In response to the worldwide epidemic of COVID-19 there is an inevitability to the words …And Wash Your Hands, replacing …And Carry On, as the coda to Keep Calm and Carry On posters. Given that news of the spread of the virus has the ability to produce widespread panic, any populist measures to get health messages across toContinue reading “Insidiousness”
Category Archives: Graphic Design
A question of signs
A couple of weeks ago I took the above picture at Felixstowe docks, finding it interesting to see a group of signs in what appeared to be a holding pen, waiting to be distributed as need-be around the busy port. After editing the image to post to Flickr at the weekend, I wondered what theContinue reading “A question of signs”
The times they are a-changin’
I recently wrote here about frustrations I was having with how my iPhone displayed album sleeves on its Music app. Since then I’ve been somewhat forced to sign-up to Apple Music to get over this, (and other), issues with the app. In doing so it feels like I have made a major shift in someContinue reading “The times they are a-changin’”
The Fundamentals of Graphic Design
It was an honour to have my revision of The Fundamentals of Graphic Design published by Bloomsbury recently. It was a daunting job to take on, given how good the original edition by Gavin Ambrose and Paul Harris was. Early on I decided I didn’t want to radically alter vast amounts of what they hadContinue reading “The Fundamentals of Graphic Design”
Mainly Museums: PHM
I was honoured to be asked to write something for the Mainly Museums website recently, and decided very quickly that it would be good to champion Manchester’s Peoples History Museum, (PHM), on the site. My choice was influenced by the fact PHM tells its story through the graphic accoutrements of political activity; from trade unionContinue reading “Mainly Museums: PHM”
My iPhone hates me
I think my iPhone hates me, it has recently been swapping the album artwork of one band for another. This is very much a first world problem, I know. But it does feel very personal. My phone, for all its ‘smartness’, must know how important graphic design and music are to me. I use the MusicContinue reading “My iPhone hates me”
Aesthetics of convenience
In the first of a series of publications that investigate different aspects of the graphic commons, Aesthetics of Convenience explores the vinyl window displays of convenience stores. Through a photographic and textual discussion of how these ‘little and often’ shop window displays affect human behaviour and environmental ambiences, the paper seeks to encourage a discussion aboutContinue reading “Aesthetics of convenience”
Graphic commons: Tunnel and peripheral vision
Distance: 3.7 miles Steps: 8113 Start: 06:25 Ground covered: Feeder roads into and out of Ipswich town centre; pedestrianised shopping precincts; town centre. It has been a while since I last did a dedicated graphic commons walk; 2017 in fact. More recent graphic commons posts have mainly been about walks taken as part of otherContinue reading “Graphic commons: Tunnel and peripheral vision”
Proposing the Graphic Commons
This text was first published as a pamphlet of the same name in August 2017. It is republished here for the first time online. Copies of the original pamphlet, as a numbered limited edition of 300, are still available on request. Please get in contact if you would like a copy. This essay introduces theContinue reading “Proposing the Graphic Commons”
Common affairs
The state of design criticism, it could be argued, has never been in better shape. There are the big guns, such as Michael Bierut and Jessica Helfand’s printed compilation of fifteen years of online discourse at the Design Observer with Culture Is Not Always Popular. Likewise, AIGA’s Eye On Design magazine which covers topics interrogated on aContinue reading “Common affairs”
Nigel Ball 
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