Irma Boom(Lochem (NL), 1960) has become one of the most widely renowned and laureated book designers in the world today. Her often ingenious solutions to individual book productions have gained her international fame and her work is now collected by many leading museums such as the Moma in New York. Besides book designing she also creates corporate identities, postage stamps and affiches.
The Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam Library will honour Irma Boom this year (04.06.2010-03.10.2010) with a major retrospective exhibition of her work - she donated her studio archive to the Library in 2003.
To accompany this exhibition she is producing an exceptional catalogue; this miniature book (38 x 50 mm) contains a complete overview of her oeuvre, with commentary and more than 450 full colour illustrations in 704 pages with printed edges. As almost all of her creations this will surely become a collectors item!
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[1]Dialogues with Tatsuya Ariyama[TEXT IN JAPANESE]
[2]Critical Mass 80 pages [TEXT IN JAPANESE & ENGLISH]
Compiled by Ian Lynam + Idea magazine
An inquiry into contemporary critical practices in graphic design featuring: Mark Owens, Zak Kyes, Jon Sueda, Brian Roettinger, Daniel Eatock, Scott Ponik, Michael Worthington, Yasmin Khan, Metahaven.
[essay] Subterranean Modernism: A Critical Retrospective by Randy Nakamura + Ian Lynam
[3]On the Uselessness of Design Criticism by Randy Nakamura
[4]Design of Techno on Paper : Japanese Techno Flyers in the 90s

Four hundred eleven books were submitted this year to 'The Most Beautiful Swiss Books' competition held annually by the Federal Office of Culture. The five member jury, presided over by Cornel Windlin and including Linda van Deursen, Lars Müller, Paul Neale & Christoph Schifferli selected 30 titles as the most beautiful Swiss books 2009.
Four of them went on to win medals at Leipzig.
Besides the individual descriptions of the 30 winners, the catalogue also contains interviews with the jury members and further explores the theme of what does the future of the (beautiful) book look like. It is the third and last volume of a series which started in 2008 'The Past Issue' and in 2009 'The Present Issue'.

The catalogue of the annual international affiche exhibition which has been taking place in the French city of Chaumont for 21 years. Besides the selection of affiches from the international competion there are contributions from Max Bruinsma - Graphics in Concert; Michael Wlassikoff - Soviet Constructivist Posters; Norm - Superficial; Adrian Shaughnessy - The Thinking Eye; Etienne Hervy - French Selection; Véronique Vienne - Do we still know what a poster is.
This years festival affiche was designed by Karel Martens.

The Style of the State gives an overview of the visual communication of the State Government throughout the years in relation to the developments within Dutch society and the world of graphic design. The book is a tribute to the visual identities that were left behind, and contains unique images that have never been published before. It uses words and images to tell the story of how the new government-wide visual identity came about. Includes works by Thonik, Tel Design, Walter Nikkels, Studio Dumbar, BRS/Premsela Vonk, Total Identity, Studio Tint, Total Design and others. It provides an intriguing look behind the scenes for designers, art historians, communication experts and anyone who is interested in history and politics.

There is also a Dutch edition.

"Jacob Jongert (1883-1942) is waarscchijnlijk de bekendste onbekende ontwerper van ons land. Wie kent niet het geelrode koffie- en theeblik, dat zelfs aanwezig is in de collectie van het Museum of Modern Art in New York. Dat het een ontwerp is van de Rotterdamse vormgever Jac. Jongert is velen onbekend. Dat Jongert meer dan duizend andere ontwerpen woor Van Nelle maakte weet ook bijna niemand.
In dit boek wordt voor het eerst een overzicht gegeven van het oeuvre van deze veelzijdige vormgever. Het ontwikkelde zich van de vroeg twintigste-eeuwse ambachtelijk en idealistische uitgangspunten naar de zakelijke principes van het modernisme in de jaren dertig."(Uitgevers tekst)

The first extensive monogram on the Dutch designer Jac. Jongert, who created a large body of modernistic designs for, amoung others, the Van Nelle food company.

This wrapping paper is a colour diagram based on the painting 'The Milkmaid', 1658-60 by Johannes Vermeer. Iram Boom designed this paper specially for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam using the same system of colour analysis that she used for Grafisch Nederland 2005.

This wrapping paper is a colour diagram based on the painting 'The Jewish Bride', 1667 by Rembrandt. Iram Boom designed this paper specially for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam using the same system of colour analysis that she used for Grafisch Nederland 2005.

"In 1908 London Underground began a comprehensive publicity programme that became one of the most successful, adventurous, and best-sustained promotional operations ever attempted. The posters commissioned not only encouraged travel on the capital's burgeoning public transport system; they also helped to foster a civic identity for metropolitan London. The four national rail lines created in 1923, inspired by this example, created their own campaigns. This richly illustrated volume celebrates the designs, highlighting works that are among the triumphs of twentieth-century poster art. Designed to accompany an exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art, "Art for All" features more than one hundred works executed for the Underground and the railways. The exhibition and catalogue will explore the evolution of transport posters in twentieth-century Britain. It will feature the career of E. McKnight Kauffer, perhaps the greatest of these poster artists; the role of women designers; the printing techniques that brought the designs to life; and, the strategies of display developed by the transport systems. Both a visual delight and a work of scholarship, "Art for All" pays tribute to these extraordinary exploits in public design. Exhibition: Yale Center for British Art, 27 May - 15 August 2010." (Publishers text)

"This book takes an imaginative approach to visual identity. The appearance of organization-corporations, states, and networks- is a game of legitimacy, and an art of stealth. Partially science-fiction story, equally strategic study, essay, comic, and sketchbook, Uncorporate Identity is a concept album of design and architecture. Amsterdam & Brussels based design studio Metahaven explores branding and identity as geopolitical phenomena together with architects, geographers, and thinkers including Boris Groys, China Miéville, Keller Easterling, David Grewal Marina Vishmidt , and others." ( Publishers text)

"Grafisch ontwerpster Debbie Saul (1971) kwam jaren geleden in het bezit van de hutkoffer van haar grootvader, Reinier Saul (1910-1977), die opgroeide in Duitsland. Vanwege het opkomende nazisme in 1933 vluchtte hij van Berlijn naar Amsterdam, waar hij zich vestigde als reclametekenaar. In de koffer vond zij behalve persoonlijke brieven, familiefoto's en een dagboek een schat aan schetsen, ontwerpen en allerlei drukwerk. Aan de hand van dit materiaal reconstrueert Debbie Saul de bijzondere levens-geschiedenis van haar grootvader.
'An Meine Kinder' is het boeiende verhaal over de flamboyante en energieke sfeer van de Golden Twenties in Berlijn, het netwerk van Exil-joden in Amsterdam, het drama van de jodenvervolging en het uiteenvallen van een familie. Maak ook over het optimisme van de wederopbouw, over het naoorlogse modernisme in Nederland en de opkomst van professionele grafische vormgeving. Tegelijkertijd is het een indringend relaas over de steeds weer veranderende omstandigheden, waarin Reinier Saul terechtkwam, over de tragiek van het verlies van de eigen identiteit, eindigend met de overwacht late zelfmoord als gevolg van een oorlogstrauma." (Uitgevers' tekst)

A warm and personal biography of the Dutch graphic designer Reinier Saul (1910-1977) based on the contents of a sea-trunk with his archive of designs, photos, diary-pages and printed material which was discovered by his granddaughter, the graphic designer Debbie Saul.

"Complot rond een vierkant.De goodwilluitgaven van Drukkerij Rosbeek 1969-2006 toont alle 57 delen van deze befaamde reeks en bovendien drie delen die niet gerealiseerd zijn. Elke publicatie is van een kort commentaar voorzien door de desbetreffende grafisch ontwerper, die ook de keuze van de afgebeelde pagina's bepaalde.
Frederike Huygen schetst in haar uitvoerige inleiding de betekenis en de historische context van deze reeks, die al snel een collector's item werd. De vrijheid die initiator Cor Rosbeek de ontwerpers gaf, leidde tot even eigenzinige als verrassende uitgaven. De combinatie van constante hoge kwaliteit, duur, ideeënrijkdom en de onbegrensde toewijding van de gebroeders Rosbeek en hun medewerkers maken deze serie uniek in het rijke Nederlandse drukkerslandschap.
Naast Cor Rosbeek bepaalden ontwerper Baer Cornet en redacteur William Graatsma het gezicht van de goodwillreeks. Zij speelden een belangrijke rol, ook bij de totstandkoming van dit boek." (Uitgevers tekst)

This well designed book presents an historical and bibliographical record of the 57 small volumes which were produced in the 'Goodwilluitgaven' by the famous Dutch printing company of Rosbeek in the years 1969 to 2006. These publications were not only exceptional in their design but also in the content which in many cases was representative of the avant-garde movement in the Netherlands during that period.

The Netherlands has a large and varied list of (yearly) prizes in the fields of art, architecture, design, film, photography, literature, fashion, music, and theater. This new, yearly publication, is meant to present all of these prizes together in a single volume, presenting the recipiants and their award-winning work; and, it discusses the various prizes' origins, standards, the jurys and their rulings. It also contains essays by leading Dutch publicists about cultural prizes and their influences.
The publication will be supported by the Dutch graphic industry and in that sense it is a replacement for the now defunked "Grafische Nederland'. It will be published on a yearly bases.
The book has been designed by award-winning book designer Irma Boom.

There is also a Dutch language edition.

Data Flow 2 expands the definition of contemporary information graphics. The book features new possibilities for diagrams, maps, and charts and investigates the visual and intuitive presentation of processes and data. Eight comprehensive chapters illuminate how techniques such as simplification, abstraction, metaphor, and dramatization function. Data Flow 2 is a valuable reference offering practical advice, background, case studies, and inspiration.

Inspired by the challenge of hands-on tweaks and unpredictable results as well as the tactile qualities of different inks, papers, and binding techniques, today’s creatives are rediscovering old-fashioned printing methods and crafts. Impressive is a topical exploration of the interplay between current trends in graphic design and traditional handiwork such as letterpress printing, hand-cut linotype, chiselled woodblocks, and embossing. In addition to a rich selection of invitations, business cards, stationery, posters, and other material printed by hand, it offers personal insights from designers who are using old-fashioned techniques to create cutting-edge work.

This collection of papers was first presented at "The Form of the Book" conference on 30 January 2009, at St. Bride Library in London. The title is an homage to Jan Tschichold's collected essays on book design.
This collection includes: Catherine de Smet - Le Corbusier as Book Designer; James Goggin - The Matta-Clark Complex; Jenny Eneqvist (a.o.) - The Most Beautiful Swiss Books in Retrospect; Richard Hollis - Ways of Seeing Books; Sarah Gottlieb - A Conversation with Bob Stein from the Institute for the Future of the Book; Chrissie Charlton - Working with Herbert Spencer; and Armand Mevis - Every Book Starts with an Idea.

U:D/R 01 is the first in a new series of papers devoted to graphic design and visual culture. This issue is an anthology of Folkways album cover art featuring the work of Ronald Clyne.

Swip Stolk holds a rather unique place in the graphic design world of the Netherlands. In the 50 years that he has been a designer he has always gone his own way, never compromising himself and never following the trends of the day. He has preserved everything from those fifty year, right down to the smallest sketch. "I never throw anything away". His archive is a treasure chest, as this book demonstrates. It is a self-made, extravagant portrait of the artist and his work.

There is also a Dutch edition.

“White” is not a book about color. It is rather the author’s attempt to explore the essence of “white”, which he sees as being closely related to the origin of Japanese aesthetics – symbolizing simplicity and subtlety. The central concepts discussed in this publication are emptiness and the absolute void.
Kenya Hara also sees his work as a designer as a pure form of communication. Good communication has the distinction of being able to listen to each other, rather than to press one’s opinion onto the opponent. Kenya Hara compares this form of communication with an “empty container.”
In visual communication, there are equally signals whose signification is limited, as well as signals or symbols such as the cross or the red circle on the Japanese flag, which – like an “empty container” – permit every signification and do not limit imagination. It is not only the fact that the Japanese character for white forms a radical of the character for emptiness that has prompted him to closely associate the color white with the state of emptiness.

This book offers a personal insight into the philosophy of the successful designer and author of “Designing Design”.

"Warum sieht eine Zeitung anders aus als eine Zeitschrift oder ein Buch? Welche Auswirkungen hat die Verwendung einer bestimmten Schrift, welche die eines bestimmten Rasters? Warum erscheint uns das eine Layout allzu vertraut und das andere eindeutig falsch?
Dieses Handbuch behandelt sämtliche Aspekte guter Buch-, Plakat- und Anzeigengestaltung vom Aufbau einer Seite über die richtige Verwendung von Farben und Schriften bis hin zu Spaltenbreite und Zeilenlauf. Das Buch enthält Abbildungen verschiedener Raster, Seitenformate und Grössenverhältnisse. Anhand kurzer Beispieltexte zum Thema Typografie wird die Wirkung unterschiedlicher Schrifttypen gezeigt. Die zahlreichen Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten belegen internationale Anzeigen, Plakate und Buchseiten, mit denen diese Publikation illustriert ist.
Mittels Skizzen und Erläuterungen werden Fachbegriffe der Buchproduktion erklärt, die an der Schnittstelle von Buchgestaltung und -produktion unumgänglich sind. Ein Glossar am Ende des Buches erklärt sämtliche Fachbegriffe, die im Buch verwendet werden. Reich bebildert mit zahlreichen internationalen Beispielen ist «Gestaltung, Typografie etc.» ein umfassendes Handbuch und Nachschlagewerk." (Publisher's text)

This typography handbook explains in word and image the differences between the typographic aspects of a book, a poster or newsprint. It covers in detail aspects of typeface, grids, text construction and layout, colour usage, and printing techniques.

This publication studies methods for creating flexible looks for public and cultural institutions. The classic logos normally used by companies are the result of a unique process of compression and abstraction. By contrast, flexible looks do not conceal their diverse components of identity in a logo, forming instead a complex family of symbols from them. In the combination of a basic logo and a family of symbols, the look is in a position to represent the fundamentals (the philosophy of the institution, its program) and the specifics (e.g., temporary exhibitions and events). The author describes the effect and potential of looks and offers the criteria that distinguish fully developed, dynamic looks. Case studies of famous designers such as Karl Gerstner and Ruedi Baur enhance the analysis.

Since 2004, Design2context, the Institute of Design Research at the Zurich University of Arts, has undertaken research into issues relating to the social and disciplinary context of design with the aim of fostering a design practic that is characterized by critical reflexivity and a responsible attitude, and of promoting further research in the field of the sociology of design. The research program runs parallel with postgraduate programs, public events, and consultancy activities.
Within the framework of this research focus a series of colloquiums was organized in 2007/2008 around the theme of "Disorientation/Orientation", featuring a range of international and interdisciplinary contributions and accompanied by a postgraduate program initiated by Ruedi Baur and coordinated by him and Andrea Gleiniger.
This volume (the second of two) brings together contributions from a wide range of scholarly and design disciplines.

"This remarkable volume is a collection of eleven essays and shorter articles which for the first time provide rich contexts – social, cultural, and political – for graphic design in Britain. Reaching from the Second World War to the early 1970s, they fizz with provocative interconnections: between print culture, photojournalism and publishing, the London of émigrés, political meetings and demonstrations, cultural cafés and art schools. From these disparate milieux emerged new ideas about designing: configuring and picturing the world of facts and processes, shaping them for understanding, learning, and action. Presented here are documents of the nation’s life in war, its reconstruction through the passages from scarcity to plenty, the seeds of later fragmentation, always fertile with multiple intersections between biography and history." (Publishers text)

Het jaar 2009 is een belangrijk jaar voor Swip Stolk (1944). Vijftig jaar geleden begon hij als grafisch ontwerper en beeldend kunstenaar. In deze uitgave legt hij daar verantwoording van af.
‘Is getekend’ behandelt alle aspecten van zijn werk, in de onderlinge verbanden tussen zijn grafische ontwerpen en zijn beeldende werk, in het doorlopende experiment dat zijn werk tekent en in het begrip visuele irritatie dat hij in de loop der jaren ontwikkelde. Het is een document van een leven.
Swip Stolk neemt een bijzondere plaats in binnen het grafisch ontwerpen in Nederland. Zijn werk is al op meters afstand onmiddellijk als het zijne te herkennen, in dat eigen, unieke handschrift. Hij volgde de trends niet die er gedurende zijn leven ontstonden. Hij zocht consequent naar eigen antwoorden op de ontwikkelingen die gaande waren. Hij gaf niet alleen zijn ideeën, maar ook het tijdsbeeld vorm, hij maakte trends.
In ‘Is getekend’ gaat het vooral om ontwerpschetsen. Schetsen en schetsontwerpen hebben in hun intentie een aftastend en zoekend karakter. Ze leggen daarmee, en dat is het unieke van dit boek, het denken bloot achter het ontwerpproces. Je ziet een idee ontstaan en groeien naar zijn uitvoering. Je ervaart als kijker dat denkend tekenen en ziet tegelijk het hele ontwerpproces in zijn technische uitwerking, tot in detail.
Het innoverende karakter van het werk van Swip Stolk was er in de jaren zestig al direct met zijn Upperground-actie voor de Bijenkorf en werd voortgezet met de experimentele kalenders voor De Boek & Vink, grafische industrie in Zaandijk in de jaren zeventig. Zijn ontwerpen voor de VARA met de beeldbepalende haan hebben een legendarische status, evenals zijn grafische ontwerpen en vormgeving van tientallen tentoonstellingen voor het Groninger Museum, zoals Memphis en Art Business/ Business Art. Hij heeft die lijn van vernieuwing consequent doorgetrokken, in zijn baanbrekende tentoonstellingsinrichtingen van de laatste jaren en in zijn ontwerpen voor internationale bladen als Dutch, Zoo, Stile en Chiq. Het beeldend werk van Swip Stolk als kunstenaar is even innovatief. ‘Is getekend’ laat dat zien in de ontwikkeling van zijn sieraden, wandobjecten en driedimensionale werken, zoals een BMW uit de luxe klasse met een tweede huid van mat rubber waarin de tekens uit zijn geheim alfabet als reliëfs opkomen.
Het gaat in ‘Is getekend’ om uniek materiaal in zijn samenhang over een lange periode (vijftig jaar!), waarvan het grootste deel nooit eerder is gepubliceerd. Zo is het boek, met zijn vijftienhonderd illustraties (1500!), tevens een document over zijn geschiedenis in het grafisch ontwerpen in Nederland. En van zijn positie als beeldend kunstenaar. Het is, in de lijn van zijn manier van werken, gedrukt op verschillende papiersoorten en in verschillende technieken.(Uitgevers tekst).

Swip Stolk holds a rather unique place in the graphic design world of the Netherlands. In the 50 years that he has been a designer he has always gone his own way, never compromising himself and never following the trends of the day. This book is a self-made, extravagant portrait of the artist and his work.

"Unimark International was innovative in expanding boundaries of design, business, and technology in the 1960s and early '70s, sometimes leaping ahead of the norm by many decades. Unimark International deserves recognition for its influence in a specific era of design history, and for the many ideas and achievements-in the United States, Europe, Africa, and South America-that have continuing validity beyond that era and beyond the profession of design.
This book acknowledges the people, energy, and ideas of Unimark International. It clarifies working relationships and illuminates the intellectual and creative achievements of people within the firm. It examines Unimark's focus-some might call it obsession-with design modernism, and discusses the communication and structure that designers imprint upon the environment for everyday use by ordinary people." (Publisher's text)

"It's a rare graphic designer who has not contemplated setting up his or her own studio. It's part of a designers DNA to want to own and run a studio. Many do, while others spend a lifetime wondering if they should. But where does the ambitious designer go for advice and guidance?
Who better than the founders of some of the best design studios in the world?
Tony Brook (founding director of Spin Design and President of the English chapter of the AGI) and Adrian Shaughnessy (independent designer and author of the very successful book 'How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing your Soul') have conducted penetrating interviews with a group of visionary graphic designers who have formed and run landmark international design studios. In a series of candid and revealing interviews, many of the leading figures in contemporary graphic design reveal the secrets behind creating a vibrant studio culture." (Publisher's text).
Some of the contributing studios are: A Practice for Everyday Life (UK), Anothermountainman (China), Atelier Smith (Ireland), Bibliothequé (UK), Coast (Belgium), Doyle Partners (USA), Experimental Jetset (NL), Fuel (UK), Tassinari Vetta (Italy), Mucho (Spain), Nakajema Design (Japan), Non-Format (UK), Pentagram (USA), Edenspiekermann (Germany/NL), Surface (Germany), Walker Arts Center (USA), a.o.
This handsome publication is an important contribution to the contemporary canon of graphic design literature. It is must for any designer thinking of starting his or her own studio and a valuable addition to every serious design library.
On the 5th of October Tony and Ardian gave a lecture at the offices of the BNO in Amsterdam. Clik here to see some photos of the event.

"This book offers students, novice designers and battle-toughened professionals alike an insider’s guide to the complexities of current graphic design practice and thinking. It contains all you need to know to survive and prosper in the complex, ever-shifting world of graphic design.
Set out in A-Z style and written in a realistic, conversational and insightful way, the book provides advice on the fundamental topics and issues that face designers in their daily lives, looking at everything from kerning to presenting; from budgeting to dealing with rejection; from annual reports to interface design." (Publishers text)

Adrian Shaughnessy is a designer and writer; he is the author of 'How To Be A Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul' and 'Cover Art By: New Music Graphics' as well as the co-author with Ton Brook of "Studio Culture -The secret life of the graphic design studio.". He co-founded the design company Intro and, since leaving in 2003, has worked as a consultant to various design studios and clients. He has lectured extensively on design and hosts the radio show ‘Graphic Design On The Radio’.

Grid Index is the first comprehensive visual lexicon of patterns and grid systems. Based upon years of research, artist and musician Carsten Nicolai has discovered and unlocked the visual code for visual systems into a systematic equation of grids and patterns. The accompanying CD contains all of the grids and patterns featured in the publication from the simplest grids made up entirely of squares to the most complex irregular ones with infinitely unpredictable patterns of growth, as editable vector graphic data files. Use it to map out the underlying grids of any image or form and to create recurring geometrical grids in graphic design - an essential reference for designers, visual artists, architects, researchers and mathematicians.

During the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, graphic design was experiencing one of its most exciting and transformative periods. The Apple Macintosh computer had been introduced, design schools were exploring French linguistic theory, the vernacular had become a serious source of study and inspiration, the design and manufacture of typefaces was suddenly opened up to everyone who could use a computer, and for the first time in the United States, New York City was no longer the place to look for the latest developments in graphic design. And in Berkeley, California, across the bay from Silicon Valley, Emigre magazine, like no other, recognized the significance of the events, and became both a leading participant and a keen observer of this innovative international design scene, generating a body of work and ideas that still resonate today.
Fueled by Emigre’s successful digital type foundry, the magazine became one of the most popular and controversial graphic design magazines of its time. 69 issues were published in a variety of formats, featuring in-depth interviews with fellow design trailblazers and critical essays by an emerging group of young design writers.
This book, designed and edited by Emigre co-founder and designer Rudy VanderLans, is a selection of reprints, using original digital files,
tracing Emigre’s development from its early bitmap design days in the late 1980s through to the experimental layouts that defined the so called “Legibility Wars” of the late 1990s, to the critical design writing of the early 2000s.
Featuring interviews with, among others, The Designers Republic, Allen Hori, Rick Valicenti, Vaughan Oliver, Mr. Keedy, Ed Fella, and essays by Lorraine Wild, Anne Burdick, Zuzana Licko, Kenneth FitzGerald, Andrew Blauvelt, Kalle Lasn, Rick Poynor and many more.
The book also includes the following bonus material:
• 32-Page booklet of Letters to the Editor
• CD-Rom with music and videos
• published by Emigre
• 38 x 52 cm. commemorative poster

 

This book explores signage as a point where graphic design and architecture come together. The author begins by describing the basic rules of signage design – signs must be visible but not distracting, informative but not unwieldy, concise but not confusing.
Colour, typography, pictograms and icons are all elements that can be varied and exploited to encapsulate as much information as possible and fit the requirements of the brief: the signage for a hospital, an airport and a conference centre may have little in common, and solutions must always be tailored to fit the location.
The book also showcases great examples of signage design worldwide, ranging from museums and schools to transport systems, with an emphasis on the most original approaches.
First published in German in 2006 this is a welcome translation of this indispensable handbook for communications designers, but also a must for architects, interior designers and graphic artists.

"Each year, the New York chapter of the AIGA invites a group of emerging designers to participate in the Fresh Dialogue forum. In/Visible: Graphic Data Revealed brings together a diverse group of information graphics designers for a lively discussion about the challenges they face visualizing information. Steve Duenes manages the New York Times print and online graphics department; Andrew Kuo attempts to categorize unmeasurable human emotions through meticulous charts and diagrams; Fernanda Viégas of IBM's Visual Communication Lab is the cocreator of the Many Eyes social website that encourages members to upload, interpret, and revisualize one another's data. Their discussion, moderated by Rhode Island School of Design president John Maeda, covers a range of current and anticipated trends in visual journalism, including issues such as data integrity and visual ethics, judicious simplicity versus seductive complexity, and the ever-increasing demand for dynamic information. As designers, they share an amazing ability to empower readers by translating complicated data into visual ideas whose understanding we all depend on to make sense of our everyday world."(Publishers text)

"De mens is wat hij eet. Maar weet hij eigenlijk wel wat hij eet? Met andere woorden, weet de mens dus wel wie hij is? De samenstellers van Carnivoria roepen vragen op, bij zichzelf en bij de toeschouwer. Vragen zonder pasklare antwoorden overigens. Bio-industrie, milieuvervuiling, voedselkilometers, overbevissing: wie in de eenentwintigste eeuw eet is per definitie schuldig. Neem nu de paling, die wordt met uitsterven bedreigd. Wat doen we: er van genieten nu het nog kan – zachtjes gestoofd met groene kruiden en witte wijn – of met rust laten? En kevers: waarom eten we er daar juist niet meer van? Hartstikke lekker wanneer je ze frituurt en serveert met chilisaus.
Zoals gezegd, 'Carnivoria' geeft geen antwoorden. De sprookjesachtige foto’s van Mayke Swemle, de originele recepten van Janneke Vreugdenhil en de spannende typografie van Mark van Wageningen spreken tot de verbeelding." (Uitgevers'tekst)

Serveertip
De recepten uit 'Carnivoria' komen goed tot hun recht op een serveerbord in stijl. Ter gelegenheid van de verschijning van het kookboek 'Carnivoria' brengt Atelier van Wageningen in samenwerking met Royal Goedewaagen een dinerbord in productie. In een zeer beperkte oplage van 100 genummerde exemplaren. 31 cm diameter, hoogwaardig porcelein (vaatwas/magnetron-bestendig)

The catalogue of 'The Best Dutch Book Designs 2008' presents the selection of thirty-three books published in the Netherlands in 2008 which distinguish themselves by the quality of their design, typography, printing, illustration and production, judged and compiled by Volken Beck, Vanessa van Dam, Nina Post, Fokko Tamminga and Jules Vermeulen.
"This year, 2009, sees the fiftieth time that books designed and produced in the Netherlands have been judged on their typographical merits in a straight competion. To mark this half-century the Stichting De Best Verzorgde Boeken, the Special Collections department of the Amsterdam University Library and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam had the idea, as a one-off event, of extending the range of the selection to the whole history of book production in the Netherlands. A special panel of judges was assembled and given the task of selecting another thirty-three books, this time from the five centuries of Dutch books- from about 1470 to roughly 1950, and including books from the Southern Netherlands produced up to 1580- and declaring them to be examples of the Netherlands' best book designs and production of that pre-modern era." (Just Enschede)

"The theme of this year's catalogue is the present, since it forms the second in the trilogy 'Past/Present/Future', planned and designed by Laurenz Brunner and Tan Wälchli. By focusing on theoretical and practical aspects of book design, the publication is the outcome of a selection procedure concerned with questions of aesthetics and production. On the other hand, it also serves as a forum for debate on relevant and vital concerns in the wider field of book design. The catalogue is divided into three sections. The 'interview', conducted after the jury session, addresses issues crucial to this year's competition. The 'essays' elaborate on a number of these issues, such as the relationship between art and the relevance of that distinction within the framework of book design, changing conditions of production from the print-on-demand publications to individually handmade books, the marketing of art books in an age of declining sales, and the role of the designer as author versus service provider.
The third section of catalogue contains the detailed jury reviews in words and pictures, providing not only a concise presentation of the jury's verdict but also offering conceptual background from the designer's point of view as well as technical details of the award-winning books." (from the introduction by Anisha Imhasly)

The catalogue of the selection for the Best German Book Designs 2008, which has been held continuously since 1951. This years competition saw 1072 entries divided into 9 categories. 52 books where finally chosen with 10 more honourable mentions.

Bibliographic: 100 Classic Graphic Design Books is a unique, absorbing compilation of the best design books of the last 100 years. Covering a huge range of material – from historic titles by pioneering type foundries to the best of recent monographs from today’s leading studios – it provides a striking insight into the evolution of graphic design in the twentieth century.
Classic graphic design manuals by László Moholy-Nagy and Josef Müller-Brockmann are included, alongside groundbreaking instructional titles on advertising and corporate identity. Monographs designed by and covering the major individuals and studios of the era – from A.M. Cassandre and Alexey Brodovitch to Wim Crouwel, Karel Martens, Stefan Sagmeister and Peter Saville – are explored, along with seminal anthologies on trademark design, Polish film posters, the impact of the avant-garde and more.
All titles, whether classic histories of Bauhaus design or rarely seen sourcebooks of symbols and type, are illustrated with a wide selection of spreads and their covers, all in colour.
In addition, top international designers have provided lists of favourite books from their own libraries. 'Bibliographic' is a rich source of ideas and information for graphic designers, students and teachers. It is a fascinating series of histories of great design books of the last 80 years, and should find a place in all design library.

Packaging today needs to do so much more than preserving, protecting and promoting the products it contains. The rise of environmental issues and globalisation mean that today's packaging designers must create innovative solutions that are also sustainable.
This book shows how packaging designs has changed to meet the demands of this new context. It takes the reader behind some of the world's best-known brands to meet the designers, clients, marketers, technologists, environmentalists and retailers, to tell their stories about the development of some of the most remarkable packs of our time. Showcasing the best packaging design from around the world the book also features in-depth case studies of some of the most innovative design processes with interviews and illustrated details.

The annual International Poster and Graphic Arts Festival of Chaumont(France) has become one of the main poster and graphic design venues in Europe. This year's 20th edition features the Concours International with it's 1288 entries out of which 107 images chosen by an international jury of professional graphic designers. There are reproductions of the 20 affiches which were made for this year's festival, a selection of contemporary graphism in France and a solo presentation of Fanette Mellier.
The catalogue has been well designed by Wijntje van Rooijen & Pierre Péronnet.

Visies op Vormgeving laat de geschiedenis van het ontwerpen in Nederland zien aan de hand van historische teksten waaronder brieven, memoires, verslagen, interviews, artikelen en boeken. In deze teksten laten ontwerpers, critici, opdrachtgevers en andere betrokkenen zich uit over de praktijk en over hun idealen en voeren zij discussies over uiteenlopende kwesties zoals de juiste ontwerpmethode, de gemeenschapskunst, het wonen, de reclame en de Nieuwe Zakelijkheid. Deze thema's worden aangevuld met biografieënm en toelichtingen.

This is a collection of original historical texts by a wide ranging group of Dutch designers & critics on and about their ideals and design in practice. It is the first of two volumes and there is a subscribtion price of € 50.00 for the two.

Na Visies op Vormgeving I documenteert deze publicatie aan de hand van teksten waaronder, brieven, verslagen, rapporten, interviews en artikelen uit tijdschriften, kranten en boeken, de Nederlandse ontwerpwereld uit de tweede helft van de twintigste eeuw. Ontwerpers komen aan het woord, maar ook critici, opdrachtgevers en andere betrokkenen. In de oorlogsjaren smeden de ontwerpers plannen voor een nieuwe cultuur en voor een nieuwe vakvereniging. Vervolgens weten zij zich een positie te veroveren in het bedrijfsleven en in de grafische industrie.

As a follow-up to Visies op Vormgeving I, this publication documents the Dutch design world during the second half of the twentieth century by means of texts such as letters, reports, interviews and articles from magazines, newspapers and books. Designers are given a voice, as well as critics, people commissioning projects and other involved parties.

"The development of modern communication and information technologies like the Internet and globalization have not only changed access and spread of the available knowledge but also the speed of collecting. The author examines collections of knowledge such as archives, encyclopedias, data collections, and libraries that make knowledge accessible worldwide. Who is collecting the world’s knowledge? How is it structured and designed? Who determines the access of knowledge? Designers and researchers from different fields have set standards for the classification and design of complex data collections and thus exerted an enormous influence on how knowledge is communicated. This facilitates knowledge transfer, but it also increases the danger of manipulation. Along with these aspects, the book also explores the possibilities of “universal design” and presents new approaches to visualizing complex information."(Publishers text)

"The visual work of Otto Neurath and his associates, now commonly known as Isotype, has been much discussed in recent years. 'The Transformer' is a compact presentation of its essential principles; the work of transforming, or putting information into visual form. This deeper level of their work -which is applicable in all areas of design- is routinely neglected in the assumption that Isotype is just a matter of pictograms in rows. At the core of the book is a previously unpublished essay by Marie Neurath, the principal Isotype transformer, which she wrote in the last year of her life. This is supplemented by Robin Kinross with commentary on illustrated examples of Isotype and other supporting short essays." (Publisher's text)

Contents: Mitim(Theta) by Radim Pesko; Either or or or;How i got religion by Domenick Ammarati; Change Page by Dave Hullfish Bailey;
The Relations; Torslanda to Uddevalla via Kalmar; I'm only a designer (The double life of Ernst Bettler), And so to bed by Christopher Wilson; The Sky is not the limit by Angie Keefer; Conversations between Randall Mcloed with Mark Owens, Michelangelo Pistoletto with Clémentine Deliss, Jay Baldwin with Raimundas Malasuskas, and Rashad Becker with Robert Henke; Badly Explained by Anthony Huberman; and Commencement address by David Wallace.

80 20 100 celebrates two milestones in the lives of three people. In the first and foremost place it is a celebration of the 80th birthday of Wim Crouwel, one of the leading icons of graphic design in the Netherlands during the last 60 years; a designer who has had a lasting influence that reaches far beyond the boarders of this small country. As multi-disciplinary designer, educator, museum director and inspirator Wim Crouwel is an integral part of what many design critics prefer to call "Dutch Design", but as evidenced in the excellent essay published here by his friend and former colleague Ben Bos, it would be short-sighted to place Crouwel only in the context of "Dutch Design".

Less prominent and certainly less influential, the second milestone is the 20 years that we, Nijhof & Lee, have operated as international booksellers for the art and design world. To celebrate 80(+)20 we have gathered together from our collection 100 objects indicative of the design excellence for which Crouwel has become famous. This small collection of original posters, catalogues and other publications is but a fraction of what he has and is still producing, and we hope that it contributes in a small way to the ever growing international interest and demand for his work.

This catalogue accompanied a sales exposition held at VIVID Gallery, in Rotterdam (NL), from )October 11th to the 23rd of November 2008.

'Pioneers' is the first published anthology on the work of the founding generation of graphic designers in Spain. It contains more than 1000 images, which showcase the outstanding work of 15 of Spain's most important designers, and a chronology to position their work in the context of development in Spain and abroad.
It includes the work of: Josep Artigas, Alexandre Pellicer, Amand Doménech, Elias & Santamarina, Jordi Fornas, Fermin Garbayo, Daniel Gil, Ricard Miracle, Ernest Moradell, Antoni Morillas, Joan Pedragosa Josep Pla-Narbona, Manolo Prieto, Julian Santamaria, & Tomás Vellvé.

"A true architect of text, Pierre di Sciullo takes letters on a journey to undiscovered lands. He stages typographic constructions in space, and reveals the polysemic nature of characters by blending writing and visual design. Keen to invent new reading situations. he has designed numerous typefaces including Quantange, Minimum, Gararond - a roundly irreverent tribute to Garamond -, Aligourane, Durmou and Maximum." (Publisher's text).
Pierre di Sciullo has been chosen by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam to create the new graphic identity for the Museum which is being rebuild and shall re-open in the spring of 2010.

Creating effective copywriting is of vital importance in today’s design and communication industries. This book explores the challenges of commercial writing, providing the tools to become a confident and versatile copywriter. Leading copywriting talents from both the UK and the US are interviewed, major campaigns covering all areas of the industry are illustrated in colour and examined in depth, and exercises and tips aid in developing writing, editing, and presentation skills.

"The design studio of J. R. Geigy AG was the launching pad for one of the great periods of Swiss graphic design, in the 1950s and 1960s. The open-minded corporate culture of the chemical company in Basel combined product and company advertising in an exemplary way. The resulting works reveal a modernist formal idiom without being indebted to a specific, formulaic look. There was room in it for visual symbolism as well as the acquisition of nonrepresentational art, with which some of the graphic designers involved were connected. Under the leadership of Max Schmid for many years, the studio employed Roland Aeschlimann, Karl Gerstner, Jörg Hamburger, Steff Geissbuhler, Andreas His, Toshihiro Katayama, and Nelly Rudin, among others. Freelance designers such as Michael Engelmann, Gottfried Honegger, Armin Hofmann, Herbert Leupin, Warja Lavater, Numa Rick, and Niklaus Stoecklin were also used. In the 1960s, the Basel office, most especially George Giusti and Fred Troller, was involved in developing the studios of the subsidiaries in the United States and the United Kingdom, placing more emphasis on advertising. This is the first comprehensive presentation of Geigy design, an important Swiss contribution to the international history of design, in all its determination and independence." (Publishers text)

"The world of design is inundated with a seemingly endless list of rules. 'Less is more', 'form follows function', 'keep it simple', 'dress your age' and the list goes on and on. Some designers consider these rules as valuable words of wisdom, which serve as a guidline and source of inspiration. Others preceive them as mere restrictions; design dogmas and fashion formulae that need to be bended, twisted or broken altogether.
Whichever side of the fence you sit on in this whole rules debate, you're bound to find this book a source of inspiration, confort, joy or just plain old fun. Because, ultimately, every rule related to, or governing, design is ridiculous". (Publishers text)

'Graphic Design Theory' presents groundbreaking, primary texts from the most important historical and contemporary design thinkers. From Aleksandr Rodchenko's "Who We Are: Manifesto of the Constructivist Group" to Kenya Hara's "Computer Technology and Design," this essential volume provides the necessary foundation for contemporary critical vocabulary and thought.

'Graphic Design Theory' is organized in three sections: "Creating the Field" traces the evolution of graphic design over the course of the early 1900s, including influential avant-garde ideas of futurism, constructivism, and the Bauhaus; "Building on Success" covers the mid- to late twentieth century and considers the International Style, modernism, and postmodernism; and "Mapping the Future" opens at the end of the last century and includes current discussions on legibility, social responsibility, and new media. Striking color images illustrate each of the movements discussed and demonstrate the ongoing relationship between theory and practice. A brief commentary prefaces each text, providing a cultural and historical framework through which the work can be evaluated. Authors include such influential designers as Herbert Bayer, Lászlo Moholy-Nagy, Karl Gerstner, Katherine McCoy, Michael Rock, Lev Manovich, Ellen Lupton, and Lorraine Wild.

This book is published on the occasion of an exposition of the work of Antoine + Manuel at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris from 15th of January to 12 April 2009.
Antoine + Manuel's work "is free, hedonistic and entertaining. Tree structures blossom until they smother taste, and when they think they are worn out (or have been copied to much), they rush back to centre stage with a new magic trick. This 'graphictainment' is certainly their only trademark: a parade of styles, characters, tools and signs that march past our eyes in a joyous procession that does not draw its imaginativeness from Basel's post-modernism or its freedom from Poland's poster school. References to graphic arts history are not their strong suit and, certain that 'isms' have had their day, they have only a measured reverence for the past." (Emmanuel Berard, collector & critic).

"Over the last decade, from the dusk of the old millennium to the dawn of the new one, Amsterdam-based design collective Machine has added a significant new chapter to the already rich heritage of innovative design originating from the Netherlands. Before electronic music, live video projection, instant global reach and interactive means entered mainstream, they were the first generation of designers (first under the name DEPT) to fully adopt and adapt to this different reality and blast a trail in their own distinctly idiosyncratic way. Fuelled by earlier teenage exploits into graffiti and comics, then traditionally trained in graphic design at the Rietveld Academy, the discipline in their hands, hearts and mind knows no boundaries and effortlessly crosses over from the printed page to motion, sound and art installation, from the hand drawn letter to the steaming nightclub with thousands of ecstatic bodies." (Publishers text)

Deze publicatie verschijnt ter gelegenheid van de voltooiing van de registratie en digitalisering van het archief van Total Design door de Nago.
"Het NAGO richt zich op het behouden, digitaal toegankelijk maken en onderbrengen bij erfgoedinstellingen van archieven van Nederlandse grafisch en industrieel ontwerpers, ontwerpbureaus en illustratoren.
Sinds de oprichting in 1992 zijn negentien archieven ontsloten en ondergebracht bij erfgoedinstellingen. Het NAGO bevordert wetenschappelijk onderzoek in de door het NAGO ontsloten archieven en faciliteert publicaties, tentoonstellingen en educatieve projecten. De resultaten hiervan zijn voor geïnteresseerden toegankelijk via de NAGO-website en via het Graphic Design Museum De Beyerd in Breda." (Tekst van het NAGO)

This is the first in a new series of publications made by the NAGO (Dutch Archive of Graphic Designers) in which the result of the completion of registration and digitalisation of the archive of Total Design is presented. The NAGO came into being in 1992 with the intention to preserve, register and digitalize the contents of the archives of important Dutch graphic and industrial designers, design bureaus and illustrators. The result of this undertaking can be seen on the website of the NAGO.

Identity 2.0 is the follow-up title of the Total Identity book that BIS published in three languages. Whereas the previous book showcased the projects of the design studio Total Identity, this new book takes a much broader perspective. From the viewpoint of identity, it looks at current and future issues that influence businesses, institutions and service-oriented organizations. The book connects identity - as the driving force behind innovation and change processes - to social and economic topics, illustrated with cases and the opinions of creative and business companies that have participated in projects with Total Identity or have an interesting view on those topics.
Some of the topics that this book addresses in its essays and cases are: The Expressive Organization; Innovation; Labour Market Communication; Corporate Social Responsibility; Entrepreneurship in Service-Oriented Organizations; Emancipation of the Patient Scenario Communication; Fusion of Brand and Corporation.

There is also a Dutch edition

The practitioners of this craft use traditional methods of measurement to create dazzling geometric compositions, most based on the repetition of a single pattern. The results are magnificent in their beauty and awe-inspiring in their execution.
Now, with the aid of this book, everyone can learn how to master this ancient art and create their own intricate patterns or re-create classic examples. All one needs is a pencil, a ruler, a compass – and a steady hand.
Technical tips demonstrate the basics: how to draw a square, hexagon or pentagon. This is followed by some of the best examples of geometric patterns from around the world, arranged into levels of complexity, with careful, step-by-step instructions.

There is also a Dutch language edition of this book available.

'Esse est percipi': Being is being perceived. The struggle for positions of power as celebrity culminates in an inflation of faces.In fact, programs scarcely have value anymore in political competition, only 'HEADS' do. Name recognition is more important than even the maximum conceivable competence and rhetorical quick-wittedness; and far worse than any critique is the survey response 'unknown'.
The subject of the present volume -in the series from the poster collection of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich - is the representation of politicians on posters, and extends to the use of posters for the deconstruction of the same.

Each year, the New York Chapter of the AIGA brings together emerging designers for 'Fresh Dialogue', a panel discussion that provides a forum to talk about their work, thoughts and ideas. "Designing Audiences" takes a fresh look at graphic design through the eyes of three young designers (Stefan Bucher, Eric Rodenbeck, & Katie Salen), all of whom have embraced a media landscape dominated by user-centric social networking sites such as MySpace, Flicker, and YouTube, where the collaborative relationship between designer and consumer is paramount.

"Zwart-Wit Grafisch Nederland 2009 (2009 Yearbook of the Dutch Graphic Industry) is published shortly after the exciting presidential elections in the United States - and at a time when political and economic power can no longer be taken for granted and there are calls on all sides for strong men (and women). These conditions are the ideal breeding ground for icons-to-be, with Barack Obama as the current exponent. He is one of the heavyweights in this publication, in which good and bad leadership - sometimes it is hard to tell the difference even after the event - seem to elide.
Photographs of leaders have been converted into graphic images to illustrate this ambiguity. It was a complicated technical and creative process that took a great deal of preparation, but ultimately produced some amazing results. The yearbook looks like a never-ending story; it has no beginning, it comes to no conclusion. The underlying theme is the illusion of power. But it could equally be the power of illusion. Whatever it is, the concept conceived and executed by Thonik through trial and error is not a complete historical analysis of leadership. Some of the personalities who have been included may raise questions - and eyebrows - while others had perforce to be omitted.
There are 59 men and (only) six women among the 65 graphically interwoven leaders." (Taken from the introduction)

This 10th anniversary edition of the Dutch Design reference bible is designed by Dick Bruna, Holland’s most famous designer and father of Miffy (Nijntje), now in his eighties and a real icon for young Dutch graphic designers. He has collaborate with one of Holland’s hottest and most award-winning design agencies nowadays, the Designpolitie (the design police!).

The book contains a superb cross-section of the current state of design in the Netherlands, in all its diversity - from functional minimalism to experimental indulgence - and covering all disciplines from graphics and product design to interactive media. It is an essential reference work for customers in search of a designer for a specific project

Published on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Werkplaats Typografie, Wonder Years is a record of work made by over 50 participants at this Dutch Master's program from 1998 until 2008. More than an anthology, the archive represented in this book is an interpretation of a design school history by compiling its items according to a rather subjective, incomplete and sometimes inimitable set of entries.
The 10 years story of the Werkplaats Typografie is narrated by a group of current participants, intersected by annotations, voice over and parallel readings from different contributors including Uta Eisenreich, Paul Elliman, Willem Oorebeek, Jay Baldwin, Armand Mevis and Karel Martens.

The Dutch graphic designer and artist Jan Bons turns 90 this April and to celebrate this milestone the designer Lex Reitsma has made an 50 min. long documentary film about his life and work, and for the Kunsthal Rotterdam (NL) Lex has organized an exhibition showing 90 of Jan Bons’ posters.
Although multi-talented it is the graphic design work of Jan Bons for which he is most recognized. He has designed postage stamps, books, brochures, program booklets and many posters all of which bear a strong, self-assured, and non-conformist style. Sandberg was an inspiration for Bons and this is evident in his use of torn paper, self-styled typography and the use of primary colours; it was Sandberg who suggested to Bons that he always use red somewhere in a poster design. Jan Bons’ posters are the work of a painter turned typographer; they are free, bold and very direct using a minimum of resources. Large, often hand written letters take the place of images and he never uses distracting decorations.
Throughout his career he has remained faithful to a small number of clients including the theatre groups Studio and De Appel, the ship owner Van Ommeren, the International Documentary Festival (IDFA) and the music group Nieuw Ensemble. For all of these he has made an extensive body of work and in several cases it became an integral part of their identity. His work for De Appel spans the period 1972 to 1996 and with it’s almost solely typographic presentation it became synonymous with the groups name. Bons is quoted as saying: “I have always been of the opinion that a theatre group must be visually recognizable in one form of publicity, be it posters, program booklets or advertising. A poster must therefore reflect the continuity of the company.”
The film ‘Jan Bons – a designer’s freedom’ is available as a DVD with English sub-titles and packaged with a small book in Dutch and English written by Paul Hefting.

"Jan Bons - Ontwerpen in vrijheid" is een film van Lex Reitsma over leven en werk van de grafisch ontwerper Jan Bons. Het is een intiem portret van een bijzondere man en een groot kunstenaar. Lex volgde de bijna negentigjarig tijdens het maken van affiches voor het 25-jarig jubileum van het Nieuw Ensemble en voor het IDFA. Bons vertelt over zijn manier van werken, zijn vriendschap en samenwerking met Rietveld en Sandberg en over zijn rol in de oorlog. Daarnaast komen opdrachtgever Erik Vos, ontwerper en afficheverzamelaar Gielijn Escher en Bons' zonen Joël en Jeroen aan het woord.

The ABC of De Designpolitie is a dynamic book in which ideas about the mentality and attitude of their work are arranged in alphabetical order. The colourful presentation ranges over many implemented and non-implemented projects, ideas, failures, fascinations, photographs, reflections and articles. The ABC is more a workbook, a process manual or an inspiration book than a portfolio.
'ABC says nothing; it is merely an organizing principle. And that interested us. With it we are saying "within this volume, within these pages, within this quantity of themes, we are going to explain who we are". This delimitation is inherent to the restricted nature of the profession.'

Kees van Kooten(one of the Netherlands most popular writers and humorists) and Ewald Spieker(graphic designer and three-dimensional typographer) have created a book which is a feast to read and to look at. Together they journey through the alphabet letter for letter searching for memoires of the individual difficulties they had in learning to put these letters on to paper and into use.
Van Kooten's texts are often hilarous and Spieker's colourful illustrations of his typographic experiments and the overall design of the book make for a pleasurable romp through our alphabet. The perfect gift book.

"What has this second and extremely successful ED Awards shown us? Europe is growing together. And the creative sector is certainly in a unique position to shape these developments, with all the responsibility that goes with such influence. We all should share a joint goal: that of raising the status of graphic design in European society, by presenting the very best guality work, by pointing our new directions and further establishing design as an economic, socially critical factor.
The ED Awards, which attract over nine hundred entries, not only present a remarkable picture of what's happening in European design today - they also play an important part in promoting and encouraging our shared standards and ambitions in design. Not least this competition, in which leading design magazines of Europe are actively involved, is the best way of publicising the results of creative endeavours and enhancing their status" (Bettina Schulz - Chairperson ED-Awards 2008)

Sonnoli was commisioned to create an 'alphabetic fresco' for the Palazzo Grassi Café, which would detail the last three centuries of the Palazzo from A to Z, re-evoking the great events and famous figures connected with it.
"Hence, the idea of a mural telling a story and not an exhibition on the walls, a visual story and not a series of captions. A return to the 18th century wallpaper or frescoed mock marble, which typographically tells its genius loci." (Leonardo Sonnoli).
Click here for an interview with Leonardo Sonnoli

This is a new reference work for internationally-focused clients who are searching for original and effective design-related solutions for today’s business challenges. It contains a cross -referenced section with business cases that provides an instant impression of the design solutions that some of the major European design agencies have come up with in meeting real-life business challenges.
The book is organised around twelve business challenges that companies are currently facing in their local and international environments. The solutions relate to many fields of product design, from branding, packaging and graphic design to new media and 3D design. The case studies are from agencies in Scandinavia, Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France.

This issue of ISTD TypoGraphic is totally concerned with the Dutch design phenomenon and the question of whether it is all that it seems. There are contributions from Jan Middendorp (Amsterdam bridge lettering); Ramiro Espinoza (Leo Beukeboom-Bars, beer and belettering); David Quay (Benno Wissing's Ahoy alphabet); Chantal Hendriksen (The Hallen Gallery corporate identity); Arie Lenoir (Dutch printers and their position in the design industry).

De internationaal gerenommeerde kunstenaar Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman (1882 - 1945) is vooral bekend als de drukker van De Ploeg, de avant-gardekunstenaarsvereniging in Groningen. Tot zijn bekendste werken horen de Chassidische Legenden en de druksels voor de 'De Blauwe Schuit'. Zijn prachtige kleurrijke drukwerk behoort tot het beste van het Nederlands cultureel erfgoed. De experimenten met druktechnieken en de ontwikkeling van een geheel eigen beeldtaal maken Werkman tot een opmerkelijke vernieuwer binnen de twintigste-eeuwse kunst.
Voor het eerst wordt in deze publicatie een compleet overzicht gegeven van het omvangrijke oeuvre van Werkman.
De publicatie is de kroon op het werk van het in 2002 gestarte Werkmanproject, een initiatief van de Stichting H.N. Werkman. Het diepgaande onderzoek naar het complete oeuvre van H.N. Werkman is uitgevoerd onder leiding van dr. Dieuwertje Dekkers. De publicatie levert een belangrijke bijdrage aan het inmiddels veelzijdige beeld van de Nederlandse kunstgeschiedenis in het interbellum.

The internationally renowned Dutch artist Hendrik N. Werkman (1882-1945) was a painter, printmaker, printer and typographer who was acclaimed for the asymmetric typographic compositions he created while experimenting with printing materials and techniques. This publication is the most extensive exposé of his work until now and contains the complete catalogue of his oeuvre.

An English edition is planned and will be published in the fall of 2008.

Piet Zwart, interieurarchitect, modeontwerper, reclametypograaf, fotograaf, criticus, docent en industrieel vormgever, werd in het jaar 2000 door de Beroepsorganisatie van Nederlandse Ontwerpers (BNO) uitgeroepen tot dé Nederlandse ontwerper van de twintigste eeuw.
In de jaren twintig zette hij de grafische wereld op zijn kop met dynamisch drukwerk dat uit eenvoudig zetmateriaal was gecomponeerd en waarin spoedig ook zakelijke foto’s werden gemonteerd. Hij ontwierp de legendarische Bruynzeelkeuken en beijverde zich voor een moderne opleiding tot industrieel vormgever. Al in 1964 prees de bekende kunsthistoricus prof.dr. H.L.C. Jaffé hem om zijn talent mensen met elkaar te laten communiceren.
In deze nieuwe monografie wordt het veelzijdige oeuvre van Piet Zwart vooral in internationale context bezien. Zijn relatie tot De Stijl, Dada, het Russisch constructivisme en het Bauhaus wordt uitvoerig aan de orde gesteld, zo ook de rol die Piet Zwart zelf binnen de avant-garde vervulde.

Published on the occasion of an exhibition about the work of Piet Zwart at the Gemeente Museum in the Hague, this monograph is the first in years to cover and protray extensively the many facetted genius of one of the Netherlands most important and certainly best known designers. Sadly enough the people behind this project did not see the necessity for an English translation.

An illustrated history of propaganda art and design from Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, the USSR, and Communist China. This provocative survey reveals how four of the most destructive dictatorships of the 20th century - Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Soviet Russia and Communist China - used graphic design to sell their messages. It explores each regime’s distinctive strategies for seducing public opinion and infiltrating people’s lives, in media ranging from logos, flags, typefaces and posters to children's books and figurines. With many remarkable archival photographs and a perceptive text Heller analyzes how these four regimes established the most effective modes of visual propaganda.

Bruno Munari (1907-1998) Italian artist, designer, photographer and writer. Primarily self-taught, Munari's prolific and varied career developed from the late 1920s, through his involvement with Futurism in Milan and Rome. Practicing as a graphic designer and photographer from the 1930's on he worked for clients such as Pirelli, Olivetti, Cinzano and IBM. A pioneer of animation techniques in Italian advertising films, his restless nature also embraced illustration, photomontage, and magazine design. After the Second World War he practiced increasingly as an industrial designer, producing furniture, interior designs, toys and domestic products.

"On the centenary of Munari's birth, the two foremost experts on his work, Beppe Finessi and Marco Meneguzzo, have divided Munari's corpus into ten sections that are based neither on chronology nor type, but rather on method, taking as their inspiration the "lightness" that is considered by all to be the definitive quality of the contemporary period - something that few know how to wield with the keen awareness that has marked the seventy years of creative output by this grand master." (Publishers text)

During a forty-year period Otto Baumberger designed more than two hundred posters for a wide variety of clients, displaying a prodigious capacity for finding astonishing creative solutions. Baumberger's lack of linear development and his refusal to take up the ethical and aesthetic ideals introduced to graphic design by Modernism surprised his colleagues, and still disturb viewers today. While difficult to situate Baumberger within the history of poster art in stylistic terms, it is the diversity in style which give him a particularly modern quality.
"There is no reason to doubt: Marque PKZ, Baumann Bahnhofstr.25, or Fein-Kaller are still unbeatable, emblematic masterpieces of brand marketing and discreet seduction." (Martin Heller)

Shinro Ohtake is an outstanding figure in the contemporary art world in Japan. His works encompass painting, drawing, sculpture, collage, writing and publishing, produced in overwhelming quality and quantity everyday. His last exhibition Zen Kei held at Museum of Modern Art Tokyo in 2006 was greatly successful, attracting international attention.
He has continued the serial poster project bound in IDEA from 1999 to 2005, resulting in 85 works. They are mostly original artworks especially made for this project. Some poster even used 8 colours in the unusually large format (around 800x600mm). The subjects of those posters encompass the whole range of the artist's world, reflecting his main themes.

Po: Shinto Ohtake & Idea Poster Collection includes all the posters with detailed notes on backgrounds of each works.

"This book began as a list designer Stefan Sagmeister made in his diary under the title Things I have learned in my life so far, which includes statements such as “Worrying solves nothing” and “Trying to look good limits my life.” The list reveals something that is profoundly true: Although human beings have been pursuing happiness for countless generations, it is not so easily achieved. And we need constant reminders to keep us on the right path.
With the support of his clients, Sagmeister transformed these sentences into typographic works, from billboards in France to sign-toting inflatable monkeys on the streets of Scotland. Accompanied by essays from design historian Steven Heller, Guggenheim chief curator Nancy Spector, and UK psychologist Daniel Nettle, as well as Sagmeister’s own words, the series is revealed as a complex blend of personal revelation, art, and design—an eclectic mix of visual audacity and sound advice." (Publishers text)

The revised and enlarged edition of Idea No.310: Typography in Japan 1995-2005.
Typography works of 66 Japanese designers to observe the renovative changes over the turn of the century.

Designers: Shoichi Akazaki, Shin Akiyama, Shintaro Ajioka, Taii Ashizawa, Yukio Azuma, Tatsuya Ariyama, Kazuo Ito, Yukihiro Unno, Tsuyoshi Endo, Tetsuya Ota, Shuichi Ogata, Kaoru Kasai, Mitsuo Katsui, Nobuyoshi Kikuchi, Yuji Kimura, Junichi Kusaka, Kudo Tsuyokatsu, Craft Ebbing & Co., Yoshinobu Kuwahata, Hitoshi Koizumi, Kazuya Kondo, Akira Saito (Veia), Eiji Sakagawa, Koichi Sakano, Jun Sato, Naoki Sato, Mayumi Sawachi, Masami Shimizu, Yoshihisa Shirai, Kohei Sugiura, George Sugishita, Seiichi Suzuki, Hitoshi Suzuki, Shin Sobue , Fumio Tachibana, Tztom Toda, Nobuo Nakagaki, Hideki Nakajima, Masayoshi Nakajyo, Yasuhito Nagahara, Gino Nakayama, Minoru Niijima, Hiroshi Nishino, Kazunari Hattori, Kenya Hara, Reiko Harajo, HeiQuiti Harata, FiSH design, Mitsuo Fukawa, Yasushi Fujimoto (CAP), Fragment, HOLON, Yukimasa Matzda, Shunichi Mamura, Ken Miki, Gow Michiyoshi, Milky Isobe, Hirokazu Mukai, Junichi Munetoshi, Reiko Mochizuki, Daishiro Mori, Kijyuro Yahagi, Nobuhiro Yamaguchi, Hideharu Yamada

"Jan van Toorn is one of the most significant and influential Dutch graphic designers to have emerged since the early 1960s. While graphic design often does little more than give unthinking visual form to the status quo, Van Toorn focused on meaning rather than smooth stylistic expression and developed critical alternatives to the usual design world conventions.
Van Toorn aligned himself with the reflexive tradition of art and communication exemplified by Brecht and Godard. His designs persistently call attention to their status as visual contrivances, obliging the viewer to make an effort to process their complexities. Van Toorn wanted the public to measure the motives of both the client and the designer who mediates the client’s message against their own experiences of the world. He hoped in this way to stimulate a more active and sceptical view of art, communication, media ownership and society.
Projects such as Van Toorn’s posters and catalogues for the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and his long-running series of calendars for the printing firm Mart.Spruijt are powerful demonstrations of graphic design used as a means of commentary and as a tool of critique. Later, as director of the Jan van Eyck Academy, Van Toorn drew together all the strands of his critical practice into a multi-levelled educational initiative that urged designers to think harder about design’s role in shaping contemporary reality."(Publisher's text)

"De Nederlandse ontwerper N.P. de Koo (1881-1960) heeft een groot en veelzijdig oeuvre nagelaten. Hij was vooral actief als grafisch vormgever en interieurarchitect, maar hij ontwierp ook tentoonstellingen, jaarbeursstands, een landhuis, een brievenbus en twee mobiele postkantoren.
Belangrijke opdrachtgevers waren de PTT en de Phoenix Brouwerij. De affiches en het andere drukwerk dat De Koo voor deze bedrijven maakte, springen direct in het oog en getuigen van een grote stijlvastheid en een feilloos gevoel voor kleur en typografie.
Als interieurarchitect werkte De Koo voor tal van particulieren, bedrijven en overheden. De meeste interieurs van zijn hand zijn verloren gegaan. Het enige wat rest zijn foto's, in veel gevallen uniek archiefmateriaal, dat in dit boek voor het eerst wordt gepubliceerd." (Uitgever's tekst)
Het boek verschijnt als publicatie bij de tentoonstelling 'Klinkklare Vormgeving - N.P.de Koo (1881-1960) in het Museum voor Communicatie, Den Haag, van 21 maart t/m 29 juni 2008.

The Dutch grafich designer and interieur architect N.P. de Koo (1881-1960) was a very talented and versatile artist; he left a large diverse oeuvre which attests to his varied talents. He designed stunning posters and other graphic work for the PTT and the Phoenix Beer Brouwer, but he also created exhibitions and trade-fair stands, private houses, a mailbox and two mobile post offices. This publication, which contains much unpublished material, coincides with an exhibition of De Koo's work at the Museum for Communication in the Hague from the 21st. of March to the 29th of June, 2008.

"Arabesque investigates the current creative potential of the Arab world and Persia. The book collects examples of recent innovative and groundbreaking design work that is inspired by the richness of the region's visual culture. In addition to a wide range of Arabic fonts and typefaces, it presents graphic design, modern calligraphy, logos and illustrations by designers from Eygpt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.
Supplemented by texts that describe the environments in which the featured designers and artists work, 'Arabesque' also includes a CD-ROM with the Arabic inspired Latin typefaces created by the book's editors Ben Wittner and Sascha Thoma." (Publisher's text)

This publication is a reproduction of the articles originally published in Idea Magazine No. 306 (September, 2004).
Contens:"Invention of White" HAPTIC Exhibition / Matsuya Ginza Renewal project / Signage for Umeda Hospital / Signage for Katta Hospital / Nagano Winter Olympic Games Program / Book Design / Takeo VI Communication Tools
"On White" by Kenya Hara
"Encounters with Everyday Lives"
EXPO 2005 AICHI Promotion / Works across Japan / Final entry draft for the Beijing Olympics symbol mark / RE-DESIGN Exhibition / MUJI
"Encounters with Japan" by Kenya Hara
A Long Interview with Kenya Hara
Designers who influenced Kenya Hara
Comments on Kenya Hara from 8 standpoints
Shinichi Nakazawa / Ross Lovegrove / Kazuko Koike / Naoto Fukasawa / Makoto Saito / Shutaro Mukai / Munenori Harada / Kenmei Nagaoka

Formulare visualisieren einen stummen Dialog, Sie begleiten uns auf Schritt und Tritt. Keine Bestellung, Rechnung, Lieferung, keine Ehe, keine Scheidung, kein Ein- und Auswandern, keine Steuererklärung, kein Haftbefehl, keine Krankschreibung, keine Gesundheitsvorsorge, kommt ohne sie aus. Sie begleiten uns von Geburt an, nicht einmal sterben dürfen wir ohne sie: Formulare. Sie bringen Ordnung ins Leben oder auch nur Form, sie versprechen Klarheit und Orientierung und verursachen doch oft eher Verwirrung, Chaos, Hilflosigkeit. Als Design-Herausforderung oft vernachlässigt führen sie einen stummen Dialog mit demjenigen der sie – oft von ihrer Form schon abgestoßen und deshalb widerwillig – ausfüllt …

A very informative, practical, and well designed study of all aspects of designing and producing forms, tabels and questionaires, with more than 1000 examples taken from governmental, commercial and private sector organizations. German language only.

In de ‘Symbolenwijzer’ zijn duizenden symbolen afgebeeld, met hun namen, hun betekenis en van vele ook (ontstaans)geschiedenis en achtergronden. Ook historische tekens zijn opgenomen (alchemistische en middeleeuwse afkortingstekens). Waar dit relevant is worden aanwijzingen gegeven over het praktisch gebruik van tekens. Vrijwel elk vakgebied wordt bestreken: wis-, natuur- en sterrenkunde, religie en magie, biologie, genealogie en heraldiek, muziek, cartografie, braille- en morsetekens. Er wordt uitgebreid aandacht besteed aan het alfabet, niet alleen aan het onze, maar ook aan de belangrijkste niet-Latijnse schriftstelsels (met uitgebreide transliteratietabellen), aan de runen en de hiërogliefen en aan de fonetische tekens. Ook de leestekens en de cijferstelsels zijn niet vergeten. Niet alleen wetenschappelijke tekens worden beschreven, ook meer alledaagse symbolen zijn aanwezig: gezondheidszorg, het weer, toerisme, handel en commercie, politiek, milieu, filmkeuring, sport en spel, astrologie en I-Ching, wasvoorschrifttekens… ze staan er allemaal in. Met illustraties, verklarende woordenlijst en uitgebreid register.
Er is geen uitgave over gedrukte tekens dat het begrip ‘symbool’ zo ruim opvat en zo uitgebreid met alle ‘ins en outs’ bespreekt. Het unieke is dat elk teken niet alleen wordt beschreven en toegelicht, maar ook is afgebeeld.
Uniek is ook dat van alle vakgebieden de tekens nu zijn verzameld in één uitgave. Tekens zijn soms alleen in specifieke literatuur te vinden, versnipperd en veelal, zoals bijvoorbeeld die van de fonetiek, slechts in buitenlandse literatuur.
De ‘Symbolenwijzer’ is (grotendeels) als een beeldwoordenboek opgezet. Van de duizenden tekens die zijn afgebeeld worden de betekenis en vaak de bijzonderheden over de ontstaansgeschiedenis, de ontwikkeling en het praktisch gebruik beschreven. Van de belangrijkste vreemde alfabetten zijn uitgebreide transliteratie- en transcriptietabellen opgenomen.

Karel Treebus is an authoritative and award winning typographer who has produced an extensive but concise and very practical guide to the language of signs and symbols.In twenty chapters, Karel Treebus rubricates, explains, classifies and clarifies signs and symbols that are innate to various parts of our daily lives and the society we live in. Significantly, Treebus also incorporated in his guide modern day signs and symbols like the ubiquitous emoticons (emotion icons) of the online world. (Dutch text only)

The AGI-Alliance Graphique International- is a professional club uniting the world's leading graphic designers and artists through their common interests and achievements. Since its inception in 1951, it has gathered together those professional individuals who have been responsible for the identity design of most of the world's top corporations and institutions, as well as being the creators of countless examples of globally known packaging, publications, illustrations and posters.

This painstakingly researched and lavishly illustrated publication presents biographies of every AGI member to date (some 600), and is accompanied by reproductions of some of their best, often iconic, work. The book includes essays covering many different aspects of graphic design, such as stamps, bills, transport, posters, corporate identities, movie titles, typography and book design. The book is chronologically organized and provides a clear and comprehensive survey of the evolution of the graphic design profession.
It is designed by Dutch designers Wout de Vringer and Ben Faydherbe and contains contributions by many famous designers and authors.

 

A very welcome new edition of this classic study first published in 1964. In four essays, Gerstner provides a basic introduction to his design methodology. Instead of set recipes, the method suggests a model for design in the early days of the computer era.
The intellectual models it proposes, however, continue to be useful today. What it does not purvey is cut-and-dried, true-or-false solutions or absolutes of any kind - instead, it develops fundamental principles in an innovative and future-oriented way. The book is especially topical and exciting in the context of current developments in computational design, which seem to hold out the possibility of programmed design. With many examples from the worlds of graphic and product design, music, architecture, and art, it inspires the reader to seize on the material, develop it further, and integrate it into his or her own work.

This is the first monograph published in English on the work of the celebrated and influential French graphic artist Robert Massin (b.1925), one of the key exponents of the development of graphic design since World War II.
Massin is a book sculptor, graphic designer and writer, who has worked with many famous authors and playwrights, including Eugène Ionesco, Blaise Cendrars and Raymond Queneau, and has been art director for the pre-eminent French publisher Gallimard for twenty years.
The book charts Massin’s wide-ranging career with detailed discussion of some of his most inventive and exciting projects, including the award-winning The Bald Prima Donna (1964) and Letter and Image (1970).
Organised in six sections, including one chapter showing for the first time Massin’s studio in his country house – a fantastic cabinet of curiosity which mirrors Massin’s rich imagination.

In the first book on Tschichold (1902–74) to be based on extensive archive research, Burke turns fresh and revealing light on his subject. He sets Tschichold in the network of artists and designers who constituted New Typography in its moment of definition and exploration, and puts new emphasis on Tschichold as an activist collector, editor and writer. Tschichold’s work is shown in colour throughout, in freshly made photographs of examples drawn from public and private collections.
The central part of the book is made up of three chapters. First, a description of Tschichold’s typography in the years 1925–33, with a depiction of his extensive contacts with avant-garde designers across Europe. After this, an interlude describes Tschichold’s detention in 1933 by the Nazis. The second long chapter discusses Tschichold’s engagement in his modernist period with letterforms as such (calligraphy, typefaces) and his book-design work. The last chapter looks at Tschichold after his emigration to Switzerland: his ‘serene modernism’ and turn to traditionalist design.
This is not a biography, but rather a discussion of the work seen in the context of Tschichold’s life and the times in which he lived.
The book has a foreword by Robin Kinross (‘Towards a critical understanding of Tschichold’s work’). It is rounded off with four key texts by Tschichold (in new English translations), a bibliography, and index.

After quickly surveying typography from Gutenberg to Bodoni, Eskilson's narrative expands dramatically with the Industrial Revolution, the Arts and Crafts movement and Art Nouveau in the 1890s. The pioneering German Sachplakat style helped bring down the curtain on this vibrant era. Soon, propaganda posters and DADA during World War I pushed the boundaries of graphic design as never before.
Eskilson reveals the links between graphic design and Cubism, Futurism, Vorticism and Purism, and the rise of Art Deco in the 1920s - 1930s. He shows how Dutch 'De Stijl' and Russian Constructivism formulated geometric, abstract techniques. The story moves to the Bauhaus and the New Typography in Germany, then to the Nazi and Allied propaganda imagery. The book traces the triumph of, and resistance to, the International Style in the 1950s-1960s, and Post modernism. In his longest and last chapter Eskilson examines the implications of Web design, motion graphics, global graphics, 'design-it-your-self' trends and the role of the 'citizen designer'.
The book presents a host of different materials: book, journal, and album covers, photographs, prints, posters, chairs, buildings, logos and websites. Magazine covers receive considerable attention. Much of the illustrated material is not found in other recently published 'histories'.

This book offers an accessible and comprehensive guide to visual journalism today, the design of magazines and newspapers for a wide variety of markets. Generously illustrated and including case studies, practical tips, examples of best practice and profiles of individual designers, the book explains the fundamentals of editorial design and layout. It provides an overview of current methods and shows how and why editorial design is its own discipline, differing from other areas of graphic design. Subjects covered include branding, how to create layouts, handling copy and images, design and production skills and trends in editorial design. With advice and opinions from leading practitioners in the field, the book is a practical reference and learning resource.

A revised new edition of this striking ideas book offers a range of innovative approaches for every aspect of a magazine, inside and out, pictorial and typographical, from stand firsts and subheads to columns and captions. Horst Moser has selected a huge range of examples from his amazing collection of international magazines and uses them to illustrate the principles of classic editorial design. He discusses the challenges that face today’s art directors, and showcases the most successful solutions, from cutting edge modern style to classic techniques that can be used year after year.
With over a thousand full-colour illustrations, this is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for students and professionals, and an essential and authoritative guide for anyone involved in magazine design.

Michael Bierut is partner in the New York office of the international design consultancy Pentagram, co-editor of the successful five-volume "Looking Closer" anthologies of design criticism, and generally regarded as one of the finest observer on design writing today.
"Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design" brings together the best of designer Michael Bierut's critical writing — serious or humorous, flattering or biting, but always on the mark. Covering topics as diverse as Twyla Tharp and ITC Garamond, Bierut's intelligent and accessible texts pull design culture into crisp focus. He touches on classics, like Massimo Vignelli and the cover of The Catcher in the Rye, as well as newcomers, like McSweeney's Quarterly Concern and color-coded terrorism alert levels. Along the way Nabokov's Pale Fire; Eero Saarinen; the paper clip; Celebration, Florida; the planet Saturn; the ClearRx pill bottle; and paper architecture all fall under his pen. His experience as a design practitioner informs his writing and gives it truth.
In Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design, designers and non designers alike can share and revel in his insights.

"Although it may be counterintuitive, states of engrossment, serene concentration or calm contemplation invariably include movement. When focusing on the crux of a matter-content's essence-the emphasis is on continuity. In this sense "Continuously" is a book about doing, about making; it has its origins in our work, and is more attuned to practice than to theory.
"Continuously" is addressed to those involved in professions dealing in the widest sense with projects in the field of visual communication, to those who take responsibility and make decisions. Consequently, it is not exclusively for visual designers, but also for those who commission them. It offers neither prescriptions nor instructions for a specific procedure to be followed step by step, but rather attempts to provide insight into the typically multi-faceted, day-to-day aspects of visual form-giving, never abandoning its strong link to content."
(From the authors introduction)
Divided into 4 sections - Content, Methodology, Transformation & Visual Language - this well designed book presents an in-depth view into the work and workings of Bohatsch Visual Communication.

Dick Bruna (1927) has become well known as a graphic designer due to his creation of Nijntje, who has conquered the world outside the Netherlands under the name of Miffy. It is much less widely known that he has many other artistic qualities as well. This book shows the many different facets of Dick Bruna’s work as an artist, an illustrator and a designer.
Not only Dick Bruna’s qualities as an author of children’s books are discussed, but also his skills as a writer in other fields. Attention is also focused on the development of other media in which he has worked, such as animations and merchandising. The book includes a contribution by Dutch text writer Ivo de Wijs about the making of the successful Nijntje musicals. Other contributions discuss the influence of others on Dick Bruna’s work and the man himself, in the light of biographical details. Of course, his qualities as a graphic designer for the publishing house Uitgeverij Bruna and later for his own studio are also described.
From the perspective of their own specific fields of expertise, the different authors all describe Dick Bruna’s many different qualities.

There is also a Dutch language edition.

In an entertaining and straightforward way, Edo Smitshuijzen’s Signage Design Manual leads the reader step by step through the individual phases of signal design. More than nine hundred illustrations guide the reader through this demanding process. Both in-depth and comprehensiveness, this book is a unique publication. It not only contains information on traditional methods, design questions, and materials, but even touches on future developments, such as navigational aids for mobile devices and other futuristic equipment. The combination of wide coverage and precise, detailed information makes this book accessible to a broad spectrum of readers, from information and graphic designers to design students and professionals of every stripe who are involved with signal design on any level. With the publication of Smitshuijzen’s Signage Design Manual, the canon of signaletics finally has its own engaged textbook.

"Fresh Dialogue 7; Making Magazines" presents three young publishing gurus who are reinventing how magazines are made. They have thrown off the templates and formulas of traditional publishing in favour of new and innovative approaches to magazine making. Representing the next generation of publishing 'kingpins', the book features Tod Lippy, creator of the luscious biannual arts publication "Esopus"; Lisa Farjam, the force behind Middle-East culture magazine "Bidoun"; and master storyteller David Haskell, editor-in-chief of "Topic". The moderator is James Truman.

This is the first monograph on Jonathan Barnbrook, one of the foremost, innovative and controversial graphic designers of his generation. "Barnbrook Bible", an artwork in itself, meticulously combines text, image and a diversity of reference material to give a complete picture of his output. The book showcases Barnbrook's creativity in many disciplines from film to graphic and font design, for which he is most famous. It also features an in-depth analysis of his groundbreaking design for the Damien Hirst book "I Want To Spend The Rest Of My Life, Everywhere,With Everyone, One To One, Always, Forever, Now".
Also included are his personal political projects, which demonstrate the passionate belief underlying all his work, that graphic design should be a catalyst for discussion and change.

‘Een Illuster Genootschap NIC’ is een uitgave van de Beroepsorganisatie Nederlandse Ontwerpers (BNO) met wie de Nederlandse Vereniging van Illustratoren in 1998 fuseerde.
Het boek bevat het verhaal van het ontstaan van de vereniging (op een druilerig terras), de jaarlijkse exposities in het Stedelijk Museum, de felle discussies tijdens de jurering van de jaarlijkse prijzen, de financiële en bestuurlijke kwesties, maar natuurlijk ook heel veel illustraties. ‘Een Illuster Genootschap NIC’ geeft een mooi beeld van het vak en beroepsattitude van de illustrator. Het verhaal wordt verteld door Loek Martin die als voorzitter van de NIC een belangrijke rol speelde in de totstandkoming van de regeling op het gebied van collectieve rechten, de verzakelijking en postionering van de vereniging.

This publication by the BNO presents the history and development of the "Nederlandse Vereniging van Illustratoren-NIC" (Association of Dutch Illustrators). Only available in Dutch.

This publication was produced to accompany Richard Niessens's exhibition inside La Chapelle, the Baroque chapel in Chaumont, France during the 18th International Poster and Graphic Arts Festival of Chaumont 2007.

TM-CITY has eight neighbourhoods, made out of more than 150 works by the Dutch graphic designer Richard Niessen, assisted by Esther de Vries, and was constructed and shown for the first time at Chaumont. Niessen's method can be described as 'Typographic Masonry' (TM), for he builds with graphic elements like fonts, printed matter, shapes and colours. In TM-CITY Niessen takes it all one step further and actually builds a city out of his designs; flyers are stacked to form skyscrapers, posters are laid out to become parks. TM-CITY is fully traversable. People can walk down the streets, named after Niessen's sources of inspiration, such as Richard Rogers and Eduardo Paolozzi. TM-CITY also has been designed to be mobile and easy to transport. Each neighbourhood , individually wrapped in handmade covers, fits inside its wooden base.
TM-CITY is a 'Gesamtkunstwerk'!

See also our Gallery section for more work by Richard Niessen

This is the first large-scale monograph on German graphic designer and educator Otl Aicher (1922–91), a key international figure in post-war design and a pioneer in the field of corporate identity and visual communication systems. Aicher is renowned for creating visual identities for dozens of major corporations, including Braun, BMW, Lufthansa and ERCO; for his design of the complete graphics programme for the 1972 Munich Olympic Games; and as the inventor of the popular typeface Rotis. Aicher influenced a generation of future designers in the 1950s and 60s at the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG), the school he helped to found in in Ulm, Germany; he also collaborated with British architect Norman Foster and counted numerous corporate CEOs as clients and friends.
The book represents the most complete selection of Aicher`s work in print, with over 300 illustrations carefully selected from thousands of documents in the Aicher archive and private collections, including previously unseen materials. It documents extensively 35 Aicher projects and includes essays by former Aicher clients and collaborators.

'We Love Magazines' is an in-depth look at the stare of the magazine industry. From mainstream brands to independent creations, it reveals the essence of some of the world's favourite publications and examines the challenges they face.
"This book is about the shared pleasure of magazines. It explores this magic through individual stories and by examining wider issues such as advertising and distribution. It also includes the most comprehensive directory ever compiled of international pop culture magazines and the shops in which to buy them. This book is a love letter, written to a medium that continues to sustain and surprise." (The editor)

Divided into 4 parts this extensive, well documented & well designed study lays down an excellent framework for orientation, directional graphics and signage for architects, product designers and communication experts. The first section is devoted to theory, the second to practical aspects of planning, the third (and largest section) gives detailed information about actual international projects such as airports, museums, exhibitions, schools and libraries, urban public spaces, factories and congress centres. The last section contains project data, biographies of designers & architects and a bibliography. The book is in German only.

Orientierungs- und Leitsysteme sind [lebens-]wichtig. Dennoch werden sie oft im Bermudadreieck zwischen Architekt, Bauleiter und Auftraggeber vergessen – und nachträglich entsteht ein Schilderwald, der allenfalls die Richtung weist, nicht aber Orientierung gibt.
Andreas Uebele gibt Designern, Architekten und Bauherren nun eine Sammlung von Denkanstößen, Erfahrungen und »best of practise«-Beispielen in Buchform an die Hand.
Er klärt Begriffe, stellt die Stand- und Spielbeine der Gestaltung von Leitsystemen vor und gibt Hinweise zu Planungsablauf, Sicherheitsfragen, Vorschriften und Behördengängen. Vor allem aber stellt er herausragende Beispiele aus aller Welt vor: von Flughäfen, Museen und Ausstellungen über Schulen und Bibliotheken, im städtebaulichen Kontext bis hin zu Unternehmen sowie Kongressen und Events.
Mit Hintergrundinformationen zu Konzept, Materialien, konstruktiven Details, Planungsabläufen, Kosten, verwendeten Schriften und vielem mehr. Ein Buch, auf das sich das Warten gelohnt hat.

The German antiquarian book dealer Jürgen Holstein has produced, in the 40 years that he has been in business, more than 120 exceptional catalogues of the antiquarian and out-of-print books that he has offered for sale. Not only was the content of these catalogues exceptional but their design also set high standards for a genre which is often a boring bibliographical summation of book titles.
Holstein and his wife have now produced an exceptionally well documented and richly illustrated record of 40 years of a labour of love in antiquarian-book catalogue making. This very well designed limited-edition publication not only records all of their catalogues but also those of many of their more illustrious colleagues. It also contains as essay by Wilfried Wiegand and contributions about the trade from a.o. Tilman Bassenge, Jutta Bendt, Peter Nils Dorén, Irene Ferchl, Winfried Geisenheyner, Roland Jaeger, Carlos Kühn, Claudia Lux, Herbert Meinke, Patrick Rössler, & Rainer Theobald.

Originially published in French this comprehensive study demonstrates how visual communication has shaped our perception of the world throughout the ages. Chronologically arranged, this wide-ranging study places graphic design and typography in their artistic, technical, sociopolitical, and economic context. It combines the history of the letter form - from the invention of printing to the relationship between graphics and totalitarina regimes - with intricate analysis of graphic design and typography.

This is the first English translation of the revolutionary 1928 document by Jan Tschichold (1902-1974) German born typographer, book and typeface designer who became one of the major theorists to influence the development of graphic design in the 20th.century. Since its initial publication in Berlin in 1928, his "Die Neue Typographie" has been recognized as the definitive treatise on book and graphic design in the machine age. At once a key theoretical document of Central European modernism between the wars and an invaluable source of working principles for the practicing designer, this classic work enjoys a reputation among book artists like that Le Corbusier's "Toward a New Architecture" has long held among architects.
This new paperback edition, with an excellent introduction by Robin Kinross, includes a foreword by Richard Hendel, considering current thinking about Tschichold's life and work.

This book presents one of the most inclusive and extensive collections of classic & contemporary pictograms and icons used in urban signage, retail store floor-guides, museums, airports, Olympic venues, public spaces and web construction. The collection, taken from around the world, is divided into catagories reflecting industries and application thereby making the book very practical and easy to use.

This book presents a number of experimental projects to gain experience in communication design as a symbolic and public practice. It proceeds from a critical position vis-à-vis the customary mediation of information. This is more necessary than ever now that design operates in the entertaining and marketing spectacle organized by the neo-liberal world order as an instrument for the colonization of human existence. Unlike the classic form of visual communication, the dialogic approach is a connective model of visual rhetoric with a polemic nature and polyphonic visual form. A storytelling structure that seeks to reveal the opposing elements of the message and opts for active interpretation by the spectator.
Jan van Toorn (1932) is a Dutch graphic and exhibition designer and educator whose radical work offers a critique of the social and aesthetic influences underpinning mainstream graphic design. He has enjoyed important collaborations with several, mainly public sector, organizations such as museums and schools both in Holland and abroad.

The French designer Pierre Bernard focuses in his work on the public domain, on communication between governments and citizens, on notification and orientation in the public realm. As a designer, Pierre Bernard is a thinker who incorporates not only form but also content and context into his works. “Visual design won’t turn the world into a paradise, but it can help to bring about a more humane world.” A striking example is his concept for the Louvre’s corporate identity in Paris. Bernard is omnipresent in France with his design for the distinctive seal of the French National Parks.
This publication is a comprehensive survey of Pierre Bernard's work and is being published to coincide with his being awarded The Erasmus Prize 2006 in recognition of his contributions to “design in the public domain.” The award which is sponsored by the Dutch State is given annually for special achievements in European culture and society.

There is also a limited edition published in Dutch and a French edition, both of which are now available..

Swiss designer Josef Müller-Brockmann established himself as one of the most important and prolific voices of twentieth century graphic design, setting up his own studio in Zurich in 1936 and working until his death in 1996 for numerous clients, creating a countless quantity of design for posters, which he considered “barometers of social economic, political, and cultural events, as well as mirrors of intellectual and practical activities.” He is perhaps best-known as graphic design’s foremost proponent of grid systems to assist in functional, objective design, which he discussed in detail in his books 'Grid System in Graphic Design' and The Graphic Designer and his Design Problems. The grid system allowed Müller-Brockmann to organize his subject matter to create more effective design, to not be overwhelmed by the seeming chaos and complexity of design decisions.
Müller-Brockmann’s work ranged from social/civic projects such as posters for the Swiss Automobile Club and Zürich Police to commercial projects for IBM (for whom he was design advisor in western Europe), Rosenthal, and Hermes Typewriters. His large body of work, created as graphic design gained importance during the twentieth century, serves as a gauge for the study of design history and acted as a harbinger for what was to come.
This excellent monograph is illustrated by images of the final designs but also by sketches, production drawings, and unused design drafts from Müller-Brockmann’s archive—and with long captions explaining in detail the design structure and the brief given by the client—the monograph gives a complete visual understanding of Müller-Brockmann’s growth as a graphic designer.

Between 1942 and 1980, Max Huber (1919–92) earned an international reputation as one of the most innovative, distinctive and significant designers of his generation. After an Arts and Crafts education and later graphic apprenticeship in Switzerland, and inspired by the experience of the early modern masters he moved to Milan and started working at the Studio Boggeri. During the war period, he returned to Switzerland where he became a member of ‘alliance’, the distinguished association of modernist artists, and worked on various editorial projects.
After the war, he moved back to Italy and soon started receiving important commissions, such as the one from Giulio Einaudi, a major cultural publisher in Italy, who in 1946 asked him to renew the typography of his Milan-based publishing house. It was during this time that Huber became acquainted with a circle of brilliant left-wing intellectuals and artists, including Italo Calvino, Natalia Ginzburg, Massimo Mila, Cesare Pavese, Fernanda Pivano, and Stefano Terra. Max Huber then worked on a variety of projects, including the socialist newspaper Avanti with Paolo Grassi and the 8th Milan Triennale. He also had a long collaboration with the Castiglioni brothers and later won the first prize in the competition for the poster of the Monza Grand Prix.
Huber’s graphic work is bright, sharp, always surprising and very effective. For this book, an impressive collection of original artwork and archival photographs from the Max Huber Museum shown in twelve thematic portfolios accompany three essays by experts in the field of Italian and Swiss design.

This book turns words into pictures, finds poetry in rubbish, and discovers the unlikely in the commonplace. Alan Fletcher stands ideas on their heads to present a kaleidoscope of sketches, images, doodles, and many other twists and turns from his unpredictable imagination.
Fletcher(1931-2006) was one of the most creative minds and internationally influential figures in graphic design. Following on from his other two books "Beware Wet Paint" and his brilliant "The Art of Looking Sideways" this book, published just after his untimely death, will also appeal to those who enjoy graphic excursions, up-ending visual conventions and creating improbable scenarios.

Pictograms and icons are a keystone of nonverbal communication. Drawing on a multitude of examples from around the world, Ryan Abdullah, Professor of Typography at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig, and Roger Hübner, Professor of Semiotics and Design at the Mediadesign University in Berlin, outline their history and show how they have been applied in commercial and creative fields over the past century.
Containing over 2000 pictogram designs this is an indispensable sourcebook for designers.

A collection of 5,000 graphic symbols from around the world brought together by Hans Rudolf Lutz with the hope that they will inspire professional designers to take a more meaningful approach to signs and not confound simplification with schematization.
A true sourcebook!

U1 is a short way of saying 'cover page 1', and in this well designed study about book covers and their impact, no less than 1200 examples taken from 172 publishers from around the world are used to show how "You never get a second chance to make a first impression"! The front cover of a book is the most direct marketing instrument that a publisher has, and covers can make or break the success of any publishing venture.
After an extensive introduction the authors have divided their study first into book genres, showing examples of covers from some 22 types of publications - from literary to cookbook, from scientific to political, from children books to historical studies. They then go on to display 25 design techniques and the various forms which designers use to create a book and its jacket.

This is the third book in a series about logos; 'Los Logos' and 'Dos Logos' documented the unceasing evolution of logo design, the most crucial and challenging tasks in graphic design. Simingly simple, the logo becomes the indispensable face of a company and conveys a brand's identity and philosophy.
This new volume, 'Tres Logos', demonstrates how influences from illustration and street art have become increasingly evident in logo design inspiring ornamental patterns with logos replacing the abstract tag. Additionally, companies are becoming more daring, and exploiting their logos to identify their brands with a certain style and appeal.
Fully indexed and structured thematically, the book draws connections between the applications and the field for which it was intended. Like its predecessors, 'Tres Logos' explores the exceptional visual language and stylistic approaches to logo creation by designers around the globe, exhibiting thousands of examples and simultaneously providing information about the personal approach of the makers.

Written by noted design authority Richard Hollis, this lavishly illustrated volume looks at the "Neue Grafik", or "Swiss Style", as it was developed by such designers as Theo Ballmer, Max Bill, Adrian Frutiger, Karl Gerstner, Armin Hofmann, Ernst Keller, Herbert Matter, Josef Müller-Brockmann, and Jan Tschichold. The style of these artists was admired worldwide for its formal discipline, in which designers organized images and text into geometrical grids. Adopted internationally, the grid and sans serif typefaces such as Helvetica became the classic emblems of Swiss graphic design.
Showcasing design work across a range of media, including posters, magazines, exhibition displays, brochures, advertisements, books, and film, this book shows how many of the "modernist elements remain an indispensable part of today's graphic language.

This book designers manual has been written by two designers who have been designing books for their publisher for several years. It is a practical guide to typesetting and design with the principles and processes visually explained using over 1000 examples, illustrations and diagrams. The authors never suggest that theirs is the ONLY way to design a book; rather they tell how to produce real books that publishers can publish with success and readers can read with pleasure.
The book is functionally well designed and it contains a wealth of information assembled through years of practical experience.

John Maeda -a professor in MIT's Media Lab and a world-renowned graphic designer- explores the question of how we can redefine the notion of "improved" so that it doesn't always mean something more, something added on. In 'The Laws of Simplicity', Maeda offers ten laws for balancing simplicity and complexity in business,technology and design-guidelines for needing less and actually getting more.
Maeda's first law of simplicity is REDUCE. It's not necessarily beneficial to add technology features just because we can. And the features that we do have must be organized (Law 2) in a sensible hierarchy so users aren't distracted by features and functions they don't need.
Skip ahead to Law 9:"FAILURE; Some things can never be made simple." Maeda's concise guide to simplicity in the digital age shows us how this idea can be a cornerstone of organizations and their products-how it can drive both business and technology. We can learn to simplify without sacrificing comfort and meaning, and we can achieve the balance described in Law 10. This Law, which Maeda calls "THE ONE", tells us: "Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful."

"Evidence that bears on questions of any complexity typically involves multiple forms of discourse. Evidence is evidence, whether words, numbers, images, diagrams, still or moving. The intellectual tasks remain constant regardless of the mode of evidence: to understand and to reason about the materials at hand, and to appraise their quality, relevance, and integrity.
Science and art have in common intense seeing, the wide-eyed observing that generates empirical information. 'Beautiful Evidence' is about how seeing turns into showing, how empirical observations turn into explanations and evidence. The book identifies excellent and effective methods for showing evidence, suggests new designs, and provides analytical tools for assessing the credibility of evidence presentations." (From the authors introduction)

The long awaited new book by Edward Tufte, Professor Emeritus at Yale University, who is considered by many to be the guru of modern information design and statistical graphics.

Philip Meggs History of Graphic Design has since it's inception in 1983 been regarded as the unrivaled seminal work on the subject. Now in it's fourth edition, revised and expanded by Alston Purvis, this authoritative book offers more than a thousand full-colour and black & white images supported by the latest information, including a new chapter on modern type design. There is expansive coverage of such topics as Italian, Russian and Dutch design and the books historic account is an extraordinary panorama of people and events, including: The Invention of Writing and Alphabets, Medieval Manuscript Books, The Origins of Printing and Typography, Renaissance Graphic Design, The Arts and Crafts Movement, Victorian and Art Nouveau Graphics, Modern Art and its Impact on Design, Visual Identity and Conceptual Images, Postmodern Design, and The Computer Graphics Revolution.
Professionals, students and everyone who works with or loves the world of graphic design will quickly find this reference tool is an invaluable visual survey that you will turn to again and again.

"Digital mapping techniques are being developed to visualize online conversation, identify significant variants within vast data sets, represent links between memory and urban morphology, and harness collective intelligence to develop alternative designs for cities, companies and communities.
This anthology brings together an international roster of writers, artists and designers at the forefront of locative media practice, and assembles archival and digital maps - from a 16th Century woodcut to a specially commissioned GPS drawing along the Greenwich Meridian - to explore how cartographic techniques are being adapted to map the emerging environments of electronic communication.
Spanning from social networks to networks of territories, ELSE/WHERE: MAPPING charts the ascendancy of mapping as a critical mode of inquiry and creative activity - a metastragegy that transcends disciplines and reveals that dynamic relationships between space, data and social organization." (Taken from the cover text)

Since the beginning of the 20th century the Dutch Postal Services (PTT - Post Telephone Telegraph) has spend a great deal of attention on the corporate identity and design of everything from stamps, mailboxes, telephone cells, post-trucks and post-offices. After the second World War they even created their own design bureau - DEV, Dienst Esthetische Vormgeving which later became K&V, Kunst & Vormgeving - to guarantee a constant and balanced, esthetic presentation of their services. This bureau became one of the most influential players in Dutch graphic design, and with it's ever growing collection of contemporary art it became a trend setter in the Dutch cultural environment.
This very well designed book discusses the success of PTT design, it's most important advisors, designers and products.

The catalogue of 'The Best Dutch Book Designs 2008' presents the selection of thirty-three books published in the Netherlands in 2008 which distinguish themselves by the quality of their design, typography, printing, illustration and production, judged and compiled by Volken Beck, Vanessa van Dam, Nina Post, Fokko Tamminga and Jules Vermeulen.
"This year, 2009, sees the fiftieth time that books designed and produced in the Netherlands have been judged on their typographical merits in a straight competion. To mark this half-century the Stichting De Best Verzorgde Boeken, the Special Collections department of the Amsterdam University Library and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam had the idea, as a one-off event, of extending the range of the selection to the whole history of book production in the Netherlands. A special panel of judges was assembled and given the task of selecting another thirty-three books, this time from the five centuries of Dutch books- from about 1470 to roughly 1950, and including books from the Southern Netherlands produced up to 1580- and declaring them to be examples of the Netherlands' best book designs and production of that pre-modern era." (Just Enschede)

Most Marketing books are too generic to be immediately relevant to most designers. In contrast "Marketing en Acquisitie voor Ontwerpers"(How to Market Design Consultancy Services) provides a step by step guide to getting it right when communicating the value of your design consultancy to clients. Whether your design business is a one-man show or a large bureau, whether your product is industrial, graphic or web-oriented design this book provides a clear explanation of how to communicate the value of your design to non designers.

"Riffing on the technical term “wayfinding”, which designers and manufacturers use when talking about the function of signs and signage systems as they are used by the viewer, this book by acclaimed graphic designer and author Per Mollerup looks for a more precise visual language for what sign designers actually do, which is to show the way. Unfortunately, as Mollerup points out, many designers never master the art of Wayshowing themselves. For “wayshowing” relates to “wayfinding” as writing relates to reading and as talking relates to hearing: the purpose of “wayshowing” is to facilitate “wayfinding”. Mollerup examines international sign systems and architectural landmarks in detail with his trademark candour and good humour. His analysis is at once pithy, scholarly, and historical." (Publishers text)

'Word of Image' was originally published under the title 'Double Dutch; The Word as Image' by the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) on the occasion of a seminar in July 2004. As the first edition was only available to a select group, it is with pleasure that Nijhof & Lee in association with Spinhex-Industries and Max Kisman can now offer a revised second edition of this little gem of metaphorical thinking to a much wider public.
"This book neither pretends to represent the full scope of historical developments in Dutch graphic design and typography, nor defines the values and responsibilities of graphic design. It merely provides a snapshot of thoughts, visions and impressions of an informal selection of graphic designers, typeface designers, visual artists and writers."

Max Kisman, award-winning, Dutch born, graphic & typeface designer and pioneer in digital technology in the mid-1980's invited a variety of Dutch and American graphic designers and artists to contribute visual interpretations of the underlying theme of the book: metaphorical thinking.
Their images and designs together with the textual contributions from Frans Oosterhof, Jan Middendorp, Max Bruinsma and Max Kisman "express the styles, attitudes, opinions, views, qualities and imagination of contemporary design thinking, showing that the cross-pollination of which Jan Middendorp reports in 'California and the Dutch Connection' seems to bear fruit over an even larger area than just California, stretching to the east coast of the U.S.
"How writing shifted from the hand to the eye, as Frans Oosterhof argues in his essay 'The True Face' finds its conclusion in the digital instant imagery and eclectic mixes of lost & found objects, recycled in a constantly renewed context.

"The Word of Image is the poetry of the visual. The description of the visual in words, where words can be images. In a language that stimulates the imagination and changes the rules of reality, creating its own." (Max Kisman).

Otl Aicher was one of the most famous pioneering graphic designers of post-war Germany. His work and interests were concentrated not just on 2-dimensional design alone but also on the fields of architecture, product design, teaching and design theory. His best-known pieces of work include corporate identities for Braun, Deutsche Lufthansa, the 1972 Olympic games in München, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen(ZDF), Erco and the kitchen manufacturer Bulthaup. Working as a typographer Aicher designed books, numerous magazines and fonts. The system of pictograms which he developed for the airport in Frankfurt and the Olympic games has become an international standard.
Aicher was one of the founders of the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm where he held posts as both a lecturer and for a time as principle. Otl Aicher was born in Ulm in 1922 and he died following a traffic accident in 1991.

This is a revised edition of a book that was first published in 1965 and has been out of print for some years now. The book was originally a fundamentally new attempt to provide a methodical approach to problems of graphic design. The student is taken step by step from the first rudiments to more elaborate and complex processes. Pictorial and formal elements are analysed and their inherent rules extracted. The knowledge acquired through this logical treatment of the material can be learnt; it should be part of every designer's and typographer's equipment.
Armin Hofmann(b.1920) is one of the leading figures in what is known as the Swiss Style of graphic design. His contribution to graphic design in the second half of the 20th century was to demonstrate the importance of a graphic language based on consistent, rational principles. This visual discipline is apparent in Hofmann's own work and with his book 'Graphic Design Manual' he identified the fundamental requirements for a basic course in graphic design. This methodical approach to learning design can also be applied today to designing on the computer display screen.

First published in 1992, 'Modern Typography' is now issued in a revised and updated second edition.
"In a survey of developments since 1700, this book proposes a new understanding of modern typography: as something larger and more deeply rooted than a modernism of style. Rather, 'modern' is taken to imply an articulate consciousness of action. The book's treatment lays stress on debates over principle and explanations of practice. But full weight is given to the social, technical and material bases of the activity; and the argument is illustrated by freshly made photographs of items not often reproduced before. Sources of information are discussed and extensively listed. The book thus contributes on several levels: as a brisk narrative of historical development, as a springboard for further investigation, as a delineation of modern typography." (From the cover text)

Annual Report's of the world's business and cultural communities are the most quickly laid aside but most intensively designed pieces of printed matter in graphic design. Kirsten Dietz and Jochen Rädeker have created an exceptional study of the concept and design of annual reports and financial statements. This very well designed book presents proven guidelines for the correlation and presentation of facts and figures and is illustrated with a wealth of examples taken from annual reports created by many of the leading design offices of the world.

Throughout his career as a designer, Karel Martens has made uncommissioned work. In the 1970s and 1980s he used sheets of printed paper, cut to make reliefs. Then he began to make prints from Meccano, metal plates, and other found objects. These prints were made in very small numbers or were one-offs.They were studies in form and colour, done as experiments or intended as gifts to friends and Martens has kept these prints largely apart from his graphic design work.
"Karel Martens: counterprint" is the first extensive showing of this work, and includes an essay by Paul Elliman on the themes raised entitled 'The world as a printed surface'. This publication originated as the twenty-seventh in a series of 'documentaries' launched by the Eindhoven(NL)- based printing firm Lecturis in 1974. The Lecturis series, under editorship of Wim Crouwel, have been distinguished in their treatment of a wide variety of topics in art and design, done with much more seriousness than is usual in the things that printers make for publicity purposes.

This extensive and well designed publication gives insights into the field of "Information Design and Typography" at the Department of Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Münster Germany. The book contains 81 projects created by 56 of Prof.Brückner's students in a clear and highly effective presentation which is meant to save these often extraordinary achievements from the almost inevitable consequence of being forgotten after the graduation presentation. Solutions to problems are presented whose goals are quality and comprehensibility. Information design requires intensive intellectual effort and intelligent visualization on a high formal level. Design must be explicable and justifiable at all phases; its tools are comprehensible concepts in form of representation such as diagrams, scientific illustrations as well as clear, precise typography.

BNO Leden en Academies €17.50 (lidmaatschapsnummer vermelden a.u.b.)

Designers in their professional work are confronted daily with matters regarding copyright, and patent. Mr. Vincent van den Eijnde, legal advisor for the BNO (Beroepsorganisatie Nederlandse Ontwerpers) has written a clear, practical and professional guide to help the designer relate to the questions of ownership, reproduction rights, royalties, infringments and various other legal aspects of their profession.

Forssman(1965) and De Jong(1973) have produced a new standardwork covering all aspects of typographical design theory and laws; they have attempted to discuss and answer all the questions which arise when dealing with the subject letters and printing. Their book is a mile stone in modern-day German design literature and is itself a fine example of typographic design.

Hans Rudolf Bosshard investigates the historical roots of the lessons of proportions and shows their utilization for the typographic grid. With the grid, designers have created a "modern" tool to order graphic elements, which, as paradoxical as it may perhaps sound, evokes beauty in a classical sense. The grid- as a regulator of proportions- should simplify the design process without seriously limiting design flexibility. Through personal works from his long-time professional activity, Bosshard offers a comprehensive overview of the manifold possibilities and possible uses of grid systems. At the same time it can be understood as a set of instructions although the typographic examples, such as the construction drawings, are thought of as sources of inspiration and not as recipes to be imitated.

The Swiss graphic designer, typographer and teacher Joseph Müller-Brockmann's(b.1914-1996) now classic study of the Grid System and its applications for visual communication.

"Jost Hochuli is a man of words. Not perhaps literally, for he is a typographer, a book designer, and a graphic designer as he is happy to describe himself... When Hochuli reflects on symmetry and asymmetry - a key topic not only for post-war Swiss typography and book design, but for Modernism as a whole - his clear dialectic leads him to the conclusion that these are not opposites, as in the ideology of Modernism, but complementary design principles that have developed over time" (J.Christoph B

The Swiss typographer Emil Ruder was one of the pioneers to abandon the conventional rules of traditional typography and create new laws that satisfied the requirements of a "new typography". His textbook, which was originally published in 1967 has gone through six editions up until today, is a fundamental work upon which generations of typographers and graphic designers have built and can continue to build upon. It is a comprehensive manual in its over-all structure, in the themes presented, in the comparison of similarities and contrasts, in the richness of the illustrations and the harmoniously inserted typographic types.