Phil Baines
Recent articles by Phil Baines
Max’s life is all mapped out
Issue 101, Summer 2021
This book is about far more than Leslie MacDonald Gill (better known as Max) and can…
Pieced together in Ambleside
Issue 81, Autumn 2011
I’m sure that most designers will know about some aspect of Kurt Schwitters’ work, probably…
The wrong browsers
Issue 62, Winter 2006
It gives me no pleasure to say that this is a truly dreadful book that…
Sense of place
Issue 58, Winter 2005
Three new typefaces for local institutions draw on Sheffield’s cultural and typographic history
Letter rich Lisbon
Issue 54, Winter 2004
Nicolete Gray’s 1960s snaps inspire a re-examination of the capital’s streetscape
A new understanding of spaces
Issue 52, Summer 2004
There are many good reasons why the names of Aldus Manutius (1450-1515) and Francesco Griffo (1450-1518)…
The end of typography: slow death by default
Issue 51, Spring 2004
Designing for the partially sighted: misguided guidlines
When in Rome: eat, drink and talk type
Issue 46, Winter 2002
Since January 2001, ATypI’s worldwide membership has had the advantage of its own email list to…
User-friendly book of books
Issue 44, Summer 2002
I’ve long been a fan of Alan Bartram’s writing. An Atlas of Typeforms (co-written with James…
Reading the news
Issue 44, Summer 2002
In an-depth pictorial essay Phil Baines examines the ways major UK newspapers, tabloid and broadsheet, presented the events of September 11
Required reading for students
Issue 42, Winter 2001
The days of marking up copy for typesetting could be fraught with difficulty and demanded considerable…
Face lift: new cuts at The Times
Issue 40, Summer 2001
When technological developments at The Times demanded a change in the newspaper’s typography, a brand new typeface was commissioned, prompting a new analysis of the font’s long and complex history
Looking this way and that
Issue 39, Spring 2001
In his introductory essay to Ed Fella’s book Lewis Blackwell writes: “America, unlike Europe, for…
Sculptured letters and public poetry
Issue 37, Autumn 2000
Sculptor Josep Maria Subirachs and poet Joan Brossa had little in common but a fierce pride in the city and culture of Barcelona, where their open-air letterforms grace the streets, squares and parks
A design (to sign roads by)
Issue 34, Winter 1999
As an exemplary rational design programme, the road signs of Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert demand careful study. Despite poor application, inconsistent additions and muddle over the past four decades, their robust, flexible system – with its humane typeface and quirky pictograms – still functions throughout the length and breadth of Britain
Like the 1980s never happened
Issue 17, Summer 1995
In 1987, Gert Dumbar won the D&AD gold award and two groups of his Royal…
Central Lettering Record
Issue 15, Winter 1994
Central Saint Martins' collection of historical letterforms and type samples is an invaluable resource
Type paintings of a digital artist
Issue 14, Autumn 1994
‘For the past five years, Neville Brody and his studio have embraced the computer as…
Modernity and tradition
Issue 7, Summer 1992
Modernism tried to break with the past; traditionalists embrace it. But any kind of ism is fated to become an anachronism