Noisy Decent Graphics

InterSections Conference

Since noone's invented teleportation properly yet I’m annoyingly having to miss the InterSections conference which is currently happening in Newcastle Gateshead.

Luckily though, conference director Kevin McCullagh sent through a link to the blog he’s been penning for the conference this morning, so if you're not there either but would like to be you can still follow all the most interesting bits.

InterSections is full of “path-finding designers and thinkers” such as Dejan Sudjic, Clive Grinyer and Peter Saville. Between them they will discuss how best designers should be future-proofing their careers, because design is apparently transforming as it adapts to a world in transition.

According to Kevin, as the boundaries between design disciplines are breaking down, the skill-sets designers need are also evolving. While the nineties were driven by the integration of computer skills into the designer's toolbox, now the emphasis is on acquiring more multi-disciplinary and contextual skills.

The death of Barcelona street art

I arrived (home) in Barcelona today. It's been two months since I was last here and while this is a city that is as famous for its urban change as it is for the Sagrada Familia, the difference this time is phenomenal.

The grafitti has gone.

Really. It has disappeared. The underground overground art that made every corner of Barcelona so extraordinary has been painted over, wiped off - wiped out. The Civismo laws have been dramatically tightened in the last few months, and the city's authorities have taken action to crack down on grafitti artists, imposing (among other penalties) huge fines on anyone caught in the act.

One of the reasons Barcelona's street art used to be so incredible was that La Guardia Urbana would turn a blind eye. Perpetrators could make their mark in broad daylight - taking their time over their work as they pleased.

The result, I'm told, is that the good stuff has been forced out of town, and anyone with a stray spraycan is resorting to quick - but ugly - tagging instead. Street art has become part of this city's cultural identity and - while it will always be moderated -  should also be protected.

7 Rules of Showcasing Architecture in Print

Architecture and graphic design relations are proving to be something of a theme for me this week. (That’s not really that surprising considering I am an architecture and design editor and writer, I suppose, but still.)

Yesterday I met with an author and a graphic designer to decide how best to layout the author’s latest monograph on a prominent Italian architect. His own experience in this field is vast, but the graphic designer, by contrast – while she has designed a lot of design books – has not done an architecture title before. The meeting was essentially a training session for her – so I took some notes.

This may be quite specialist, but I still thought it was worth sharing.

7 Rules of Showcasing Architecture in Print

1. The iconic shot
The first image of the building in question needs to be chosen carefully. Contrary to what many designers and editors believe the iconic shot does not actually have to show the whole building, or even be the most striking image available. It does, however, need to capture the essence of the building – even if that’s a detail, the designer needs to understand this architecture as if it were a one-liner, a punch line – you need to get the main concept before you can communicate it.

2. The walk through
All subsequent images should be arranged in a way that helps the reader to ‘walk through’ or ‘walk around’ the building – it sounds obvious but you’d be surprised how often it doesn’t happen. The last shot should be as carefully considered as the first – perhaps you end up outside again, perhaps in a courtyard, but think of it as being where the reader will ‘say goodbye’ to the structure.

3. The natural size of drawings
Architects' sketches – if they are to be included – can be both gorgeous and compelling. It is very tempting for a graphic designer to use them very large in a layout, but it’s also important to remember that there is a natural size for architects' sketches, and if you blow them up too large, they will look wrong. Use your instinct here.

4. The grand plan
Likewise, plans and elevations can really help a reader to understand the building, but their use should be carefully considered. For an architect reading the building, roughly 70% of their information will come from the plans – not the photographs. They should be selected and arranged with this in mind. If there is more than one being used they should be presented in a logical order, always at the same scale, and always with the same north point. Again, it sounds logical, but it's amazing how much it is overlooked.

5. The context
Where possible show the context of the building. This can mean showing the surrounding environment in plans and photography, but just as often it means demonstrating how the building is used: if it is an art gallery, it can help to show some of the collection, if it is a public space, show people in it.

6. The all important crop
Architectural photography is a great artform, but one that is often destroyed by a careless art director in print. Crop very carefully – the photograph should draw the viewer into the building and provide a realistic sense of space - loosing the foreground often makes an image loose its impact. Similarly if you have access to photographs that show a tactile element to the building – show it at the appropriate size that makes the reader want to touch it.

7. The rules
The rules are there to be broken, ultimately every layout is different, and every building will need individual treatment, and the most important thing is to find what works in each case.

AA - what's all this then?

There is a show at the Architectural Association at the moment called Forms of Inquiry: The Architecture of Critical Graphic Design. I went to see it last week (thanks Lauren!). I do love the gallery at the AA. Although it's tiny, the exhibitions are usually 'intellectually rigorous', and fresh...

Forms of Inquiry is curated by Zak Kyes - a graphic designer and creative director at the AA. His idea was to present architecture as seen through the practice of graphic design.

In order to do this, he invited 19 contemporary graphic designers to contribute ‘inquiries’ into architectural subjects. The resulting works "exhibit a common desire to reframe the circumstances surrounding graphic design practise at the start of the 21st century".

Architects and graphic designers seem to enjoy a very special relationship that is built on vast and shaky foundations of misunderstanding. (One architect I know believes that graphic design is an entirely redundant profession - "Just use bloody Helvetica!" is his usual response if the subject comes up.)

There is some very good work here - most noteably James Goggin's Ellsworth Kelly Ground Zero Collage, which is the image used in much of the publicity. However, with much of the work it's necessary to cut through a sickeningly thick layer of pretension, which is sad because it doesn't do anything to help bridge the gulf between the two industries. Architecture is a profession in which you can get away with being billious but it doesn't work so well in graphic design, for obvious reasons.

My advice is if you go, give it time and be sure sit and read the designer's inquiries in the lever-arch files. There's also a fantastic reading room upstairs with further material which is worth a visit in itself. And then let me know what you think.

Here are some pics:

Hello

Thank you for all your welcoming comments, I’m very excited that Ben’s given me this platform – he’s clearly a brave man.

Looking at the diary it looks like it might be an interesting week. I’ll be posting from Barcelona for the second half of it, and I’m really looking forward to having a good excuse to deconstruct the place in graphic detail (excuse the pun).

I'm sure most people know about this already but I just discovered Spell With Flickr and this morning I'm having as much fun with it (although it's slightly pointless otherwise) as last years Geogreeting and it seemed like an appropriate way to say hello.

More later!

Guest Writer: Henrietta Thompson

In very rare moments of self doubt I sometimes worry that you lot will get bored of me.

I also worry that all this blogging is badly written, unspell-checked, grammatically deficient and not like proper writing. Because of this and because previous guests have been so popular I've asked Henrietta to guest write a whole week on this blog. So you'll hear nothing from me for a whole week.

Let me introduce you to Henrietta. She's a proper design writer, that's how she earns a living.

Just two weeks ago she helped write the Guardian's Pompidou supplement. She's written for Arena, Blueprint, Business Life, Dazed & Confused, Design Week, the Independent on Sunday, Monocle, Wallpaper* and the Architects Journal. She's curated several exhibitions including the annual '100% Norway' and 'Hearwear' at the V&A.

As if that wasn't enough she's also written two books; Phone Book and Simply Contemporary.

She'll be posting all week from Monday to Friday, I've no idea what she's gonna write about and I've given her a completely free reign. I'll just be sitting back and watching. I may even comment from time to time. So log on, enjoy, play nicely, comment and make her feel at home.

I'm really looking forward to it.

Get some Z at the Design Museum by Henrietta Thompson

I went to see the Zaha Hadid exhibition at the Design Museum the other day. It's good. It's not just about the buildings, Hadid does some really interesting drawings and paintings. And she's one of those rare people who manage to make the finished product look like the concept sketches. You can see more pics over on Flickr.

My good friend Henrietta Thompson has been writing for the exhibition blog and she's spotted something I think you'll find interesting. Henrietta is a professional writer (for proper publications like Arena, Monocole, Blueprint and the Guardian) so the words are by her and the pics are by me.

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Get some Z at the Design Museum

Give us a “Z”! Give us an “A”! Give us an “H”! Give us an “A”! Zaha Hadid is the queen starchitect - the undisputed champion of signature architecture.

Critics and fans alike have long wondered where she finds her inspiration - where do her forms come from? Her architecture rarely fails to astonish, and yet it is always unmistakably her own. It has been attributed to her willingness to experiment with new technologies, her tireless pushing at the boundaries of materials and construction methods. Over and above all that, however, Zaha is an artist. And her conceptual approach begins by taking a long hard look at herself.

From the moment she could write her own name, Zaha has been creating masterpieces. Her trademark geometric Zs are almost certainly the starting point for every project, but it is perhaps only when we see all her buildings, paintings, plans and projects together that we can fully appreciate how she follows through with those perspective warping combinations of As and Hs. And every now and then she will surprise us with a beautiful sinuous D curve and a rare straight vertical I. There’s no doubt about it, this architect puts the “I” in “iconic”.

You can see more pics over on Flickr. This post also appears on the Zaha Hadid Exhibition Blog.

My Week @ TDC

I was one of the luck pups who was treated to a week's placement at TDC after exhibiting at New Blood. Being a big fan of Ben's blog previously I couldn't believe I was going to the studio I'd already become so familiar with!

It's been great to sample a real slice of London life in one of it's top agencies, TDC's got a fab atmosphere, the studio is definitely home from home, as they all made me feel so welcome (esp. Becks!).

The Monday morning meeting on my first day brought me up to speed on what everybody was working on and straight away I was getting involved in current projects.

It's been a real taster for me of industry life and I've got to say I love it, I can only hope wherever I end up, it's as welcoming and thriving as this place!

Honorary Blogger - Stephanie Holford from Staffordshire University.

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Stef is here on a placement and she's cleverly admitted to reading the blog so I asked her to write something. I'd better be careful as this is now my third guest post (Marcus and Tom's efforts can be found here).

Should you wish to employ Stef you can download a PDF of her work here and you can contact her here.

The Haçienda: Urbis Exhibition Review by Tom Shaw

I've only ever had one guest post before and that was from the unstoppable Marcus Brown.

Here's another one. Tom, one of my partners at TDC, went to see The Haçienda exhibition in Manchester  last weekend and I thought you guys would like to read a little review and look at some pictures.

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The Haçienda: Urbis Exhibition Review

It all started with my sister, like all people with an older sibling, they tend to dictate what we grow up listening to. Being 2 years older, she was always first with fashion and music. The 80s were a pretty special time - and Acid House was my Punk. My sister had the DMs with big safety pins, oversized secondhand jeans and Smiley Face tees. She also had a boyfriend who was very into the scene, bought all the records, and took turns on the decks at the local sticky floored nite spot, and went to the Haçienda.

I was 15 when I first heard about the Haçienda - that was 1988, the 'Second Summer of Love', everyone had smiley tee's, jeans were getting baggier, mens hair getting longer and the sun kept shining. I struggled to get into most clubs locally - I looked so young even with fake i.d. they turned me away! I was never asked for i.d. ever to get into the Haçienda, once when being searched at the door, a bouncer took my passport (my i.d. for the night) from inside my pocket... "Alright son, where you off then, on yer 'olidays... Ha ha ha".

Walk through the world famous Fac 51 doors at the Urbis exhibition and you get a really good display of what the Haçienda was all about, grouped both chronologically and thematically, it contains just about everything and anything from the history of the club.

There is a really great family tree which links all the people and events back to the club.

Previously unseen video footage showing the construction of the club, alongside a giant print of Tony Wilson, Peter Saville and Alan Erasmus,  a small amount of early Factory items, setting the scene for the Haçienda, and the visual style of the club.

You then get a great slice of design through the years, with early sketched visuals through to art work and finished items.

Alongside the 2D items, there are numerous videos to view - a whole room is The Fall in performance, as well as original scratch videos by Claude Bessy and Swivel.

One of my favorite items displayed had to be the 'original' neon bar sign for the Kim Philby Bar.

I thought I knew all the design done for the Haçienda, but I found items I had never seen, one of which was the all gold poster for Haçienda90 - a lush print of gold on gold, no copy other than the title...

Also featured are light boxes with Madonna's first UK appearance, a wall of logos, axonometric drawings of the club and lets not forget - FAC51-Y3 The Haçienda 25th Anniversary trainers designed for Y3 by Peter Saville and Ben Kelly.

The exhibition also traces the impact the club had in shaping the economic and urban development of the city.

A final, nice tough was the graphics and items that were created for the crew working on the film TwentyFourHourPartyPeople - Crew tees, invites to after show parties and viewing of the premier.

More pictures:

Greein(ish) Printing by Marcus Brown

Ladies and Gentlemen, Marcus Brown surely needs no introduction.

A short while ago he kindly offered to write some more information about 'green printing'. Marcus is a man of many strange and wonderful talents and currently he's a printer, so he knows what he's talking about.

Read what he has to say below. It's very good and very useful.

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Greein(ish) Printing

As Ben quite rightly pointed out commercial printing is pretty much one of the more evil things that we can do to our environment. Almost every step of the printing process, including pre and post press, impacts our environment in a negative way. There are, however, some things that both printers, clients and designers can do the minimise the overall impact and I’ll do my best to outline some of them here. I should point out that I’ve focused heavily on the UK market, so my apologies to the rest of the world.

First of all, I think it’s important that you as designers should recognise that eco-friendly print production is becoming increasingly important for your commercial clients because their consumers expect it of them.

“We spend 17 to 20 Million GBP per annum on print […] We would regard a formal demonstration of some environmental credentials as a base line; probably ISO 14001, or it could be the BPIF scheme” […] “The environmental issue is a hurdle that any printer would need to jump”
Peter Phippen, Managing director, BBC magazines*

“We simply won’t consider any new suppliers unless they have that (ISO 14001) accreditation”
David Shorto, print and paper buyer Greenpeace.*

“All of our printers will be required to conform to our paper purchasing policy”
Sonjeeta Mahapatra, Internal Communication manager, McDonalds.*

*Source: PrintWeek Guide: Environment

Over the years I have met with numerous blue chip companies to discuss their multimillion pound print spends and the eco issue gains importance with every passing month. So if you buy print for your clients get ready for the eco-procurement push. Better still; instigate it.

Good green printers and how to spot the buggers.

There are two printers in the UK that have an outstanding track record for being green. First up is, of course, Beacon Press in East Sussex. It has around 100 different initiatives such as energy reduction (think of the amount of electricity it takes to power a printing plant), water conservation, reduction in the use of chemicals, emissions and waste (I’ll come to this later as this is something that designers can actually help minimise), that have steadily reduced it’s impact on the environment and has become the benchmark for all commercial printers in the UK. Beacon only uses vegetable based inks reduced it’s water consumption by 63% and has policies in place that has reduce it’s overall waste by 84%. And to top it all it’s they are really bloody good at printing.

The second printer is Posthouse Printing (also trades as Big Sky) based in Scotland. It’s situation in the middle of a conservation site for heavens sake so and is the only UK based printing that is powered by, wait for it, wind. They have some excellent tips on their website and it’s well worth a look.

If you’re looking to find a green(ish) printer in your area there are a couple of things that you need to look out for. First up they really should have an EMS (Environmental Management System) which is a written policy outlining how they approach environmental issues. If they don’t have one, or will not give you it don’t use them. Then there are two accreditations that you’ll need to watch out for; ISO 14001 (International Standards Organisation) which is bloody hard to get and the FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) which promotes forest management (trees – wood – paper). You can’t just get any old printer to print on FSC papers, they must have this accreditation.

You know those horrible print rep’s that turn up when you least expect them trying to flog you print? Here are some questions that you can ask them to see how green they are? How do you manage waste? Do you use waterless printing or vegetable based inks? Do you recycle your litho plates (these are made of aluminium) or crush your ink cans before they’re collected? How much paper do you recycle a month (we recycle 120 tonnes of paper a month)?  If the sales rep can’t answer these questions tell him to bugger off. In fact, my little tip for you is that you ask him these questions before he gets past the foyer. A blank look on his face means that these issues aren’t important to their business and he should take his pots and pans elsewhere.

Another thing you should do is go to the printer and have a good look around. Meet the people working there and make sure they’re happy. I know this sounds silly, but eco-friendly, ISO accredited printers, are usually clean, happy friendly places. Happy people do better work. People who are miserable and high on chemical fumes don’t.

How designers can help.

You can be the greenest printer in the world, but if the designer has come up with a format that doesn’t match the printing press you will impact the environment with waste. Remember we carry off 120 tonnes of waste paper every single month and that’s optimised! Of course it get’s recycled but the truck that picks it up is big, smelly and leaves a big black cloud of diesel dust behind him so we only want him to come when it’s absolutely necessary.

As a designer, you have a responsibility to get to know you printer and his kit, and work together with the printer to come up with the perfect format that creates as little waste as possible. Don’t leave this to your “people who buy print”. You need to do it yourself. You need to get in there, and learn a new craft. Your bespoke design solutions impact the environment more heavily than you will ever know and knowing the printing kit will help you to produce cool work AND be green. It will also increase your margins because it’s more cost effective.

When you start to build a new relationship with a green print supplier it will help both parties if you audit the last twelve months of your total print spend. Look at formats, colours used, special finishes, varnishes, volumes, delivery destinations and substrates and discuss with your printer ways of optimising the things you do.

I think this is actually the most important part of it all. You, as a designer, are as much part of the sustainability picture as the printer is. It’s a partnership and one that both sides have to work on. Because sometimes, design arrogance can lead to massive, stupid, waste.

Hope that helped.