Oliver Tomas | Text Proportion Utility

Vision + Value Series Edited by Gyorgy Kepes (1965-6)

28/03/10 – Between 1965 and 1966, New York book publisher George Braziller published a six volume series under the title Vision + Value. (more…)

1960s & 1970s Scandinavian Design Logos: Part 2

31/08/09 – Second installment of 1960s & 1970s Scandinavian Design Logos on flickr// (more…)

1960s & 1970s Scandinavian Design Logos: Part 1

24/08/09 – Collection of Scandinavian design logos/logotypes circa 1960/70 on flickr// (more…)

Falkland Lamp by Bruno Munari for Danese Milano

12/08/09 – Falkland Lamp by Bruno Munari for Danese Milano (1964). Spontaneous form tube-like suspension lamp. More images//

Tapio Wirkkala for Iittala: 1968

13/07/09 – Tapio Wirkkala Ultima Thule glassware for Iittala, Finland (1968). Set of six juice/whisky sour glasses (18 cl.). (more…)

Place d’Accueil, Expo 67 Montreal

08/04/09 – “This is the main entrance to the Exhibition and the terminus of the mass transit. Buildings on the extensive deck are restaurants, boutiques and reception rooms.”

Bruno Munari’s Design as Art (1966)

01/04/09 – Excerpts from Bruno Munari’s Design as Art first published in 1966. Images on flickr//

Preface to the English Edition

They [artists] have realized that at the present time subjective values are losing their importance in favour of objective values that can be understood by a great number of people.And if the aim is to mass-produce objects for sale to a wide public at low price, then it becomes a problem of method and design. The artist has to regain the modesty he had when art was just a trade, and instead of despising the very public he is trying to interest he must discover its needs and make contact with it again. This is the reason why the traditional artist is being transformed into the designer, and as I myself have undergone this transformation in the course of my working career I can say that this book of mine is also a kind of diary in which I try to see the why and wherefore of this metamorphosis. (13)
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Graphic Design Manual: Principles and Practice

18/02/09 – Excerpts from Armin Hofmann’s Graphic Design Manual: Principles and Practice published in 1965.

Introduction

“What is lacking is a creative focus which would be the source of every new insight into the nature of art and would foster every kind of talent.” (37)

“It is only in in drawing, which occupies an isolated and underprivileged position in the curriculum, that thinking, inventing, representing, transposing and abstracting can be correlated.” (ibid.)

“It is a fairly general assumption that art training is autonomous and subject only to its own laws. It is precisely this error which has induced me to preface my consideration of the problems of art education with some thoughts on education in general with a view to showing the close interdependence of the various aims of education.” (ibid.) (more…)

Czech and Japanese Matchbox Labels

29/01/09 – PIE books, Japan: Cesky Filumenisticky Design (2005) and Japanese Matchbox Label Collection 1920s-40s (2004). Text in Japanese. Maraid’s matchbox labels on flickr//

Henning Koppel for B & G

13/10/08 – Pot with teak handle from Henning Koppel’s Form 24 (aka. Koppel White) service (1962) for Bing & Grondahl. More images//

Joe Colombo Boby Trolley

24/06/08 – Joe Colombo “Boby Trolley” designed for B-Line, Italy (1968) . Injection molded ABS in 3 shelf/3 drawer variation. Salvaged from Vancouver’s Downtown East Side (DTES) a little worse for wear but still functional. More information//

Grid Systems in Graphic Design

Excerpts from Josef Muller-Brockmann’s Grid Systems in Graphic Design: A Visual Communication Manual for Graphic Designers, Typographers and Three Dimensional Designers originally published in 1961:

Foreword

Modern typography is based primarily on the theories and principles of design evolved in the 20’s and 30’s of our century. It was Mallarmé and Rimbaud in the 19th century and Apollinaire in the early 20th century who paved the way to a new understanding of the possibilities inherent in typography and who, released from conventional prejudices and fetters, created through their experiments the basis for the pioneer achievements of the theoreticians and practitioners that followed. (7)

The principle of the grid system presented in this book was developed and used in Switzerland after World War II. (ibid.)

But there was no publication that showed how the grid was constructed and applied, let alone how the design of the grid system was to be learned. This book is an attempt to close the gap. (8) (more…)

Emil Ruder’s Typographie

14/03/08 – Excerpts from Emil Ruder’s Typographie first published 1967:

Introduction

There are two essential aspects to the work of the typographer: he must take into account knowledge already acquired and keep his mind receptive to novelty. (5)

There must be no letting up in the determination to produce vital work reflecting the spirit of the times; doubt and perturbation are good antidotes against the tendency to follow the line of least resistance. (ibid.)

It is the intention of this book to bring home to the typographer that perhaps it is precisely the restrictions of the means at his disposal and the practical aims he has to fulfill that make the charm of his craft. (ibid.)

Typography has one plain duty before it and that is to convey information in writing. No argument or consideration can absolve typography from this duty. A printed work which cannot be read becomes a product without purpose. (6)

He [i.e., the typographer] is not free to make his own independent decisions; he must depend on what went beforehand and take into account what is to come. (8)

But the typographer does possess this ability to stand back from the work, and it is very useful to him in his craft since critical distance is a virtue in a typographer. The typographer must be able to take the impersonal view; wilful individuality and emotion have little place in this work. (ibid.)

The many active contacts between people from every country today leave no scope for type faces with a pronounced national character. (10)

The craft of the typographer, like any other, necessarily reflects the times. The age gives him the means with which to satisfy the needs the age creates. (12)

The creative worker, on the other hand, spares little thought for contemporary style, for he realizes that style is not somethign that can be deliberately created; it comes all unawares! (ibid.)

More than graphic design, typography is an expression of technology, precision and good order. (14) (more…)

Design from Scandinavia

13/11/07 – Design from Scandinavia was a design annual that showcased the best in Scandinavian furniture, textiles, handicrafts and applied art. It was the brainchild of publisher Kirsten Bjerregaard.

According to the website of the original publishing house, World Pictures:

Her ambition was to do a ‘design exhibition in the form of a book’, and her idea was realized in 1967 when Design from Denmark came out and was distributed worldwide in 50,000 copies.

The next year Design from Denmark became Design from Scandinavia and a voyage of communicating about quality design from the five Nordic countries had begun.

A companion series began publication in 1974 entitled Architecture from Scandinavia. I am unsure whether the series saw more than the two editions pictured in Design from Scandinavia 8 (p. 128).

The series, especially the early editions, have proven to be an invaluable resource for information on Scandinavian design’s floruit during the 60s and 70s. Today, these early issues have become collector’s items. (more…)