Design in the mind

Find out more on Wim Crouwel here and here

Australia has several legends of Graphic Design and we appear to be reaching that time when most are passing on to design heaven leaving us with the memories of their inspirational work. Bruce Weatherhead is one such designer who passed away at the beginning of this year. 2 months earlier he recorded this interview with AGDA.

See examples of Bruce’s work here

From AGDA’s website:

In November 2010 when he was interviewed for the Conversations with Designers short film series, Bruce Weatherhead said “Graphic design should be all about ideas and joy…it’s provided me with an absolutely beautiful life.”

Known as one of the fathers of modern Australian graphic design, Bruce’s fearless and idiosyncratic style helped define a new Australian visual language. Although he was recognised by the AGDA Spicers Paperpoint Hall of Fame in 2002, Bruce’s work has not been widely known in the internet age and few digital records have previously been available.

Bruce Weatherhead sadly passed away on 1.1.11. Although semi reclusive and unwell for some time, his passion for life and sharp intellect were undimmed to the end. We were fortunate to have captured some of his thoughts about design on film.

German industrial designer Dieter Rams is noted as being one of the most influential designers of the 20th century with his innovative designs for Braun and many other electronic components since the 60s. His attention to detail was extrodinary and drawn from his principles on design: Good design is honest; Good design is long-lasting; Good design is consequent to the last detail; Good design is concerned with the environment; Good design is as little design as possible.

He has had a lasting influence on design which has reached outstanding product designers of today, including Apple’s head designer Jonathan Ive. Here is an interview with Dieter.

Dieter Rams: Less and More Interview from Gestalten on Vimeo.

Dieter Rams in conversation with Deyan Sudjic from Vitsœ on Vimeo.

An interview with Dieter at Designboom

New book “Less and More” featuring the works of Dieter Rams

A documentary explaining the impact of post world war II on design and design for the masses.

As promised, I wanted to present several Polish designers that were adding their unique visual language to the graphic design world in the middle of last century. one outstanding designer, particularly in poster design with his expressive illustrative style was Roman Cieslewicz.

Roman Cieslewicz (1930-1996). 1949-54 studied at Cracow Academy of Fine Arts. Specialized in poster and display designing. Worked as book and magazine designer. Since 1962 lived in France where he worked as art director of “Vogue”, “Elle” and “Mafia” – advertising agency. He was artistic creator of “Opus International” and “Kitsch”. Member of AGI [International Graphic Association].

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More on Paul Rand from Paul Rand

Ty i Ja or ‘You and I’ magazine, was a 64 pp publication first published in Warsaw, Poland in 1959 and saw it end in the 1980s after constant censorship pressures.

The magazine was published monthly and was the only publication of its kind in Poland that discussed literature, science, design, poetry, fashion and graphic art. The covers featured expressive and impressive examples of modern design and illustration and would feature works from prominent Polish designers of the time, including Roman Cieslewicz, Eryk Lipinski and Henryk Tomaszewski.

We don’t often hear of the role of Poland in the history of visual design and this publication goes far to tell their story – I’ll be including entries on these designers soon.

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Read more on the publication here

Who’s got time to blog these days? The frequency has dropped off I do apologies! I couldn’t resist featuring the work of George Giusti though, I think i have fallen in love with the expressive, hand crafted work of the 50s – it’s so beautiful and hits me int he heart, and if I am going to feature the likes of Paul Rand, Milton Glaser and Fortune Magazine then I have to include George.

Here are just a small set of samples from his very long and prosperous career – since I have little time to write in my own words – here is a morphing of several articles describing his career:

George Giusti (1908-1991) studied at the Brera Academy of Arts in Milan and practised design there until moving to Switzerland in 1928. On a visit to the US in 1938, he was enticed to stay and work with Herbert Matter on the Swiss Pavilion for the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

For more than four decades in America, and before that in Italy and Switzerland, George Giusti’s graphic designs have graced the covers of Time, Fortune, Holiday and other major magazines, as well as most of the publications of the United States Information Agency. He has done advertising and graphic designs, illustrations, trademarks, client and employee publications, and package designs for major corporations. He served for ten years as art consultant to Geigy Pharmaceuticals in the United States and Switzerland.

In all of Giusti’s graphics, he has avoided the classical and sought instead a contemporary, even futuristic effect. He has succeeded to the extent that his designs are consistently ahead of their time.

It is Giusti’s expressed intention to build a bridge between fine art and art for commercial use. He disdains the terms “fine” and “commercial” as defining a distinction which should not exist. Art is art, he believes, whatever its purported use.

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With a fresh interest in the masters of design currently going around and realising the wealth of inspirational dialogue they can offer the rest of us we are seeing efforts to capture the their passion, their visions, and ability to sustain a life in design. Following on from my last entry, here is a small interview with Milton Glaser from the Hillman Curtis series.

I wanted to make mention of one of the outstanding designers/Ilustrators of the last century, Milton Glaser – and with the release of a new documentary on his life and work I thought this would be a good time.

Milton Glaser was one of the most influential designers that came out of the 1950s, his style was defined by simplicity, orginality and directness of idea. He was responsible for some very iconic graphics, some of which are in the gallery below. Discover more insight into Milton Glaser at his website www.miltonglaser.com

The documentary on Milton Glaser is titled To inform and to delight and was released this month. Not sure if it will make it to cinemas here, but give it time and you’ll find it on Amazon, I’m sure!

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I also wanted to point you to a talk Milton gave in 2001 where he discussed 10 things he has learned – it’s a very insightful read.

Ten Things I Have Learned

Part of AIGA Talk in London
November 22, 2001

1 You can only work for people that you like

This is a curious rule and it took me a long time to learn because in fact at the beginning of my practice I felt the opposite. Professionalism required that you didn’t particularly like the people that you worked for or at least maintained an arms length relationship to them, which meant that I never had lunch with a client or saw them socially. Then some years ago I realised that the opposite was true. I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. And I am not talking about professionalism; I am talking about affection. I am talking about a client and you sharing some common ground. That in fact your view of life is someway congruent with the client, otherwise it is a bitter and hopeless struggle.
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