A Very British [Design] Coup at the General Post Office in the 30s The decade preceding the outbreak of World War II was a pivotal moment in the development of graphic design as a profession. The 1930s saw the commissioning of graphic designers, for the first time, at the General Post Office (GPO) and was central in the changing fortunes of a very British institution. The GPO would employ some of the brightest and best that would go on to be regarded as part of the graphic de

Notes on typography – articles from the archive Scholarly and beautiful Frederic W. Goudy’s 1918 book on typography Frederic W. Goudy was one of the most prolific type designers of the twentieth century. At a time when Europe was contending with social, technical and cultural revolution, Goudy remained an uncompromising and unapologetic defender of the classical typographic faith. (See ‘Goudy, the good ol’ boy’, Matthew Carter’s review of D. J. R. Bruckner’s biography, in Eye

re-pub #02 June 2024 Download re-pub #02 A curated collection of articles on design matters from a ‘design essentialist’ perspective. In...

The ‘social purpose’ university - social engineering by another name. Towards the end of last year, the University of the Arts London...

What’s in a name? Having been somewhat press-ganged into design and ‘self-taught’, I rapidly developed imposter syndrome. It took years...

re-pub #o1 - October 2023 Download Re-pub #01 A curated collection of articles on design matters from a ‘design essentialist’...

First Things First 2020. The fourth & most hysterical iteration of the original yet? During Lockdown, many typo-graphic and communication...

Graphic Design Manual – Principles and Practice, Armin Hofmann, Niggli. A reproduction of Armin Hofmann’s poster, Giselle, designed for...

Helvetica: homage to a typeface, Lars Muller, Lars Muller Publishers Love it or loathe it! Helvetica is one of the most successful...

Helvetica and the New York City Subway System: The True (Maybe) Story Publisher: (Limited edition) Blue Pencil Editions (2008), MIT...

Fuse: light touch paper & stand well back. The electronic revolution in communications that characterised the last two decades of the...