Opinion
Rick Poynor
How does a graphic work claim its place in history? Notoriety and originality helps, but nothing beats repeated publication. Critique by Rick Poynor
Question and Answer,
Adam Machacek, Sebastien Bohner
Who cares about graphic design history?
Question and Answer,
Ryan Pescatore Frisk, Catelijne van Middelkoop
Who cares about graphic design history?
Question and Answer,
Rob Giampietro, Kevin Smith
Who cares about graphic design history?
Features
Martha Scotford
In the late 1980s, US designer and historian Martha Scotford set out on a mission to discover what might constitute a canon of graphic design …
Steve Rigley
Humble and often vulgar, chapbooks offer an illuminating window into the medieval world.
Paul Barnes
Both artisan and art director, Hermann Eidenbenz was a subtle master of Swiss design.
Jan Middendorp
Rivadulla’s revolutionary poster art avoids socialist cliché. By Jan Middendorp
Nick Bell
Ko Sliggers conveyed a complex, subtle message with a seemingly effortless collage.
Christopher Burke
By representing data in simple graphic form, Isotype anticipated modern information design.
Elizabeth Resnick
Jacqueline Casey’s posters used wit, invention and the grid to reach the essence of each subject.
Mario Feliciano
Lexicon, by Bram de Does, is a type designer’s type design, par excellence.
Krzysztof Fijalkowski
The journal Néon was a unique graphic expression of Surrealism
Eric Heiman
Michael Stipe’s early R.E.M. sleeves were a strange fusion of the DIY spirit of punk and the mystery of America’s Deep South.
Matt Soar
Roundel’s identity for Railfreight in the late 1980s unified a multi-faceted business with a strong identity that boosted morale.
Stuart McKee
Todd Trexler’s Das Black Moonlight poster marked drag’s movement into the public consciousness.
Jonathan Baldwin
Though touted as the ‘university of the air’, it was the OU’s graphic design that made it a revolutionary success.
Michael Worthington
The title sequence for this Truffaut movie heralds brilliantly a world where the written word is forbidden.
Teal Triggs
Katy Keene made comic history by being the first magazine to be designed in part by its readers.
Catherine Dixon
A modest dictionary of print terms has been a source of inspiration for 60 years.
Eric Kindel
After 90 years, Ishihara’s colour deficiency plates have proved their effectiveness as a diagnostic tool – and they are still beautiful.
Steven Heller
When art director Art Paul made the journey from Bauhaus to Hefner’s Playboy mansion, men’s mags became truly ‘Modern’.
John Beck, Matthew Cornford
Keef’s album covers are visual essays of their time, full of bleakness and possibility.
John L. Walters
The world’s first museum of its kind, plus the ‘European Championship of Graphic Design’