Friday closed with words from a design anarchist, Neville Brody. Few designers have divided opinion like Brody, but then fewer can claim his status, widely regarded as one of Britains most influential graphic designers. He walked the audience through numerous projects, both commercial and personal, but spent most time reminiscing about Fuse, the publication he founded in 1991, and 20 years later he is about to publish it’s 20th (and final) edition.
Andrew Stevens from the Graphic Thought Facility is introduced by Simone Wolf. She quotes Andrew as saying that commercial doesn’t exist on one side and creativity on the other, it is a framework where they work together.
Dylan Griffith’s presentation actually took the form of an interview conducted by Adrian Shaughnessy, who tried to get an understanding of how and why Dylan got to where he is today both as Creative consultant for the MTV World Design Studio in Milan and also co-owner of a branding company called Smorgasbord.
Though well known within the industry principally as Founder and Creative Director of the award winning studio Browns, ‘Here and now’ offered an insight into the workings of Jonathan Ellery the artist.
Tony Brook is a self-confessed obsessive, with a single focus for his graphic desires: the remarkable Wim Crouwel.
My first day at TYPO London was quite an experience. Entering the lobby at Logan Hall felt like stepping back in time a few months. The professional and efficient welcome and wonderful organisation amounted to the great atmosphere the sister conference TYPO Berlin is so famous for. Seeing all the familiar faces made it feel as a deja vu, but a fresh and exciting one. Nonetheless it immediately struck me that this London edition has its own distinct identity, its own quirky personality.
Michael Bierut began his talk in a similar way to how Tony Brooks ended his: innocent and humorous. He started his presentation in Ohio Cleveland, where he grew up. Some early pictures of family and sketches in his school books lead to some first drawings of words and – essentially – his start into typography and graphic design. Encounters with publications such as Armin Hofmann’s Graphic Design Manual and Milton Glaser’s Graphic Design inspired Bierut to continue a career and life in graphic design.
Still sitting there with my 3D glasses listening to Lynda and Dale discussing the prospect of eye implants in the near future – I am somewhat relieved when Nat Hunter goes back to basics ‘Story Telling’. Nat Hunter from Airside is also the only female speaker for today.
Places are an affair of the heart for London based Morag Myerscough. Over the last decade she has become known as a passionate designer of public space. Starting from exhibition design she went on to injecting colour, pattern and big type into schools, health – or art centres. Morag adds a graphic sense that welcomes visitors and provides orientation and a sense of place. “We sort of infiltrated the architecture scene.” Morag remarks in a recent video interview with Eye magazine and “I want to work for people who are brave and want to try out new things”.
In 2007, Christian Schwartz was commissioned to create a new typeface for »T«, the New York Times Style Magazine, that would embody the current moment in fashion. In his lecture Schwartz showed how he and Paul Barnes settled on the basic design of the face, discussed how typography influences the personality of a magazine, and explained why not all typefaces have to last forever …
Since its inception, multimedia design has been criticised for adopting print design approaches (see also earlier blog entry, Neville Brody, “Where’s the Beef?”, 1996).
