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…)
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//
22/12/08 – Ubu’s Almanac: Alfred Jarry and the Graphic Arts exhibition catalog and essays from the Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas. Select bibliography of works in English//
18/12/08 – Kobenstyle pot designed by Jens Quistgaard for Dansk International Designs, France (1954). Red enamel on steel. Opening diameter: 8.5″
09/12/08 – Henning Koppel teak salad bowl for Scanform, Denmark (c. 1960/70). Opening diameter: 11.5″. (more…)
29/11/08 – The Solair chair for IPL. Design by Fabiano & Panzini. Patent design d-44237. Item: no. 60323. Made in Canada (1972). (more…)
13/10/08 – Pot with teak handle from Henning Koppel’s Form 24 (aka. Koppel White) service (1962) for Bing & Grondahl. More images//
24/06/08 – Select excerpts and notes from Laurent Pflughaupt’s Letter by Letter:
Introduction
“Tracing back through the history of these abstract signs, which we manipulate and decipher unconsciously on a daily basis, is often like discovering their hidden or forgotten meanings. We find that today we still use capital letters whose structures are identical to the engraved capitals that date from the beginning of this era. We also discover that the design of our printed letters is based on Carolingian lowercase letters, which were rehabilitated and perfected seven centuries later by Florentine humanists.” (9) (more…)
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//
18/05/08 – A selection of excerpts and principles from Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style [Part 1 of 2]:
Foreword
“But when I set myself to compile a simple list of working principles, one of the benchmarks I first thought of was William Strunk and E.B. White’s small masterpiece, The Elements of Style.” (9)
“But the underlying principles of typography are, at any rate, stable enough to weather any number of human fashions and fads.” (10)
“The essential elements of style have more to do with the goals typographers set for themselves than with the mutable eccentricities of their tools.” (ibid.)
I THE GRAND DESIGN
1.1 First Principles
1.1.1 Typography exists to honor content.
“Typography with anything to say therefore aspires to a kind of statuesque transparency. Its other traditional goal is durability: not immunity to change, but a clear superiority to fashion.” (17) (more…)
28/04/08 – Excerpts from, and notes on, John Maeda’s The Laws of Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life (2006). For more information visit the website.
Simplicity = Sanity
Technology has made our lives more full, yet at the same time we’ve become uncomfortably “full.”
“[...] to understand the meaning of life as a humanist technologist.” (iii)
-simplicity is a growth industry (pp. iv, 11, and 45)
“I originally conceived of this book as a sort of simplicity 101, to give readers an understanding of the foundation of simplicity as it relates to design, technology, business, and life. But now I see that a foundation can wait [...], and [...] a framework will suffice [...].” (v)
“There are three flavors of simplicity discussed here, where the successive set of three Laws (1 to 3, 4 to 6, 7 to 9) correspond to increasingly complicated conditions of simplicity: basic, intermediate, and deep.” (vi) (more…)
13/04/08 – Excerpts from Alan Bartram’s Futurist Typography and the Liberated Text published 2005 by Yale University Press:
Introduction
“The Italian Futurist poet-typographers were literary people, as were the very different Russian artists; and, just as for the 1960s protest designers, content came first and created form. Aesthetics merely refined the design.” (7)
“An ability to use a computer makes no one a typographer, and provides no substitute for the fiery imagination adn visual sensibility possessed by Marinetti. His ‘new array of type’ transformed the very grammar and syntax of the sentence, created a unique poetry, a new mode of communication.” (8)
“[...]at least one noteable precendent, the original 1897 version of Stephane Mallarme’s Un Coup de des. And, about the same time Marinetti’s work was published, Apollinaire was experimenting with his calligrammes.” (ibid.) (more…)
Excerpts from Josef Muller-Brockmann’s Grid Systems in Graphic Design: A Visual Communication Manual for Graphic Designers, Typographers and Three Dimensional Designers first published in 1981:
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…)
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…)
Excerpts from Jan Tschichold’s Die neue Typographie (1928):
Introduction
“The ‘form’ of the New Typography is also a spiritual expression of our world-view. It is necessary therefore first of all to learn how to understand its principles, if one wishes to judge them correctly or oneself design within their spirit.” (7)
“The illustrations in this book, with few exceptions examples of practical work, prove that the concepts of the New Typography, in use, allow us for the first time to meet the demands of our age for purity, clarity, fitness for purpose, and totality.” (ibid.)
“Modern man, whose vision of the world is collective-total, no longer individual-specialist, needs no special reminder of the rightness of being closely aware of such related activities as modern painting and photography. I therefore thought it desirable to say something more about this new way of viewing our world, in which our spiritual conception of the new forms are linked with the whole range of human activity.” (8)
Growth and Nature of the New Typography
a) The new world view:
“Construction is the basis of all organic and organized form: the structure and form of a rose are no less logical than the construction of a racing car –both appeal to us for the ultimate economy and precision. Thus the striving for purity of form is the common denominator of all endeavour that has set itself the aim of rebuilding our life and forms of expression. In every individual activity we recognize the single way, the goal: Unity of Life!” (13)
“Typography too must now make itself part of all the other fields of creativity. The purpose of this book is to show these connections and explain their consequences, to state clearly the principles of typography, and to demand the creation of a contemporary style.” (ibid.) (more…)
22/02/08 – Small selection of ‘gacha’ (capsule) machine toys from Japan. (more…)
08/02/08 – Josef Lada’s calendar illustrations from the 1940s featuring traditional Czech occupations, pastimes and holiday scenes. (Unfortunately, February is missing.) (more…)
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…)
30/10/07 – Website prototype with color-coded textual interface. Typeface: Helvetica. Try the site here//
11/10/07 – Source: Wallpaper* magazine (103), guest editor: Dieter Rams
01. Good design is innovative
It does not copy existing product forms, nor does it produce and kind of novelty for the sake of it. The essence of innovation must be clearly seen in all functions of a product. The possibilities, in this respect, are by no means exhausted. Technological development keeps offering new chances for innovative solutions.
02. Good design makes a product useful
The product is purchased in order to be used. It must serve a defined purpose –in both primary and additional functions. The most important task of design is to optimize the utility of a product.
03. Good design is aesthetic
The aesthetic quality of a product –and the fascination it inspires– is an integral part of the product’s utility. Without doubt, it is uncomfortable and tiring to have to put up with products that are confusing, that get on your nerves, that you are unable to relate to. However, it has always been a hard task to argue about aesthetic quality for two reasons. Firstly, it is difficult to talk about anything visual, since words have a different meaning for different people. Secondly, aesthetic quality deals with details, subtle shades, harmony and the equilibrium of a whole variety of visual elements. A good eye is required, schooled by years and years of experience, in order to be able to draw the right conclusion. (more…)