3 x design notables that you may not have noticed before:
– Rick Poynor on Will Burtin (image above)
– Peter Seitz at Design Observer
– 26 minutes with Sagmeister – whom you probably have noted, no doubt – but I've not come across this video before (with that identity for Rem Koolhaas too).
All masterful stuff. Worth noting.
This blog recently posted a piece on Oz magazine. Here are all the covers of the infamous and decidedly counter-cultural Oz. (It's a 65MB PDF to download – but worth it). Make a coffee, come back and read your download (relive the 60s/imagine the 60s depending on your age and haircut).
Probably every Australian has sat in a Holden. I in fact come from a Holden family. Not the Holden family – but a family that drove Holdens for years. Which was probably quite a common occurrence for anyone growing up here between the 1950s and the 70s, before the first Toyotas and Datsuns and other imports began to gain a foothold in our automotive market. My family only ever once went over to the other side, and never ever dared of going to the other other side.
For me, the EH Holden was the nicest Holden of all. It was a very beautifully designed car from 1963. We had the preceding – and similar – EJ model in our family for three generations (in a rather unusual pale milk chocolate brown colour). The Holden is listed as a National Treasure at The National Library of Australia and their site has a section depicting some engineering drawings of the fabulous EH. Nowadays some Holdens are made here, others are imported from Belgium and Korea then rebadged and refitted as Holdens. Other Holdens are sold into the US as Pontiacs. But the EH was quintessentially Holden and Australian. A National Treasure? Sure is.
More Holden history here.
The National Library of Australia is increasingly digitising parts of its collection. Follow the Sun: Australian Travel Posters 1930s – 1950s is online and is well worth a look. The name of celebrated Australian designer Douglas Annand appears amongst the list of men and women who devised these wonderful lithograph posters promoting 'downunder' overseas. Percy Trompf may be another name known to many, he's certainly the most prolific of the artists shown here.
From the Follow The Sun site: "The Australian National Travel Association (ANTA) was established on 1 July 1929, 'to place Australia on the world's travel map and keep it there" and "sought to be the sole voice of tourism for Australia internationally, wishing to present an image free of parochialism." The posters are quite remarkable in their quest to marry the colours, textures and ancient, timeless qualities of the Australian natural landscape with quite 'modern' European design aesthetics. Interesting too is the influence of Aboriginal art on some of the designers here. In particular, the brilliant intensity of our sunlight is captured in many of the posters – for me one of the most unique qualities of our local natural environment.
More on Douglas Annand here and I will be showcasing various aspects of the National Library's collection on this blog on occasion.
More posters in continuation of post.
When I first started at design school in 1980 I was a little perturbed that the booklist (which we were obliged to purchase) was a little small. Friends commencing courses in Arts, architecture and engineering all had numerous books and manuals to read and their courses looked well-planned, tightly structured and highly organised.
From memory, I only had to buy three books (and the course - a highly regarded one - was quite loosely structured). One book on design history (architecture mainly), another a fun 'intro to design' manual devised by a staff member. The most significant book on that booklist was Pentagram's Living by Design.
I enquired why there were only three books to purchase. "How many Bibles do you need?" was the response from one of my lecturers. "This is your design bible" he said as he pointed at the Pentagram book. Indeed it was. I still keep it nearby and it's almost 30 years old. Alan Fletcher's components within the book were, and still are my favourites. I was truly saddened to learn of his recent passing (and this may be old news to many, but...). For me, Alan Fletcher is graphic design.
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