Feature: Design history
James Mosley: A life in objects
Through his ideas, collecting and dogged research, the former St Bride librarian has shown that printing history can be both lively and opinionated. The world of typography owes him a great debt
The first couple of American billboards
Otis and Dorothy Shepard, the ‘Scott and Zelda’ of mid-century advertising graphics, were neglected when design history was written. A new book brings their colourful legacy into vivid focus
Powered flight
For fifteen years, Pegasus, an international biannual corporate magazine designed by Derek Birdsall, led a charmed life.
Bitworld
Digital archeologist Jim Boulton explores the creative history of computer technology
In the right place
In this extract from his book, Gerald Cinamon explains how he brought integrated book design to Penguin – first at his kitchen table in the 1960s; later as chief designer
Leftovers with a bad taste
In the past century the use of ‘trade characters’ built brand loyalty while reinforcing stereotypes
Tightly packed
Owen Jones’s trademark design for biscuit tins has stayed the same for generations
Tony Brook on collecting
Spin’s founder, the subject of Reputations in Eye 86, talks about his passion for poster collecting
Rub-down revolution
A generation before home computers, Letraset’s dry transfer lettering made desktop typography possible – and gave a small group of type designers new insights into letterform construction through the art of stencil-cutting
A tradition with breaks
Stencil typefaces – late arrivals on the typographic scene – are going in new directions and rediscovering their history.