Eye Magazine

London lacks galleries dedicated to type and design, despite heroic attempts – from private pop-ups to the much-missed Type Archive. Yet Elena Veguillas discovered giant lettering displays in streets throughout the city: the Truman’s Brewery signs still visible on myriad streets and corners.

Seen close up, the work of prolific artist and designer Tadanori Yokoo is overwhelmingly forceful, whatever your language, culture or taste. Viewing more than 200 of his posters in one place, as I did at CVA, a spacious private gallery in Berlin with few equivalents elsewhere, this singular collection of graphic art demonstrated the enduring power of the printed poster.

Gordon House, who was both artist and designer, made his mark in the turbulent 196os, often incorporating his own art into posters for the work of others. His friendships with artists Peter Blake and Richard Hamilton (also graphic designers) and The Beatles’ Paul McCartney meant that House’s work and ideas reached a wide public while his name was largely unnoticed.

Andy Altmann, an influential designer through his work with Why Not Associates, spent his last years doing the things that made him happy as a student, exploring the world through the typographic ephemera he collected. His enthusiasms live on: in his books ... and literally written in stone in his typographic collaborations (made while at Why Not) with artist Gordon Young on Blackpool’s Comedy Carpet and other public works.

Samar Maakaroun, now a Pentagram partner, has made her mark through thoughtful work that often involves languages so different, they read in opposing directions. Dealing with the fusions, contradictions, exchanges and injustices that can exist across borders and cultures, her work has a positivity and force that demands our attention.

John L. Walters, editor of Eye, London

First published in Eye no. 110 vol. 28, 2026