It is an impressive feat for an item of graphic design to stop you in your tracks. This week, while flicking through The Guardian in my lunch break, a full-page advert for Hull, UK City of Culture 2017, did just that. There is more than a little New Rave and London 2012 Olympics about it. And the bold typography andContinue reading “London 0, Hull 2017”
Category Archives: Graphic Design
Burn baby burn
I do like a good stunt, which is why I’m looking forward to Joe Corré burning all of his punk memorabilia in a protest about Punk London in November. Corré, the son of Malcolm McLaren and Vivian Westwood, has amounted a collection of punk atifacts he claims to be worth over 5 million pounds. Despite thatContinue reading “Burn baby burn”
So long Shad Thames
Turn right down Bishopsgate, cross the road and go down Bevis Marks until you reach St Mary’s Axe. So started many walks with graphic design students from Liverpool Street Station to the Design Museum, always accompanied by a lecture on architecture. I initially learnt the route from a colleague, (thanks Lindsey), which I then honedContinue reading “So long Shad Thames”
Graphic interruptions
Graphic Interruptions is a photographic project that investigates graphic design in shared environments that has been interrupted in some way. These interruptions can come in many forms and be the result of a variety of sources. What interests me in these observations is how meaning may be changed from that intended by the hand of the originator.Continue reading “Graphic interruptions”
Press release
I’ve long believed The Guardian to be the best designed newspaper in the country, which is convenient for me considering some may think I fit the profile of a typical reader—feminist liberal-left vegetarian art teacher. It would be difficult for me to take if the Daily Mail fitted this design accolade. But I like The Guardian for moreContinue reading “Press release”
Gutter press
The UK’s gutters and hedgerows will soon see new graphics on McJunk strewn there. Below is a link to an article I wrote for Eye magazine blog about an uncritical design press showcasing the new designs, asking whether well respected blogs are just becoming advertising hoardings for big brands trying to ingratiate themselves with thoseContinue reading “Gutter press”
Brutal equations
In my teens in the 1980s, as I was becoming politically aware and active, (going on CND demonstrations and reading radical publications), it is difficult for me to not be very familiar with the work of Peter Kennard. I think I must have held several of his images in my hands as placards and certainly stuck some ofContinue reading “Brutal equations”
Officer scribble
When you work with someone on a regular basis you tend to get to know them well. You tell each other stories, you share aspects of your life and you get to know their working nuances intimately. But just recently I’ve been spending time with my work colleague, friend and ex-tutor Russell Walker a lot moreContinue reading “Officer scribble”
Secret seven
A large corner of my loft is stacked with vinyl records, mostly 12″ LPs, but there is a smaller pile of 7″ singles. They are going to stay there, save for the odd time I want to change the artwork in my three album-art frames that deck our landing. It is fair to say IContinue reading “Secret seven”
They who have no name
I’ve written here and elsewhere before about how graphic design is overlooked in favour of other arts disciplines. I’ve come to expect this, so when Will Gompertz—the BBC’s Arts Correspondent—recorded a piece for the Six O’Clock News this week about the Design of the Year Awards at The Design Museum, I wasn’t surprised that the graphicContinue reading “They who have no name”
Nigel Ball 