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.

'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).

This very nicely designed publication summarizes ten years of investigation by René Knip focusing on projects related to lettering and type design. This little volume is two books in one. A.R.K is a concise overview of projects designed by Atelier René Knip and objects developed in collaboration with other designers. Turn the book around and you will get A.B.C, a specimen of alphabets made for the projects described in the first section and for other occasions. It is by no means an exhaustive catalogue of Knip's body of work, as it focuses on lettering and type design and ignores most of his graphic designing for print.

"Do designers have a role in the creation of symbols for a country, a culture, an ideology or a mentality? Are they, in short, co-authors of the ‘visual text’ with which a country or a culture expresses itself? And if they are, does that make designers co-responsible, as co-authors, for what is conveyed in that ‘text’?
In ‘The public role of the graphic designer’, Anthon Beeke, Max Bruinsma, Ursula Tischner, Daniël van der Velden and Annelys de Vet, among others, comment on these questions. By means of their graphic designs, students of the Design Academy Eindhoven added their cultural commentary. In a disarming series of designs for new symbols and flags for the Netherlands, they convey their vision on what Dutch society currently means to them." (Annelys de Vet)

‘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.

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.