Review: Graphic design
History is made of the typical
Faced no doubt by a plethora of daunting decisions – who to include, which countries…
Losing its flavour
The ultimate in cheesy designer excess, packaged in a giant trading card wrapper, the first…
Art without its bitter history
I have a problem with Stalin’s face. He looked exactly like my cat. Exactly. This…
The cultured sensibility of Cipe Pineles
Cipe Pineles? Say it Sea-pea Pin-ell-ess; she’s credited with being America’s first influential female art…
New languages and noisy texts
Increasingly sophisticated methods of communication mean that the appropriateness of conventional forms of reading and…
The boy’s book of Pentagram
Pentagram are masters of self-promotion. ‘Books win friends,’ says Theo Crosby, ‘and buying friendship is…
Political imagery re-examined
One challenge of design and art historians today is how to analyse familiar material, like…
Peak practice: beautiful Swiss books
As I write these words in my Zurich hotel room, fireworks are exploding outside to…
The eye of the curator
Exhibitions of graphic design are difficult. Posters do OK: they are the paintings of graphic design. But how about brochures, books, magazines and the like?
The book as dark, musty gallery
Graphic designer Carin Goldberg’s first book is a catalogue. Though at first glance it is reminiscent…