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Hans Eduard Meier, a life dedicated to letter design
by Roxane Jubert
Hans Eduard Meier’s typographic work is the fruit of his passion for letter design which has lasted over 60 years, against a background of profound technological mutations. The research he conducted in the 1950s is still relevant today, notably in his book The Development of Script and Type and his Syntax typeface, a key humanistic sans serif. He is still designing typefaces today, such as Schulschrift. His output in this domain can be seen as a type of “sustainable typography”. Read this article -
Hans Eduard Meier, una vida dedicada a los caracteres
by Roxane Jubert
La obra tipográfica de Hans Eduard Meier refleja más de sesenta años de pasión por la letra y atraviesa profundas mutaciones técnicas. Si, por un lado, la investigaciones que realizó en la década de 1950 no han perdido vigencia –tanto su libro La evolución de la letra como el Syntax, esencial dentro del repertorio de tipos humanísticos sin remates–, por otro lado, su trabajo continua en la actualidad con nuevas creaciones como el Schulschrift. Por ello es tentador calificar su producción como «tipografía sostenible». Read this article
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Hans Eduard Meier, une vie dédiée aux caractères
by Roxane Jubert
L’œuvre typographique de Hans Eduard Meier révèle plus de soixante ans de passion pour la lettre et la traversée de profondes mutations techniques. Si ses recherches des années 1950 restent d’actualité – aussi bien son livre Le Développement des caractères que le Syntax, essentiel dans le répertoire des fontes sans sérifs humanistiques –, il poursuit aujourd’hui avec de nouvelles créations, comme le Schulschrift. Il est tentant de qualifier sa production de « typographie durable ». Read this article -
Julien — the making of
by Peter Biľak
Julien is a playful geometric display typeface loosely inspired by the early 20th century avant-garde. It is based on elementary shapes and includes multiple variants of each letter. Read this article
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Nara – the typeface that never existed
by Andrej Krátky
The Nara typeface was completed more than 20 years after the initial design. This is the story of the search for gaps in type classification. Read this article -
We don’t need new fonts…
by Peter Biľak
Is there any reason to make new fonts when there are so many already available for downloading? It's time to reflect on motivation to draw new type. While there is no reason to make uninspired new fonts, still, there are typefaces which haven’t been made yet and which we do need. Read this article
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Letter Fountain, book review
by Ben Archer
Detailed look at the English edition of Letter Fountain, typographic reference book examining the form and anatomy of Latin alphabet. Read this article -
Arabic Calligraphy and Type Design
by Kristyan Sarkis
This article presents the Diwani style of Arabic which lead to designing Thuraya, a contemporary yet faithful interpretation of the Diwani style with extensive calligraphic features. Read this article
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Interview with René Knip
by Jon Glarbo
Interview with the Dutch designer René Knip, specialising in three-dimensional typography and lettering. Part of the book 158 answers. Read this article -
Typeface As Programme
by Jürg Lehni
Designer and programmer Jürg Lehni analyses the evolution of typographic technology and the nature of digital fonts, and introduces Donald E. Knuth’s groundbreaking TeX and Metafont systems. An essay complemented by interviews with Peter Biľak, Erik Spiekermann and Dimitri Bruni (NORM). Read this article
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Typeface As Programme:
by Jürg Lehni
Interview with Peter Biľak
Jürg Lehni and Peter Biľak in a conversation about the role of technology in type design, font formats and production tools, and Donald E. Knuth’s Metafont. Read this article -
Typeface As Programme:
by Jürg Lehni
Interview with Erik Spiekermann
Jürg Lehni interviews Erik Spiekermann about the legal definition of typefaces, web font distribution models and parametric fonts. Read this article
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Typeface As Programme:
by Jürg Lehni
Interview with Dimitri Bruni
Dimitri Bruni of NORM talks to Jürg Lehni about designing with systematic procedures and limitations, the influence of tools and their projects Replica and Sign Generator. Read this article -
Typeface As Programme: Glossary
by Jürg Lehni
A glossary of tools and technologies mentioned in Typeface As Programme. Read this article
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Conceptual Type?
by Peter Biľak
In November 2010 Peter Biľak was invited to give a talk at a one-day conference ‘Conceptual Type – Type led by ideas’ in Copenhagen about the underlying ideas behind typefaces. This lecture questions the possibility of conceptual type and compares type to other disciplines. Read this article -
Peter Biľak interviewed by Mark Thomson
by Mark Thomson
Peter Biľak speaks with Mark Thomson about his beginnings, running a type foundry, magazines, print media in general, modern dance and typography. This interview appeared in Eye magazine No.75, Spring 2010 in the Reputations series. Read this article
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In the Name Of the Father (or the troubles with L-caron)
by Peter Biľak
A real-life situation that forced a type designer to evaluate his profession. One small typographic detail (an incorrect version of the diacritic over the letter L) caused troubles with the authorities. With a happy end. Read this article -
Notes on the development of Charlie typeface family
by Ross Milne
This article was written to coincide with the launch of the new Typotheque website and the release of Charlie, a slab serif typeface designed by Ross Milne. An in-depth record of the design process is documented below, including some personal notes on the design process and its historical roots in the slab serif traditions of the nineteenth century. Read this article
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Font hinting
by Peter Biľak
Hinting, or screen optimising, is the process by which TrueType or PostScript fonts are adjusted for maximum readability on computer monitors. This text compares different ways of hinting (black & white, grey-scale, ClearType, DirectWrite), and explains the behaviour of fonts under different rasterisers. Read this article -
The history of History
by Peter Biľak
Two years after releasing History, Peter Bilak reflects on the process of creating this skeletal system in which different styles are imposed on a Roman capital base. Previous experiments are mentioned, as well as inspiration sources for the typeface. Read this article
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Methods of Distribution: Digital Fonts and the Global Market
by Peter Biľak
Article written for the Centre national des arts plastique, discussing conventional distribution methods of digital typefaces and their alternatives. The text focuses primarily on the French typography scene. Read this article -
Méthodes de distribution : les caractères numériques sur le marché mondial
by Peter Biľak
Article written for the Centre national des arts plastique, discussing conventional distribution methods of digital typefaces and their alternatives. The text focuses primarily on the French typography scene. Read this article
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Jan van Toorn, Critical Practice
by Peter Biľak
Third in the heavily subsidised series ‘Graphic design in the Netherlands’, Jan van Toorn, Critical Practice takes on the difficult task of exploring and striving to elucidate the work of Jan van Toorn (JvT), a designer who is not always clear about his intentions, who makes frequent use of inexplicable images and text, and whose work is often described with concepts such as ‘alienation’, ‘incomprehensibility’, ‘defamiliarisation’, ‘digressions’ and ‘intrusion’. Read this article -
Ways of Seeing, book review
by Peter Biľak
More than 35 years after the seminal art book Ways of Seeing was published, Peter Biľak looks closely at its continuing relevance. Read this article
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A View of Latin Typography in Relationship to the World
by Peter Biľak
A short essay scrutinising the general misconceptions of western typography, and the appropriateness of Euro-centric type terminology. Read this article -
Family planning, or how type families work
by Peter Biľak
An essay on the history and definition of type families, type design parameters, and the possibilities of creating larger type systems today. Read this article
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What is Typography?
by Peter Biľak
What do we mean by the term typography? Before starting any discussion it is useful to clarify the terminology and definition of the word. This is a first from the regular columns that Peter Bilak writes for online version of the Swedish magazine CAP & Design. Read this article -
화이트큐브의 그래픽디자인 / Graphic Design in the White Cube
by Peter Biľak
Read this article
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Eric Gill got it wrong; a re-evaluation of Gill Sans
by Ben Archer
This article is intended for an audience of contemporary designers and students who are at least one step removed from mid-century British typographic culture; it is a critique of the Gill Sans typeface and the idiosyncrasies of its creation from a contemporary perspective. The central argument is that an earlier typeface by Eric Gill’s mentor, Edward Johnston, is a superior piece of type design. Read this article -
Interview with Peter Biľak, Milano, 29/05/02
by Silvia Sfligiotti
Interview conducted by Luciano Perondi and Silvia Sfligiotti discussing issues of translation, languages, teaching, writing, organizing exhibitions, and having no answer to question about parallels between design and science. Read this article
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Conversazione modulare
by Silvia Sfligiotti
Peter Biľak, grafico e type designer slovacco attivo a L’Aia, con la sua fonderia digitale Typotheque e la rivista Dot Dot Dot si è fatto conoscere come voce originale e indipendente nel campo della tipografia e della riflessione critica sul design. Due anni fa ha iniziato una collaborazione con il Nederlands Dans Theater e il coreografo Lukáš Timulak, con il quale progetta e mette in scena performance di danza contemporanea. Lo abbiamo intervistato a Milano, nel cortile della nuova sede Aiap, il 30 maggio di quest’anno, il giorno dopo la sua conferenza all’Istituto Europeo di Design. Read this article -
À la recherche d’une théorie générale du dessin de caractères
by Peter Biľak
Read this article
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Beziehungen innerhalb der tschechoslowakischen Typografenszene
by Johanna Biľak
Dieser Artikel basiert zum Teil auf meiner Forschung für die Ausstellung über das tschechische und slowakische Schriftdesign mit Schwerpunkt auf der Entwicklung der Typografie in den letzten zwanzig Jahren, die ich zusammen mit Alan Záruba 2004-2006 kuratierte. Die Ausstellung mit dem Titel 'Experiment And Typography' wurde erstmals 2004 an der International Biennale of Graphic Design in Brno gezeigt und zog später weiter nach Prag, Den Haag, Bratislava, Cieszyn, Ljubljana, Warschau und Budapest. Read this article -
Czechoslovak Typography Connections
by Johanna Biľak
This article is partly based on the research for the exhibition on Czech and Slovak typeface design that we co-curated with Alan Záruba in 2004-2006 focusing on the last twenty years of typography development. The exhibition entitled 'Experiment And Typography' was first presented at the Biennale of Graphic Design in Brno in 2004 and later travelled to Prague, The Hague, Bratislava, Cieszyn, Ljubljana, Warsaw and Budapest. Read this article
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Kyoorius DesignYatra 2006, review of a design conference
by Peter Biľak
Review of India’s first design conference, held in 2006 in Goa. Read this article -
좋은 디자인이란 무엇인가
by Stefan Sagmeister
A Korean translation of Stefan Sagmeister’s lecture about the state of contemporary design, ethics, advertising and aesthetics. Read this article
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Microtipografia: Il progetto dei nuovi dizionari Collins
by Mark Thomson
L'Art Director di Collins descrive il procedimento seguito per il progetto di una nuova serie di dizionari, dal punto di vista storico, del layout e della scelta dei caratteri. Data la scala alla quale il contenuto del dizionario viene espresso, e il modo particolare in cui viene letto, le decisioni microtipografiche hanno un effetto amplificato. Read this article -
Graphic Design in the White Cube
by Peter Biľak
Essay accompanying the exhibition Graphic Design in the White Cube during the 22nd International Biennale of Graphic Design Brno 2006. Nineteen designers and collectives were commissioned to design posters for the design exhibition in which they were to participate. Instead of bringing work from the outside to the gallery, the work is made for the gallery. Instead of recreating the context for the exhibition, gallery conditions are the context for the work. Read this article
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Designing Type — book review
by Peter Biľak
As a teacher of type design and typography I have always wished for a book which I could recommend to my students without hesitation, and so I was excited to receive Karen Cheng’s Designing Type. As the author remarks in her introduction, there are simply very few books that explain the type design process comprehensively. Read this article -
In search of a comprehensive type design theory
by Peter Biľak
An honest appraisal of the role discussions about type design have in the broader culture today, and why there is a need for a more cohesive discussion within the field. Read this article
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Falta de diseño, exceso de diseño y volver a diseñar
by Peter Biľak
El no-diseño como una repuesta al sobre-diseño y el manierismo contemporáneo. Alegato a favor de un diseño que, tomando en cuenta su contexto, responda a las necesidades de comunicación y no a modas pasajeras con las que el diseñador luce su virtuosismo técnico. Read this article -
Tipografía de los noventa. La demistificación y re-mistificación
by Peter Biľak
Read this article
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Las personas como píxeles
by Peter Hall
Un interesante análisis sobre la historia, el contexto y el uso político de imágenes gráficas conformadas por multitudes: ¡la gente como pixeles! Read this article -
Sandberg, Designer and Director of Stedelijk
by Peter Biľak
Graphic designer Willem Sandberg became the director of Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum in 1945. From that time until 1962 he designed almost all the printed matter for the Stedelijk and transformed the museum, introducing new ideas into the stuffy world of museums of that time. Read this article
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En busca de una teoría completa del diseño tipográfico
by Peter Biľak
Una honesta valoración del papel que las discusiones sobre diseño tipográfico juegan hoy en la cultura general, y porqué hay necesidad de discusiones más integradoras dentro de la disciplina. Read this article -
Historia de una fuente nueva
by Peter Biľak
El diseño tipográfico como conocimiento acumulado y continuidad: una mirada al papel de los diseñadores de tipos, la historia y la tecnología, los revivals y la invención. Read this article
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Acerca de Fedra
by Peter Biľak
Una breve mirada al enfoque ‘sintético’ con que Peter Bilak entiende el diseño de tipos. Se examina Eureka, su diseño anterior, y las recientes familias de Fedra. Read this article -
Microtypography, Designing the new Collins dictionaries
by Mark Thomson
The art director of Collins describes the process of designing the new set of dictionaries, their history, layout and choice of type. Due to the scale at which a dictionary’s content is expressed and the particular way in which the content is read, microtypographic decisions have an unusually large effect. Read this article
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Peter Biľak, founder of Typotheque, Dot Dot Dot
by Rudy VanderLans
Rudy VanderLans talks with Peter Biľak about the Typotheque founder’s education, design practice and experience as an ex-pat Slovak living in the Netherlands. Dot Dot Dot is discussed, as well as the typefaces Biľak has produced and his current teaching practice. Read this article -
Typographica Mea Culpa, Unethical Downloading
by Steven Heller
Steven Heller describes the guilty revelation experienced when he learned that typeface software licenses are sold for use on specific, not unlimited numbers of CPUs. He calls for the ethical treatment of type designers, i.e. respect for their copyrights. Read this article
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Fred Smeijers’s Arnhem typefaces
by Andy Crewdson
Andy Crewdson discusses the origins of the Dutch designer’s recent family of types. Read this article -
Martin Majoor feature
by Peter Biľak
The introduction to a series of interviews and articles by and about Martin Majoor, the designer of Scala, Seria, Telefont and others. Read this article
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Experimental typography. Whatever that means.
by Peter Biľak
An epistemology of the word ‘experimental’ as it applies to design and type, contrasted with its scientific connotations. Examples of past and current design, type and reading/language, as well as scientific experiment, are taken into account. Read this article -
New Faces (abstract): type design in the first decade of device-independent digital typesetting (1987-1997)
by Emily King
The abstract for Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997. Read this article
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New Faces (Introduction)
by Emily King
The introduction to Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997 (part one). Read this article -
New Faces (Historiography)
by Emily King
The introduction to Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997 (part two). Read this article
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New Faces (Typographic History in the Context of Broader Design Historical Models)
by Emily King
The introduction of Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997 (part three). Read this article -
New Faces (Chapter One: Technological and Industrial Change: Setting the Scene)
by Emily King
The first chapter of Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997 (part one). Read this article
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New Faces (Mapping Contemporary Type Design)
by Emily King
The first chapter of Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997 (part two). Read this article -
New Faces (Chapter Two: The West Coast)
by Emily King
The second chapter of Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997. Read this article
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New Faces (Chapter Three: The East Coast)
by Emily King
The third chapter of Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997. Read this article -
New Faces (Chapter Four: London)
by Emily King
The fourth chapter of Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997. Read this article
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New Faces (Chapter Five: The Netherlands)
by Emily King
The fifth chapter of Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997. Read this article -
New Faces (Conclusion)
by Emily King
The conclusion of Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997. Read this article
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New Faces (Bibliography)
by Emily King
The bibliography of Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997. Read this article -
New Faces (List of Interviews)
by Emily King
The list of designers interviewd for Emily King’s doctoral thesis which focuses on typeface design in the United States, England and the Netherlands between 1987 and 1997. Read this article
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Battle of the Blogs
by Dmitri Siegel
Blogs, design criticism and the AIGA Vancouver conference discussion about the premacy of corporate vs. editorial design... Read this article -
Fedra typefaces reviewed
by Andy Crewdson
A brief look at Peter Bilak’s ‘synthetic’ approach to type design which examines both his earlier Eureka and more recent Fedra families. Read this article
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History of a new font (notes on designing Fedra Serif)
by Peter Biľak
Type design as accumulated knowledge and continuity: a look at the role of type designers, history and technology, revivals and invention. Read this article -
E-A-T, a selection of contemporary Czech and Slovak type design
by Dan Reynolds
Dan Reynolds reviews a travelling exhibit of Czech and Slovak type design from the past two decades, and compares this exhibit to the Fresh Fonts exhibit of Swiss design shown in Zurich until July 2004. Read this article
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Why Not Associates?2
by Peter Biľak
A critical review of the London-based design group’s second collection of work, published in 2004. Peter Biľak’s review, first appearing in Items magazine, poses questions about the role of self-promotional design publishing as he describes the visually stimulating work of a contemporary design studio. Read this article -
The Book of Probes
by Peter Biľak
A critical review of a new book featuring excerpts of Marshall McLuhan’s work, designed by David Carson. Tha author considers the complex task of illustrating McLuhan’s intricate work, and whether or not Carson’s visual devices are successful. Read this article
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State of the Arts publishing
by Stuart Bailey
Two books are reviewed and compared: one, a Phaidon book by Steven Heller on the history of avant-garde publications from the early 20th century on, the other, a glossier Taschen book featuring the recent design work of some 100 studios. Read on as Stuart Bailey puts the two in a ring together and hands Heller a very large pair of gloves. Read this article -
Context in Critique (review of Emigre No.64, Rant)
by Dmitri Siegel
A review of Emigre Number 64, the Rant issue, where upon its pages designers do just that. Siegel talks about the old Legibility Wars of the 1990s, how design is being produced, thought of and critiqued today and in the 1990s, and he even provides an interesting background of the Dutch design environment as a foil for the maintream of the western design world. Read this article
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The Boulevard of Broken Dreams
by Steven Heller
A review of a new comic strip novel by an ‘underground comix master’, full of complex plot lines and psychologies, stories about and parodies of the underbelly of the cartoon business, all drwan exquisitely. Read this article -
Marshall Arisman: Facing the Audience
by Steven Heller
A film review of director Tony Silver‘s documentary about the life and work of the Amercian illustrator Marshall Arisman. Read this article
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Restart: New Systems in Graphic Design
by Peter Biľak
A critical review of the design book Restart, first appearing in Items first issue. Some very well-known designers’ work is featured in this modern vs. post-modern, 175 page book from two London-based authors. Read this article -
Bruce Mau: Life Style
by Stuart Bailey
A review, first appearing in Items first issue, of Bruce Mau‘s other large book, which arrived three years after S,M,L,XL. Described is an interesting archaeology of contemporary culture and design. Read this article
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Edward Fella: Letters on America
by Steven Heller
Steven Heller, in his affable way, reviews a book by Lewis Blackwell and Lorraine Wild which takes on Ed Fella's Polaroids of found graphics and alphabets throughout the US as well as some of his lettering. The book sounds like a lively account of American vernacular lettering and images, as well as a good platform to view Ed Fella's own work. Read this article -
R. Crumb: Odds and Ends
by Steven Heller
A collection of Robert Crumb’s lesser known work spanning three decades gives credence to Steven Heller's claim that Crumb is the god of comics. Heller also gives a bit of background to the New York/US counterculture that Crumb fed with his racy work. Read this article
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Tomi Ungerer, A Childhood Under the Nazis
by Steven Heller
The autobiography of iconoclast Tomi Ungerer is a fascinating first-hand account of his childhood under Nazi occupation. It is also a rare visual collection of his dangerously rebellious drawings from the time as well as the dark ephemera he collected, making this a rare combination of cultural and political documentation and artist's history. Read this article -
Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist
by Andrew Blauvelt
A review of the late Kalman’s monograph in context, with a brief background of Tibor’s influential design work and approach to its role in the consumer culture of the 80s and 90s. Read this article
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Jack
by Stuart Bailey
A critical review and description of an open-structured live multimedia performance series which took place in the Netherlands in 1999. Read this article -
Wolfgang Weingart: Typography
by Stuart Bailey
A useful critical review of the monograph from the Swiss designer who bent the Swiss grid. Stuart Bailey looks at the contradictions in Weingart's book and his design work in context. Read this article
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Maeda@media
by Peter Biľak
A review of John Maeda's monograph from 2000. A critical look at the book's design, and the philosophy and work of the new media designer/artist. Read this article -
Mooi maar Goed, Graphic design in The Netherlands
by Stuart Bailey
Stuart Bailey discusses the curation of a retrospective of Dutch design, illustrating the fallibility of presentation methods which treat design work as museum or gallery pieces. Read this article
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Structural Package Designs
by Stuart Bailey
A positive review of a simply designed handbook of package design in a time where gloss is king in design publishing. Read this article -
The Fashion of Politics
by Michael Bierut
Darryl Hannah, politics, typeface choices, supermodels and Paula Scher are discussed in this review of the first issue of John F. Kennedy Jr.’s magazine, George. Read this article
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20th century type
by Stuart Bailey
A critical review of the design and content of a collection of some 20th century type and its applications. Read this article -
The Swastika: Constructing The Symbol
by Steven Heller
An in depth account of Malcolm Quinn’s book about the swastika, which investigates in depth the history and function of the symbol, beginning with its earliest manifestations in cultures around the globe and even its pre-Nazi uses in western commerce, then focusing on its forever tarnishing appropriation by Hitler. Read this article
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Reports of Its End Have Been Exaggerated
by Michael Bierut
A review of Lewis Blackwell’s book The End of Print: The Graphic Design of David Carson. The review contains an archaeology of the state of design in the mid-90s and some of the discussions which surrounded the work of the surf pro gone design star. Read this article -
Art of the Third Reich
by Steven Heller
A brief rundown of the treatment of art by the Nazi state and the background of Hitler’s repressive cultural policies in this review of two books, one about the art of the Nazi state in general, and the other specifically about the show Degenerate Art which toured the Reich in an attempt to exterminate modern art. Read this article
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Playing by Mr. Rand’s Rules
by Michael Bierut
Paul Rand’s design philosophies, latter publishing history and vinegar attitude to 90s design is discussed in this review of several of Rand’s books of his essays and design. Read this article -
10 Issues of Fuse
by Michael Rock
A thorough albeit pointed review, from a perspective of the early 1990s, of Neville Brody’s and Jon Wozencroft’s pioneering magazine Fuse. A timely piece of history for those interested in the design of type. Read this article
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Design History
by Steven Heller
A call for greater design history instruction in graphic design education as a way to better (and Heller hints proper) design. ‘Design programs should encourage designers to become critical historians...’ Read this article -
Fuck Tibor
by Dmitri Siegel
Despite the piece’s off-colour title, an optimism exists in this reaction to what the author sees as the hermetic design field’s reverence of the late Tibor Kalman. Read this article
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My Type Design Philosophy
by Martin Majoor
This article by the designer of Scala and Seria is as much a typographic guide and history lesson as it is a personal account of his approach to type design. Read this article -
Seria’s motives: How Martin Majoor developed his ‘literary typeface’
by Andy Crewdson
The background of the design of Majoor’s font Seria. Read this article
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How Good is Good?
by Stefan Sagmeister
Stefan Sagmeister talks about the state of current design, ethics, advertising and aesthetics. Read this article -
Spot the difference
by Emily King
Emily King examines the interaction of punctuation, numerals and acronyms via corporate design and an album cover. Read this article
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Graphic intervention
by Steven Heller
Steven Heller discusses the history and current state of guerrilla, activist and political design from posters to attached image files. Read this article -
The Time for Being Against
by Rick Poynor
An enjoyably nebulous set of Rick Poynor’s thoughts about the current condition of criticism and the value of oppositional tactics in design and writing. Read this article
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The Long March
by Max Bruinsma
The optimistic theory is put forth that institutions of power have been democratized by the “empowering effects of the media” and that real change can be effected by graphic designers who use their work to engage the public in meaningful dialogue. Read this article -
Reduce to the max
by Max Bruinsma
A reduced and expanded exploration of Swiss design and culture across the 20th century. Read this article
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People as Pixels
by Peter Hall
An interesting analysis of the history, politics and context of graphic images which are composed of crowds of people: people as pixels! Read this article -
One Picture, 1,000 Word
by Peter Hall
A brief examination of the politics, culture and designer’s role in the uses, cultural placement and proliferation of stock photography. Read this article
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Contemporary Dutch graphic design: an insider/outsider’s view
by Peter Biľak
An essay about the design culture which is specific to the Netherlands. Read this article -
The Small Crit
by Steven Heller
A brief look at the role of graphic design criticism. Read this article
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The Last Supper
by Emily King
Emily King briefly looks at visual artists use of type, and their collaboration with designers in their work. Read this article -
Mars calling Earth
by Max Bruinsma
A refreshingly positive response to (and call for?) more, and more thoughtful culture and design publications in a time when the phrase “who needs another design mag?” is common. Max Bruinsma also briefly details the evolution of Dutch and other non-mainstream/design publications. Read this article
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Fluid Mechanics: Typographic Design Now
by Ellen Lupton
A poetically theoretical take on the fluid state of type, design and the vernacular in digital form as they relate to language and contemporary culture. Read this article -
Zap Comics
by Steven Heller
An anecdotal history and analysis of the racy work of Robert Crumb, and the cultural situationing of Zap comics then and now. Read this article
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Quick Cuts, Coarse Letters, Multiple Screens:
by Steven Heller
An overview of the work of Cuban-born titling artist Pablo Ferro who broke ground with the titles for films like Dr. Strangelove and pioneered moving type for the screen. Read this article -
Ladislav Sutnar and Knud Lönberg-Holm
by Steven Heller
A history of the little-known collaboration of Ladislav Sutnar and Knud Lönberg-Holm, who together were a modern design team which was ahead of its time in the realm of information information design. Read this article
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Otto Bettmann: Father of Retro
by Steven Heller
About the German-born founder of the Bettmann Archives in New York which houses over 5 million cuts, drawings, images and pieces of ephemera, collected since the 1930's. Read this article -
Advertising Arts: America Becomes Modern(istic)
by Steven Heller
A history and analysis of the role played by this American precursor to the graphic design magazine, which sought to bring progressive commercial graphic and industrial arts into the mainstream. Read this article
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Erik Nitsche: The Reluctant Modernist
by Steven Heller
The life and work of the quietly pivotal Swiss modern design Erik Nitsche, who's clients ranged from the MOMA to RCA in a career that spanned the 20th century. Read this article -
Designed Screens
by Paul Elliman
Screens of all sorts, their histories and their metaphors are approached in this theoretical discussion which take on the panopticon, Clinton’s inauguration and the largest movie screen in the world. Read this article
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The Science of Typography
by Ellen Lupton
‘Scientific’ studies of typography and legibility are analysed by Ellen Lupton... Read this article -
Old Guns
by Steven Heller
In 1999, Print magazine talked to 20 American design heroes and had them look at work from their halcyon days. Designers from Art Chantry to Massimo Vignelli discuss a piece of early work as a foil for Print’s ‘Designers Under Thirty’ section. Read this article
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Words On Screens
by Max Bruinsma
Max Bruinsma (who declares he has no printer, just a Zip drive) calls for greater attention to be paid to type on screen, is echoed by Matthew Carter, with a brief discussion of screen text technology and its place in reading today (or then). Read this article -
The Designer as Producer
by Ellen Lupton
Walter Benjamin’s ideas are explored (amongst other early 20th century avant-garde artists) in relation to the recent discussions around expanding the designer’s role from that of problem solver to one of author—and producer. Read this article
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Graphic Design Magazines: Das Plakat
by Steven Heller
The point-form story of a German dentist named Hans Josef Sachs and the magazine Das Plakat he founded on his love for posters. Responsible for the promulgation of early German advertising art abroad, his vast collection was confiscated by Goebbels for the Nazis’ collections and Sachs narrowly escaped the Holocaust. Steven Heller looks at the rise and fall of this significant early design periodical. Read this article -
The Object Poster:
by Steven Heller
Wooden display types, Victorian chromolithography and the demise of Art Nouveau in the form of a poster for a German Match company in 1906... Read this article
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De Stijl, New Media, and the Lessons of Geometry
by Jessica Helfand
An exploded view of the digital screen, informed by analyses of architecture, designers’ roles, avant-garde Dutch design from the De Stijl period and geometry. Read this article -
Graphic Authorship
by Michael Rock
An examination from 1996 of the history and concept of the designer as author, starting in the first decades of the 20th century. Read this article
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Thirty-six point Gorilla
by Emily King
A fascinatingly thorough investigation of the naming of typefaces. The naming of type as a window to history, conventions, the hermetic type world and cultural context, then and now. Read this article -
Font Embedding
by Erik van Blokland
In 1996 Erik van Blokland relays the problems with font embedding, which a decade later has little success… Read this article
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Walter Herdeg, editor and founder of Graphis
by Steven Heller
The “epitome of a post-war Modernist”, Walter Herdeg, backbone of Graphis magazine, is appraised by Steven Heller. Read this article -
Dutch type design
by Peter Biľak
A mid-90s account of the development and current state of Dutch design and type in the context of its cultural and political history. Read this article
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Official Anarchy: Dutch Graphic Design
by Max Bruinsma
A mid-90s appraisal of Dutch graphic design’s unique qualities, with an overview of various studios, designers and significant movements from the 20th century. Read this article -
Electronic Typography: The New Visual Language
by Jessica Helfand
A talking Barbie lush as a foil for the Mac’s Speech functions; debates about the value of capital letters; Derrida, Saussure and Foucault; Oliver Sachs and Chaucer are all considered in this theoretical piece about the state of typography in new media. Read this article
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Cult of the Ugly
by Steven Heller
In the early 1990s Steven Heller takes on the word ugly as he sees it applied to graphic design and design education. En route, his views of art history, pop culture and recent design trends are considered in his essay about style and meaning in design. Read this article -
Waiting for Permission
by Michael Bierut
An early 90s discussion about social responsibility and design. Using a frightening 1960s social behaviour experiment as his fulcrum, the author suggests that the designer has the responsibility to do more than provide design as a service to the client. Read this article
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Martin Majoor, type designer
by Peter Biľak
Martin Majoor, known for his typefaces Scala and Seria, is interviewed by Peter Biľak. The origins of his type, book design and working methods are discussed. Read this article -
Tobias Frere-Jones, type designer
by Dmitri Siegel
An interview from 2002 with the Font Bureau designer Tobias Frere-Jones, the creator of Gotham, Interstate and Garage Gothic to name just a few. Read this article
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Paul Thompson, director of the Cooper Hewitt Museum
by Steven Heller
A discussion about the role of design, museums and more in British and American culture. Read this article -
Rudy VanderLans, editor of Emigre
by David Casacuberta and Rosa Llop
The globalisation and homogenisation of design, legibility and communication and the history of Emigre magazine are discussed in this interview with its founder, Rudy VanderLans. Read this article
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Don Norman, Usablity Expert
by Steven Heller
Design errors in academic design curricula, the 2000 presidential ballot and aviation and nuclear accidents are considered, the concept of human error is called into question, and a call for human-centered design for the fallible user is put forward in this discussion from 2001. Read this article -
Merrill Berman, Design Connoisseur
by Steven Heller
A discussion about the art and design ephemera collecting practices of Merrill Berman, who has amassed a vast portfolio of design history from the past century and more. Read this article
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Neal Gabler, media critic
by Steven Heller
America as the republic of entertainment, the way Americans’ freedom in a vast choice of cable TV stations, xenophobia and the putting forward of the theory that American culture is NOT run by the political Right: all in the context of European and American history. Read this article -
Karel Martens, graphic designer
by Peter Biľak
The prolific founder of Werkplaats Typografie, Karel Martens focuses on the design of the Dutch architectural magazine OASE in his 1999 conversation with Peter Biľak. Read this article
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Letterror, designers and programmers
by Peter Biľak
A discussion from the late 1990s with Erik van Blokland and Just van Rossum about their work as type designers designing programmers.
Just van Rossum,(1966) Erik van Blokland (1967), are known for their work that they done separately together under the name Letterror. They are both graduates from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. After a short work for companies abroad (MetaDesign, FontBureau) they started to work freelanced in The Hague. In 1990 they have introduced “random fonts”, computer programmed outlines that print differently in each impression. They have designed over 50 fonts for FontShop and FUSE. In their typographic work they extensively use programming. Read this article -
Max Kisman, graphic designer
by Peter Biľak
A mid-1990s discussion of the state of type design, graphic design in the Netherlands and emerging digital media. Read this article
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Writing Lessons: Modern Design Theory
by Ellen Lupton
A history of visual design and arts pedagogy, the Bauhaus, semiotics and gestalt theories as they apply to modern graphic design education. Read this article -
Women Graphic Designers
by Ellen Lupton
A survey of woman designers of books, magazines, activist campaigns, identities etc. across the 20th century. Read this article
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Helvetica: Homage to a Typeface, review
by Andy Crewdson
Lars Müller is taken to task for his religious reverence for and faith in the omnipresent Helvetica, and the book he produced which is described as a sort of universalist, modernist gospel but several decades misplaced. What one might come away with from the book and review is the possibility that type preferences are simply individualistic... so what does it matter anyway? Read this article -
Ladislav Sutnar, Web Design before the Internet
by Steven Heller
Steven Heller laments the disappearance of refined modern design craftsmanship and organisation, and provides some background to Sutnar’s work, upholding him as a pioneer of just this sort of waning craft. Read this article
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Serial type families (from Romulus to Thesis)
by Alejandro Lo Celso
A thorough look at the history and development of large type families across the 20th century. Read this article -
Taking Credit: Film title sequences, 1955-1965 / 1 Contents
by Emily King
Emily King’s contents (part two of ten) for her dissertation for the V&A/RCA M.A. Course in the History of Design. The dissertation focuses on the relationship between graphic design and film in the middle of the past century. Read this article
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Taking Credit: Film title sequences, 1955-1965 / Acknowledgements
by Emily King
Emily King's acknowledgements for her dissertation for the V&A/RCA M.A. Course in the History of Design. The dissertation focuses on the relationship between graphic design and film in the middle of the past century. Read this article -
Taking Credit: Film title sequences, 1955-1965 / 4 Abstracting the Essence
by Emily King
Part four of ten of Emily King’s dissertation for the V&A/RCA M.A. Course in the History of Design. The dissertation focuses on the relationship between graphic design and film in the middle of the past century. Read this article
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Taking Credit: Film title sequences, 1955-1965 / 2 Introduction
by Emily King
Emily King’s introduction to her dissertation for the V&A/RCA M.A. Course in the History of Design. The dissertation focuses on the relationship between graphic design and film in the middle of the past century. Read this article -
Taking Credit: Film title sequences, 1955-1965 / 3 Visions in Motion
by Emily King
Part three of ten of Emily King’s dissertation for the V&A/RCA M.A. Course in the History of Design. The dissertation focuses on the relationship between graphic design and film in the middle of the past century. here she lays down the modernist roots of her work. Read this article
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Taking Credit: Film title sequences, 1955-1965 / 5 Spiralling Aspirations: Vertigo, 1958
by Emily King
Part five of ten of Emily King’s dissertation for the V&A/RCA M.A. Course in the History of Design. The dissertation focuses on the relationship between graphic design and film in the middle of the past century. Saul bass, Hitchcock, Clement Greenbrg, Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood: the American avant garde and kitsch... Read this article -
Taking Credit: Film title sequences, 1955-1965 / 6: Musical Statues: Spartacus, 1960
by Emily King
Part six of ten of Emily King’s dissertation for the V&A/RCA M.A. Course in the History of Design. The dissertation focuses on the relationship between graphic design and film in the middle of the past century. Saul bass, Hitchcock, Clement Greenbrg, Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood: the American avant garde and kitsch... Read this article
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Taking Credit: Film title sequences, 1955-1965 / 7: Sex and Typography: From Russia With Love, 1963
by Emily King
Part seven of ten of Emily King's dissertation for the V&A/RCA M.A. Course in the History of Design. The dissertation focuses on the relationship between graphic design and film in the middle of the past century. Bond titling sequences and the invasion of British design... Read this article -
Taking Credit: Film title sequences, 1955-1965 / 8 Popcorn and Pop graphics, What’s New Pussycat?, 1965
by Emily King
Part eight of ten of Emily King’s dissertation for the V&A/RCA M.A. Course in the History of Design. The dissertation focuses on the relationship between graphic design and film in the middle of the past century. Read this article
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Taking Credit: Film title sequences, 1955-1965 / 9 Conclusion
by Emily King
The conclusion of Emily King’s dissertation for the V&A/RCA M.A. Course in the History of Design. The dissertation focuses on the relationship between graphic design and film in the middle of the past century. Read this article -
Taking Credit: Film title sequences, 1955-1965 / 10 Bibliography
by Emily King
The bibliography for Emily King’s dissertation for the V&A/RCA M.A. Course in the History of Design. The dissertation focuses on the relationship between graphic design and film in the middle of the past century. Read this article
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Deconstruction and Graphic Design: History Meets Theory
by Ellen Lupton
A theory-heavy, mid-1990s look at the concept of Deconstruction, looking at its origins in French post-structuralist discourse and then current use in the design world. Read this article -
Irma Boom, book designer
by Peter Biľak
Irma Boom, one of the world’s foremost book designers, discusses her working methods, preferences, and the nature of free-range design. Read this article
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