Feature
Smartest letterer on the planet
Chicago’s comic book hero has a finely tuned gift for hand-lettering
The producer as author
For Bruce Mau, graphic design is a way of investigating ethical, cultural and philisophical issues
Marked by time
Two catalogues reveal much about stencil-making in Germany and the US in the mid-twentieth century, while offering clues to the industry's future in the decades following their publication.
Vaughan Oliver’s Minotaur
This Pixies box set was a chance to make brand new artwork with a student team from UCA
Re-tooling the culture for an empire of signs
‘Creative destruction’ and synthesis in the rapidly changing subcontinent
The tenth pioneer
Cipe Pineles was a design innovator. Why, when the history came to be written, was she left out?
Penguin science fiction covers
David Pelham’s covers for Penguin’s science fiction titles gave a frowned-upon genre a strong literary presence
Writing on the wall: The posters of James Victore
With a visual polemic of angry scrawls that stop pedestrians in their tracks, this committed New Yorker tackles Shakespeare, safe sex and racism in personal (frequently self-financed) projects that hammer home graphic design’s potential to make a difference
The myth of genius
The myth of genius – which promotes the artist as a lone, (even mad) pioneer – emerged when craftsmen first strove to become respected members of an elite. But before designers get too excited about winning the status of the artist, perhaps some caution is required.