When I was a design student there didn’t seem to be an abundance of books about graphic design. There were obviously some, such as recommended canons on the discipline like Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, but they were few and far between. And none, to my eyes, seemed particularly contemporary in their approach to relatingContinue reading “Shelf / life”
Author Archives: Nigel Ball
Design classic
For the last few years I’ve set a short project for my graphic design students to declare what they believe to be a design classic. The purpose of this exercise is for them to think about measurable, objective criteria when judging a piece of graphic design rather than instinctively stating they ‘like’ something. As anContinue reading “Design classic”
Designers’ signatures
It is interesting to think why a signature on a piece of work attracts people to part with more money for an item than it might otherwise be ‘worth’, particularly for work by graphic designers.
Overpowered by junk
In my teens and early twenties I was a big Clash fan. Then as my music tastes matured, and I started to tire of rock music’s clichés, I started to fall out of love with the band’s early work, which traded so heavily on rock clichés. Half of Black Market Clash, and all of SandinistaContinue reading “Overpowered by junk”
The perfect Storm
It was very sad news to hear of the death of Storm Thorgerson last month. Without a shadow of a doubt, Thorgerson was one of the greatest album sleeve designers ever and there are probably few record collections that don’t boast some of his work amongst their ranks.
Graphic obscura
Earlier last month few could have escaped the surprise announcement of a new David Bowie album, scheduled for a March release, titled The Next Day. The artwork dropped with almost as much of a shock, to some, as the album. The artwork places a white square over the original iconic cover of “Heroes”, Bowie’s 1977 collaborationContinue reading “Graphic obscura”
Keen works
It is always rewarding to come across an artist who has previously been completely off your radar. This was the case when Claire and I stumbled across Jeff Keen’s Shoot The WRX retrospective at Brighton Museum this weekend.
Change a coming?
For a long time I’ve been quietly critical of D&AD’s education stance. Not that it hasn’t had one, but that it is overshadowed by its other activities to the extent it felt like a platitude. Further, it seemed that the opportunities that were available for students and their courses tended to be London centric andContinue reading “Change a coming?”
Someday…
Someday All The Adults Will Die: Punk Graphics 1971–1984, opened at the Hayward Gallery last week. To coincide with the opening private view, curator Johan Kugelberg hosted a panel discussion of some key designers involved in early punk graphics, along with cyberpunk author William Gibson. Apologising for co-curator Jon Savage’s absence—who was very punk byContinue reading “Someday…”
Titter ye not
Every year there must be hundreds of dissertations being written by undergraduate design students about the portrayal of women in advertising, all referencing the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty and Adbusters along the way. And you could spend a long time trawling the Internet for articles about sex being used to sell commercial products. I’veContinue reading “Titter ye not”
Nigel Ball 