Summer 2010

Contents Eye 76

Music design special issue

Regulars and features

2

Critique: Left out of the frame

A collection of design shorts made for the COI is full of details, but short on context says Rick Poynor.

4

Yin and yang

Type guru Matthew Carter explains how he came to design his first wooden type.

93

Uncoated

Metahaven, Edward Tufte in London, TYPO Berlin. Plus Maira Kalman and wine labels.

Music design

special issue

12

Record sleeves are dead – long live music design! Iconic covers that defined an evocative era.

16

Sound and vision

From spectacle to content: time to find new, meaningful associations between music and design.

Attacked by music, type & light

Technology on tour. Noel Douglas talks to UVA’s Matt Clark about their sets for Massive Attack.

Classical crossroads

Design meets serious music: long programme notes, small budgets and ‘de-averaging’.

26

Make music visible

Big Active aims to make music tangible – with stars such as Keane, Goldfrapp and Beck.

36

One man brand?

Adrian Shaughnessy reassesses Manfred Eicher’s label ECM in the light of a new publication.

40

Formal lawlessness

Fragmentation in the music industry has aided the rise of rock posters. Eric Heiman reports.

44

Grab the hook

‘Musicians are cooler, more fun and more creative than normal people.’ Jane Cheng talks to Young Monster.

48

Reputations

Steven Heller interviews Alex Steinweiss, the designer who invented the album sleeve.

58

Pack shots

A new wave of extravagant music packaging: Unkle, Kate Moross, and Vaughan Oliver’s Minotaur.

64

Eye education

Dan Fern explains his pioneering ‘MAP / making’ course – music, art and performance – at the RCA.

68

All her own invention

For decades, Laurie Anderson has used graphic means to tell stories. Interview by John L. Walters.

72

Dot dot rock

Zoë Street Howe on the black art of ‘metal umlauts’, with Motörhead, Mötley Crüe, Blue Öyster Cult, etc.

74

Design + music = magic

Sleeves and bags tell us what their contents sound like, says Fred Deakin. But what next?

80

Scribble and strum

From cool and literary to rude and crude: Andrew Losowsky looks at music mags old and new.