design

Pentagram: Living by Design

26 October 2022 in Books Comment

The Biography
The Directory
Two volumes in slipcase
Design Director: Tony Brook
Design: SPIN
Writer: Adrian Shaughnessy
Text editor: Mark Sinclair

Five years in the making, Pentagram: Living by Design (two volumes) is the definitive statement on 50 years of Pentagram. It is an in-depth survey of the group from its beginnings in 1970s London to its current status as one of the powerhouses of international design.

Published in two densely illustrated volumes and spread over 1400 pages, it is a limited-edition of 1000 copies.

Book one, The Biography, offers a comprehensive analysis of the group, its partners, its achievements, its multidisciplinary approach, and its unique business model. This is accompanied by a plethora of images (some never published), a visual essay of Pentagram’s work across four main sectors, a selection of partners writings, a Pentagram family tree, and much more.

Book two, The Directory, has profiles of 50 partners, past and present, accompanied by extensive coverage of their work. It’s a stellar roll call: from the five famous founders to some of the most celebrated names in contemporary design. It also includes a list of everyone who worked in the firm’s various offices.

Both books are designed by Tony Brook and the Spin design team and use a range of paper stocks and special colours.

The books

Pentagram:
Living by Design.
The Biography.
656pp.

Content: 
Living by Design – A Pentagram Biography: an extensive essay by Adrian Shaughnessy chronicling the group’s progress over half a century, examining in detail its unique partner-owned organisational structure and its contribution to the culture of design. This living biography brings the Pentagram story right up to the present day. 

The Sectors: a visual essay cataloguing the group’s vast array of creative activities arranged under the umbrella headings Branding, Editorial Design, Design for Culture, and Three-dimensional Design.

Pentagram Partners – In Their Own Words: selection of partners’ writings from over half a century, including texts by Alan Fletcher, John McConnell, Paula Scher and Michael Bierut, plus interviews with Marina Willer, Angus Hyland and Eddie Opara.
 
A Pentagram Miscellany: visual journey through the group’s vast repository of rare archive material. From invitations to parties, original artwork and candid photographs, to the situating of an Antony Gormley sculpture on the roof of Pentagram’s New York office, this material forms an alternative history of the group and offers a deep dive through design history over the past 50 years.

A Pentagram Partners Family Tree: Paula Scher maps out the evolution of Pentagram from a single London office in 1972 to a group of 23 partners across offices in London, New York, Berlin and Austin, Texas. 

Pentagram:
Living by Design  
The Directory
736pp.

Content: 
The Partners: profiles of all 50 partners, past (27) and present (23), accompanied by extensive coverage of their work. From the five famous founders to some of the most celebrated names in contemporary design; from star designers who didn’t stay the course to the current generation of young creative practitioners versed in the new arts of multidisciplinary communication. The Directory demonstrates how Pentagram’s partners are collectively responsible for an unrivalled catalogue of work in all the major creative disciplines.

The People: From Pentagram’s formation to the present day, a list of everyone who worked in the firm’s various offices – including designers, administrators, technicians and others in various supporting roles. 

Specifications:

Title: Pentagram:
Living by Design.
The Biography.
White cloth bound hard cover.
Two ribbon marker. 
Book jacket in Tatami White 150gr with three-coloured screen (three variations) and non-scratch lamination. 
Printed four colour + one Pantone (with an additional eight-page section and another Pantone). 
Papers: Arena Extra White Smooth 120gr; Arena Natural Smooth 90gr; Sirio Black (end papers).
Printer: Verona Libri.
Pages: 656.

Title: Pentagram:
Living by Design.
The Directory.
Limp cover in myCordenons myReef Grey 330gr with foil stamping.
Flush cut and OTA bound.
Printed four colour + one Pantone (with an additional eight-page section and another Pantone). 
Papers: Arena Extra White Smooth 90gr and Arena Natural Smooth 90gr. 
Printer: Verona Libri.
Pages: 736.

Slipcase: Assuan 5080 cloth covered with foil stamping.
Size: 275mm x 215mm x 100mm.
ISBN: 978-1-9164573-8-6.

The definitive edition. Limited to 1,000 copies.

Unit Editions

I Got Something to Say — Poster Inventory, 2013–2021

2 May 2022 in Books Comment

I Got Something to Say — Poster Inventory, 2013–2021

Texts by Jason Alejandro, Somnath Bhatt, Elias Chen, Ryan Diaz, Everett Epstein, Zak Jensen, Ian Lynam, Vaishnavi Mahendran, Anna Sagström, Christopher Sleboda, Kathleen Sleboda, and Mary Yang.

An inventory of posters produced by Draw Down Books for art book fairs, workshops, and lectures between 2013 and 2021. Documenting Draw Down’s activities throughout the period, the publication also graphically maps the contours of the artist book publishing world during the second decade of the 21st century. A series of reflections and essays by prominent graphic designers provides context and insights, providing readers with new ways of considering their own poster-making and event documentation.

Published by Draw Down
First edition, 2022

Softcover
160 pages with Swiss binding and lay-flat cover
1-color offset printing
5 × 7.5 inches

ISBN: 978-1-73-347441-2

Draw Down

Norm: Dimension of Two

1 February 2021 in Books Comment

Norm: Dimension of Two

Dimension: 156 × 234 mm
Pages: 512
Printing: offset (spot & process colours)
Binding: paperback + dust jacket
Paper types: 2
Language: english

Norm

The Best Dutch Book Designs 2014

22 October 2020 in Books Comment

The Best Dutch Book Designs 2014

This small, brick-like volume includes illustrated insights into the more than 30 titles recognized by the 2014 Best Dutch Book Design awards. Every aspect of the award process (preparation, selection, judging, observations, conclusions, etc.) is treated in this bilingual publication.

Includes color photographs of the bookshelves and studio spaces of award-winning designers and studios, as well as a report about the jury process and final selections. Each awarded publication is accompanied by full technical information, comprehensive presentation of interior layouts, and a short essay about the qualities of the book, both positive and negative.

In Dutch/English

Design by Haller Brun
With photography by Sonia Mangiapane.

Published by Cpnb
First edition, 2015

608 pages, with full color and black and white illustrations, 4.75 x 6.75 in.

Draw Down Books

Dieter Rams: The Complete Works

25 September 2020 in Books Comment

Dieter Rams: The Complete Works

The ultimate reference on one of the most influential product designers of all time.

For more than sixty years Dieter Rams has defined the look, feel, and function of some of the world’s best-loved consumer items. Using his ‘ten principles for good design’ as a philosophy and practice for improving the industry in a more holistic, responsible way, Rams has built a reputation with global resonance. Here, for the first time, is a catalogue raisonné of every product that he has designed in his lifetime — a true celebration of his seminal contribution to the field of industrial and product design.

Format: Hardback
Size: 270 x 205 mm (10 5/8 x 8 1/8 in)
Pages: 344 pp
Illustrations: 300 illustrations
ISBN: 9781838661533

Phaidon

Revue Faire no. 16, 17, 18

28 July 2020 in Magazines Comment

Revue Faire no. 16, 17, 18

Faire is a bi-monthly publication dedicated to graphic design. Produced by Empire, the publishing arm of French design studio Syndicat (designers Sacha Léopold and François Havegeer), Faire is aimed at students as well as researchers and professional designers. Each issue addresses a specific object or theme and is written by a renowned author.

This anthology set includes three issues, numbers 16 through 18:

n°16 — A reproduction: what El Lissitzkzy wants. By James Langdon

I am rarely convinced when I see graphic design that was originally printed in two inks reproduced in four-color process. Before the advent of commercial color offset printing, the elementary colors of printing — from Gutenberg to Tschichold—were black and red. In the early twentieth century, black and red were used by graphic designers not to attempt to recreate the spectrum of colors that appear to the human eye, but as graphic forces in themselves. To make a distinction. To create dynamism. To embody ideology on the page. In particular, the combination of black and red on white paper has become synonymous with Suprematism and revolutionary Russian graphic design.

A contemporary imaging workflow can enable extraordinary reproductions of these historical aesthetics. A high-resolution digital photograph of an original black and red printed book from the 1920s can be processed using a color profile to calibrate its appearance across design, color correction in computer software, proofing, and printing. This workflow can ultimately achieve a beautiful and precise image of that graphic artifact as it looks today, down to small details of its patination, its discoloration by exposure to sunlight, and the many more other subtleties that define it as an archival object.

But such a reproduction exhibits a strange technical anachronism. What about the constraints that originally shaped the design of that book — the implicit connection between the two colors of its graphics and the architecture of the one- or two-color printing press on which it was printed? Are they not important? Can they even be reproduced?

I compare printed reproductions of the proud black and red cover of the book ‘Die Kunstismen’ (1925), designed by Russian artist and designer El Lissitzky. Published between 1967 and 2017, these images treat the material characteristics of the original book’s color in different ways, appealing to contradictory notions of fidelity.

n°17 — An acronym: ACAB. By Ariane Bosshard, Jérôme Dupeyrat, Olivier Huz and Julie Martin

The acronym ACAB, often seen in urban space in the form of graffiti or stickers, first appeared in the U.K. in the 1970s, linked to punk culture, and later found a certain popularity during the social movements of the 1980s. Meaning “All Cops Are Bastards”, over the last 20 years it has become widespread in public spaces internationally, in the wake of a number of political movements, from alter-globalization groups to the French gilets jaunes, or Yellow Jackets, along with black blocks and TAZs, even spawning different variations, such as “All Capitalists Are Bastards”, “All Colors Are Beautiful” and “All Cats Are Beautiful”.

Observing how ACAB (or its numerical version, 1312) is written, allows one to traverse multiple political landscapes, as well as a number of visual cultures (anarchist, punk, hip-hop, LOL) to which this acronym has spread. It is through this scriptural, graphic, and visual movement that it has become both a sign of recognition and a polysemic statement.

n°18 — A studio visit: the studio of Ines Cox. By Manon Bruet and Julia Andréone

Three women walk into a bar. The first lives in a large apartment in Anvers, Belgium. The second is an independent Graphic Designer who founded her own studio. The third is an avatar—you might even know her—with a certain interest in creative processes, their interfaces, and their vocabularies. Together, they eat some pistachio nuts, order vodka, and are not at all sure about getting up the next day to teach at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. But together, more than anything else, they form the troubling multiple personalities of Ines Cox, a Belgian Graphic Designer who met Julia Andréone and Manon Bruet in her studio in June 2019. This publication develops a narrative driven by three voices and traces the outline of a path, a practice, and a figure.

Published by Editions Empire
Bilingual, in French and English

60 pages total, each issue separately bound, b&w and color images, 8.25 × 11.75 inches

Draw Down