Peter Biľak speaks to Irma Boom about how her design practice developed over the past decade.
Interviews ·
23 July 2012
· English
· 2942 words
Detailed look at the English edition of Letter Fountain, typographic reference book examining the form and anatomy of Latin alphabet.
Reviews ·
24 June 2011
· English
· 1218 words
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.
Reviews ·
13 May 2006
· English
· 267 words
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.
Reviews ·
11 May 2005
· English
· 1094 words
Andy Crewdson discusses the origins of the Dutch designer’s recent family of types.
Typeface stories ·
24 February 2005
· English
· 1573 words
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.
Reviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 675 words
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.
Reviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 1633 words
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.
Reviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 633 words
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.
Reviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 613 words
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.
Reviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 899 words
A critical review of the design and content of a collection of some 20th century type and its applications.
Reviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 388 words
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.
Reviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 1841 words
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.
Essays ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 1624 words
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.
Essays ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 607 words
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.
Interviews ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 1412 words
A survey of woman designers of books, magazines, activist campaigns, identities etc. across the 20th century.
Essays ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 4875 words
A thorough look at the history and development of large type families across the 20th century.
Essays ·
29 November 2004
· English
· 4197 words
Irma Boom, one of the world’s foremost book designers, discusses her working methods, preferences, and the nature of free-range design.
Interviews ·
29 November 2001
· English
· 1590 words
