Feature: Design history
A house that type built
Type foundry House Industries – the subject of a hefty new monograph and a retrospective exhibition near Detroit – champions the joyful vulgarity of United States graphic arts. Jason Godfrey and Dan Adams pay tribute
Expressive geometry
Kabel, Rudolf Koch’s eccentric, geometric 1920s typeface, has been revived as a 21st century type family by Marc Schütz. By Madeleine Morley, with extracts from Gerald Cinamon’s book about Koch
Take my concept
Boris Bućan’s early posters display an audacity that challenges divisions between graphic design and fine art
Stamped in the memory
The Gentle Author’s book about East London print and envelope specialists the Baddeley Brothers demonstrates the very crafts it celebrates
James Mosley: A life in objects
Through his ideas, collecting and dogged research, the former St Bride librarian has shown that printing history can be both lively and opinionated. The world of typography owes him a great debt
The first couple of American billboards
Otis and Dorothy Shepard, the ‘Scott and Zelda’ of mid-century advertising graphics, were neglected when design history was written. A new book brings their colourful legacy into vivid focus
Powered flight
For fifteen years, Pegasus, an international biannual corporate magazine designed by Derek Birdsall, led a charmed life.
Bitworld
Digital archeologist Jim Boulton explores the creative history of computer technology
In the right place
In this extract from his book, Gerald Cinamon explains how he brought integrated book design to Penguin – first at his kitchen table in the 1960s; later as chief designer
Leftovers with a bad taste
In the past century the use of ‘trade characters’ built brand loyalty while reinforcing stereotypes