I remember Paul Gorman saying of Barney Bubbles, just shortly after his book about the graphic designer, Reasons To Be Cheerful, had been published, that he was the ‘gift that keeps on giving’. Gorman, apparently, kept getting sent things people thought Bubbles may have designed that didn’t make it into the first edition of theContinue reading “Meeting Bob Linney”
Author Archives: Nigel Ball
Finding Jacky Linney… and Tony
Two years ago I wrote about Bob Linney, opening with: “I didn’t think I knew Bob Linney. It turns out though that I did—he was the mysterious designer behind a print that had been hanging in our house for some time. Bought by my wife from an antiques centre several years ago… I’ve been staringContinue reading “Finding Jacky Linney… and Tony”
Conundrum de dum: musings on deactivating social media
I deactivated all my social media accounts a couple of months ago. Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, LinkedIn, the lot. It was in an effort, along with other measures, to get on top of some mental health issues I’ve been dealing with for a while. This post isn’t about living with depression though, it’s about the widerContinue reading “Conundrum de dum: musings on deactivating social media”
Graphic commons: A memory drift
Date: 18.05.2025Distance: 4 milesSteps: 9150Start: 11:50Ground covered: Town centre and feeder streets It’s been a while. Four hours to kill in the East Midlands gave me time to visit a town I lived in for five years in the 1980s, exactly 40 years ago. The intention wasn’t nostalgia, but that naturally occurred as memories jarredContinue reading “Graphic commons: A memory drift”
Writing on writing
I’ve been thinking a lot about writing recently. Prompted by many things: it’s undergraduate dissertation time—I’ve been reading student essays for my external examiner role and internal moderation at work; having discussions with colleagues about revalidating degree courses; pondering what I’m going to write about here next. But also, because I’ve been toying with theContinue reading “Writing on writing”
Too much pressure: 2 Tone and typography
My introduction to graphic design was staring up at a Beatles poster on my bedroom wall aged 8, wondering why the vertical stroke of the T dropped below the baseline of the band’s name. I had no understanding that what I was pondering was actually called typography, nor that the words graphic and design existed.Continue reading “Too much pressure: 2 Tone and typography”
Ultra-processed graphics
When colleagues bought me Chris van Tulleken’s Ultra-Processed People as a recovery read while I was off work recently, I didn’t expect a book about food to have so many of its pages dedicated to graphic design. But alongside advertising and marketing, visual communication is mentioned enough times for me to liberally tab many of its pagesContinue reading “Ultra-processed graphics”
Nostalgia aid
This month, Just For One Day: The Live Aid Musical, opens at The Old Vic in London. While in 1985 the focus of the original Live Aid was all about raising money for famine-struck Ethiopia, despite Just For One Day giving 10% of all profits to The Band Aid Charitable Trust, nostalgia appears to beContinue reading “Nostalgia aid”
Graphic commons: transmission
I found this tape in the shape of a cross on the floor of a Waitrose store at an M1 service station last weekend. Such yellow and black tape is typically synonymous as a health & safety hazard warning for when a surface is unsafe, and used “for excavation, trip hazards, low hanging objects andContinue reading “Graphic commons: transmission”
Finding Bob Linney
I didn’t think I knew Bob Linney. It turns out though that I did—he was the mysterious designer behind a print that had been hanging in our house for some time. Bought by my wife from an antiques centre several years ago, his London Brass poster had hung on our landing wall until, on movingContinue reading “Finding Bob Linney”
Nigel Ball 