Design history
28 June 2016
Forging a new society
Children’s picturebooks from Soviet Russia. Clare Walters reviews A New Childhood at the House of Illustration
Anyone interested in Russian graphic design and illustration of the early twentieth century, or in the history of children’s picturebooks, will find the current exhibition at the House of Illustration fascinating, writes Clare Walters.
9 June 2016
Bodoni the celebrity
Giambattista Bodoni was a pioneer, a polymath and a perfectionist printer. Robert Hanks reviews a new book about the man behind the typeface
Anybody with an interest in typography will have come across the name Bodoni; but the reasons for his fame are more obscure, writes Robert Hanks.
19 March 2016
Relocation to Albertopolis
Save the date! On 24 November 2016 the new Design Museum opens at the former Commonwealth Institute building in Kensington
Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic yesterday announced the date – Thursday 24 November 2016 – for the somewhat delayed opening of the museum’s new home in Kensington.
10 March 2016
Roger Perry’s London letters
A ‘replica reissue’ of The Writing on the Wall’, designed by Pearce Marchbank, delivers a gritty slab of mid-1970s graffiti
The Writing on the Wall (Plain Crisp Books) is a recent, Kickstarter-financed ‘replica reissue’ of a cult book from four decades ago, writes John L. Walters.
1 March 2016
Classic Collections – The Big Picture
Another bundle of back issues – 34, 43, 49 & 56 – featuring design in the public realm
‘The Big Picture’ is the handy, if somewhat arbitrary name we have given to a bunch Eye issues from the turn of the century and early noughties: nos. 34, 43, 49 and 56. All four issues were art directed by Nick Bell.
24 February 2016
The calm collector
A new collection of Steve Hare’s writing demonstrates an erudite passion for the design and content of Penguin Books
The late Steve Hare (1950-2015) was one of those writers that every editor appreciates, writes John L. Walters.
11 February 2016
Classic Collections – Back to the 90s
Surf back down the information superhighway to a time when the World Wide Web was thrillingly new – with Eye nos. 14, 16, 23 & 25
Most early editions of Eye magazine are out of print. However a handful from the mid-to-late 1990s are still available from the Eye shop at ESco in Essex, and this bundle is an especially good bargain for magazine addicts.
29 January 2016
Free spirit of Victorian photography
Two London exhibitions show the pioneering work of photographer Julia Margaret Cameron
Two current exhibitions in London’s museum district celebrate the work of pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, writes Maggie Malone.
26 January 2016
Books received #17
Logo Modernism, DixonBaxi, Cries of London, deValence and No Words Posters
Here are a few books that caught our attention in recent weeks.
14 January 2016
Warning cries
Paul Rennie casts new light on RoSPA’s safety posters. Review of Safety First by Clare Walters
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) employed many of the best designers of the twentieth century to make its safety posters.