Phil Baines

Recent articles by Phil Baines

Max’s life is all mapped out

Issue 101, Summer 2021

Review

This book is about far more than Leslie MacDonald Gill (better known as Max) and can…

Pieced together in Ambleside

Issue 81, Autumn 2011

Review

I’m sure that most designers will know about some aspect of Kurt Schwitters’ work, probably…

The wrong browsers

Issue 62, Winter 2006

Review

It gives me no pleasure to say that this is a truly dreadful book that…

Sense of place

Issue 58, Winter 2005

Feature

Three new typefaces for local institutions draw on Sheffield’s cultural and typographic history

Letter rich Lisbon

Issue 54, Winter 2004

Feature

Nicolete Gray’s 1960s snaps inspire a re-examination of the capital’s streetscape

A new understanding of spaces

Issue 52, Summer 2004

Review

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

Opinion

Designing for the partially sighted: misguided guidlines

When in Rome: eat, drink and talk type

Issue 46, Winter 2002

Review

Since January 2001, ATypI’s worldwide membership has had the advantage of its own email list to…

A cast of thousands

Issue 45, Autumn 2002

Feature

The future of type design

User-friendly book of books

Issue 44, Summer 2002

Review

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

Feature

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

Review

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

Feature

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

Review

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

Feature

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

Feature

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

Review

In 1987, Gert Dumbar won the D&AD gold award and two groups of his Royal…

Central Lettering Record

Issue 15, Winter 1994

Feature

Central Saint Martins' collection of historical letterforms and type samples is an invaluable resource

Type paintings of a digital artist

Issue 14, Autumn 1994

Review

‘For the past five years, Neville Brody and his studio have embraced the computer as…

Modernity and tradition

Issue 7, Summer 1992

Opinion

Modernism tried to break with the past; traditionalists embrace it. But any kind of ism is fated to become an anachronism