In living through the nightmare that is, (possibly), the final stages of the UK being in the European Union, it is difficult to see outside of the political, media and social storm that is raging around us. Looking back on this post, after whatever Brexit becomes, readers will, I suspect, be aghast at just whatContinue reading “Led by donkeys”
Category Archives: Critique
Thoughts on discussions on criticism
Design criticism is often discussed within design circles. Such pondering on the topic has been brilliantly, and I can’t help think sarcastically, summed up in the title of a 4-way debate recently published in AIGA’s Eye on Design journal (2018, the Gossip issue). The article was called: What We Talk About When We Talk AboutContinue reading “Thoughts on discussions on criticism”
Reclaim the sheets
While some may praise Lush for its recent #SpyCops poster campaign, having your own shop window to deliver a political campaign message in is a luxury most do not have. Now, the non-shop owning agitpropper can turn to Brandalism, who have launched a Subvertising Manual that shows anyone how to reclaim visual spaces from advertisers byContinue reading “Reclaim the sheets”
Exhibitions are always political
The bracketing of the Hope To Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008–2018 exhibition at London’s Design Museum is interesting for many reasons. Starting with Shepard Fairey’s Hope campaign for Obama’s 2008 election, and (almost) finishing with Trump’s Make America Great Again baseball cap, these two items showcase how effective vacuous phraseology can be in winning overContinue reading “Exhibitions are always political”
The Guardian is dead, long live The Guardian
Today sees the last copy of The Guardian in its Berliner format. What is about to follow will be known by those that come to this blog post after Monday 15 January 2018, when the new look Guardian is launched. But for now, only the new masthead has been revealed in a video teaser. TheContinue reading “The Guardian is dead, long live The Guardian”
Can graphic design kill you?
There is an irony to the fact that four days after the Can Graphic Design Save Your Life? exhibition opened at the Wellcome Collection, the biennial Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair kicked off at the ExCeL centre in London’s Docklands. The former, in the words of Creative Review, showcases graphic design usedContinue reading “Can graphic design kill you?”
To Hull and back
In October last year I wrote about the visual identity for Hull City of Culture 2017. I’d mostly only ever heard negative things about the city but vowed to go there this year after seeing this deliberately attention grabbing piece of branding. Claire and I duly booked our summer holiday in the beautiful Lincolnshire WoldsContinue reading “To Hull and back”
Run / ? / tell
In the aftermath of the recent horrendous Manchester and London terrorist attacks, I was puzzled by the imagery used to accompany a new police warning advising people to RUN, HIDE and TELL if they should find themselves in the midst of such a situation. Seeing this for the first time on the Channel 4 news,Continue reading “Run / ? / tell”
What goes around…
In the last few weeks I have seen several examples of a typographic strikethrough or other obscuring devices being used as metaphors within different projects. The first I noticed was in a Design Week article about Hope Not Hate’s rebrand, designed by Blue State Digital.
Graphic commons: north-east of Ipswich
Distance: 4.2 miles Steps taken: 9,687 Start time: 09:37 Ground covered: Small town centre, surrounding residential areas and seaside promenade Any talk of Southwold and psychogeography is duty bound to include a mention of W.G. Sebald’s Rings Of Saturn. My drift around Southwold yesterday, as part of my continuing Graphic Commons project, did take me upContinue reading “Graphic commons: north-east of Ipswich”
Nigel Ball 