounding, and practical principles. A new book published by MIT Press written by Matthew Wizinsky.

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Paul Rand, one of the most acclaimed American designers is known for his iconic corporate identities, playful illustration and commercial art. Paul wrote the preface for Yusaku Kamakura's book, Trademarks of the World, 1958. He states his influence of Japanese art and design, trademarks as a universal language and his struggles with English grammar.

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Kinetic art refers to art the depends on movement for its desired effect and is closely related to op art. Upon scanning a few of the inner inserts from the Kinetics exhibition catalogue from the Hayward Gallery, London, 1970, I came across these five small manifestos on kinetic art.
To Have and To Hold, contains hundreds of bag designs collected during over half a century. The book is a must-buy for anyone interested in ephemera, the history of design or British high street history.

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Graphis is one of the industries most long-standing magazines. It was first published in 1944 and founded by Walter Herdeg and Walter Amstutz in Zurich, Switzerland. It was released bimonthly and was trilingual, with articles in English, French and German.

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Theo Crosby was born in South Africa in 1925 and moved to Britain in the late 1940s. He was a highly skilled designer, architect and sculptor. He became the technical editor of Architectural Design magazine in 1953 and remained in the post for almost a decade. The large format magazines feature an array of content including information on buildings, materials and architectural plans.
Ken was born in 1929, in Southampton and grew up in a small market town in North Devon. He was a principled man, with strong values and views against the hyper-consumerism we live with today. Ken studied at the London Central School of Arts and Crafts in the 1950s and was taught by Herbert Spencer, Anthony Froshaug and Jesse Collins. Whilst at the School he studied alongside designers Ken Briggs, Alan Fletcher and Colin Forbes.
The Utah State University (USU) houses a vast collection of Outdoor Recreation Catalogues and magazines, You can browse and search records of more than 8,000 catalogues and magazines from over 500 companies, including manufacturers like Lowe Alpine and Sierra Designs to retailers like Eastern Mountain Sports and REI.
Projekt 26 is a fantastic online store dedicated to vintage Polish posters, as well as operating online, both Harriet and Sylwia also run poster markets, social accounts full of the vibrant works and have a radiating passion and knowledge of the subject.
I have known Rob for over a decade and I have been a huge admirer of his work. He specialises in reverse gilded glass sign making, typographic murals and traditional sign-writing.

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Before setting up Ken Garland & Associates in Camden, London, Ken was art editor of Design magazine in 1956. The magazine was published by the Council of Industrial Design, which was set up in 1944 with the prime focus of supporting Britains economic recovery.

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Both the And So To Embroider & And So to Sew bulletins were published by the Needlework Development Scheme. Established in 1934 and operating until 1961, the scheme was a partnership between educational establishments (Scottish art schools, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow) and industry.
The most comprehensive account of ghost signs ever published, focusing on London’s hand-painted relics of advertising past

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Industrial design was an American design magazine featuring furniture, ceramics, housewares, appliances, automobiles, buildings, radios, projectors, televisions, and many other objects designed for the postwar middle class. First published in the 1950s by Charles Whitney with Alvin Lustig as art director.
The UK’s first vintage poster market is to launch as a 3-day pop-up at the Copeland Gallery in Peckham 14-16 May. Entry is free.
From time to time members of the Graphic Design History group and others have asked for a number of recommendations for books related to design history, theory and specific areas of graphic design. This is the first of a series of articles from educators, designers and archivists featuring book recommendations and resources.
Simon Dixon is the co-founder of DixonBaxi and has been at the forefront of exceptional design from the start of his carreer. This year, DixonBaxi, celebrated twenty years in business, and their team of forty work with clients such as WWE, MAX, Premier League, Channel 4 and Netflix.
Both educators have a keen interest in multiscriptual design, Arabic type design, and graphic design and recently released A History of Arab Graphic Design. I contacted Bahia and Haythem to find out more.

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Jazz Journal was first published in 1946 by Sinclair Traill, who also had some of his photographs used on the covers. The magazine is now online but remained in print for several decades, as Britain's longest enduring jazz magazine.
In the late 1960s, IBM was one of the world’s pre-eminent corporations, employing over 250,000 people in 100 countries. While Paul Rand’s creative genius has been well documented, the work of the IBM staff designers who executed his intent outlined in the IBM Design Guide has often gone unnoticed.
This book shows, for the first time, all of Hans Hillmann’s film posters. Unpublished sketches and drafts from his estate along with commentary from conversations and interviews provide an insight into the creative process of the award-winning designer.
A new online archive makes the complete works of the famous graphic designer accessible
Gabriel sent me a link to his amazing Uruguayan Graphic Design Archive when I launched Design Reviewed. The content was so amazing, I ended up spending a good hour looking through the content and it has definitely made it to my bookmarks.
In the ambitious new monograph Rational Simplicity: Rudolph de Harak, Graphic Designer, Volume shines a light on the complete arc of the exceptionally rich and varied career of Rudolph de Harak, showcasing his vibrant, graphic, formally brilliant work, which blazed a colourful trail through the middle decades of the twentieth century.

Designer Profiles