Summer 2010
Contents Eye 76
Music design special issue
Regulars and features
2
Critique: Left out of the frame
A collection of design shorts made for the COI is full of details, but short on context says Rick Poynor.
4
Yin and yang
Type guru Matthew Carter explains how he came to design his first wooden type.
93
Uncoated
Metahaven, Edward Tufte in London, TYPO Berlin. Plus Maira Kalman and wine labels.
Music design
special issue
12
Record sleeves are dead – long live music design! Iconic covers that defined an evocative era.
16
Sound and vision
From spectacle to content: time to find new, meaningful associations between music and design.
Attacked by music, type & light
Technology on tour. Noel Douglas talks to UVA’s Matt Clark about their sets for Massive Attack.
Classical crossroads
Design meets serious music: long programme notes, small budgets and ‘de-averaging’.
26
Make music visible
Big Active aims to make music tangible – with stars such as Keane, Goldfrapp and Beck.
36
One man brand?
Adrian Shaughnessy reassesses Manfred Eicher’s label ECM in the light of a new publication.
40
Formal lawlessness
Fragmentation in the music industry has aided the rise of rock posters. Eric Heiman reports.
44
Grab the hook
‘Musicians are cooler, more fun and more creative than normal people.’ Jane Cheng talks to Young Monster.
48
Reputations
Steven Heller interviews Alex Steinweiss, the designer who invented the album sleeve.
58
Pack shots
A new wave of extravagant music packaging: Unkle, Kate Moross, and Vaughan Oliver’s Minotaur.
64
Eye education
Dan Fern explains his pioneering ‘MAP / making’ course – music, art and performance – at the RCA.
68
All her own invention
For decades, Laurie Anderson has used graphic means to tell stories. Interview by John L. Walters.
72
Dot dot rock
Zoë Street Howe on the black art of ‘metal umlauts’, with Motörhead, Mötley Crüe, Blue Öyster Cult, etc.
74
Design + music = magic
Sleeves and bags tell us what their contents sound like, says Fred Deakin. But what next?
80
Scribble and strum
From cool and literary to rude and crude: Andrew Losowsky looks at music mags old and new.