Modernist Book Design Archive

Browse the index here, or check out these classics:

jan tschichold 1930


carl b. graf 1956


josef müller-brockmann 1960


konrad kessler 1960


karl gerstner 1972


otl aicher 1982



Some of those I've highlighted above will seem strangely familiar to anyone who knows Peter Saville's cover for New Order's LOW LIFE album.

The Ride

Not got it? Get it, quick. It has words, pictures and things, all bike related yet quite disparate in content and context. Everything for someone. That someone is probably you, it's definitely me.

Anyone for Flapjack?

out of the strong came forth sweetness, by Hwa Young Jung (Mee?).

1974 Citroen brochure

Full Brochure.

What's not to like?!?

Palatine

Palatine, originally uploaded by Kelvin Owers.

CD box-set produced near "the end" of the label's life.

Final factory logo features, set in "Factis" which is basically the Rotis font as created by Otl Aicher's team. The effect of the white box must have been intended to be a pretty faithful recreation of the dust jacket and card slip case of typographie. I think that's a pretty safe guess, and I'm sure Peter Saville will have had, or had access to, this edition of the book.

My bikes : pt 2 : Old Cotic Prototype

NPF_2614, originally uploaded by Niall Flinn.

Steeper Than It Looks, originally uploaded by Niall Flinn.

easter_2006.0040.jpg, originally uploaded by Niall Flinn.

easter_2006.0036.jpg, originally uploaded by Niall Flinn.

Megavalanche on a Hardtail

Nutters! I hope someone gets some photos.

The killer time-wasting apps for the iPhone might be musical toys

The multi-touch interface is perfect for creating music. There's just a handful of conventional apps so far, but when people move onto creating new interfaces rather than simulating diddy existing instruments then things could get interesting. Check these out for now:


http://www.iphonesoft.de/gangsaapp/


http://www.iband.at/
http://moocowmusic.com/

More using the moocowmusic apps:

"Made in Bench"

"Made in Bench", by Kelvin Owers. Apologies to both Bench&Bunch

There are lots of fantastic takes on the Bunch logo to be found on the Made In Bunch website. I wanted to do something myself, thought about making something a bit twee, like baking the letters as biscuits, but then realised I didn't really have the time. Something struck me though, something that appealed to my lazy nature and dislike of derivative ID building. Check out the Flickr page for an explanation...

testcard font using fontstruct

Fontstruct is a great new web application from Fontshop for creating modular fonts. The result of my first play with this simple (but limited) tool is "testcard".



It's an utterly flawed font, take it and fix it as you see fit. Underscore is used to to terminate and separate words. There's only a handful of characters I'm happy with so far. Go grab it and have a play.

Doodle from "mr_carl"

veermax5, by mr_carl.

A great idea... get defacing those catalogs now....

PS does PSA

Found on Motionographer.com

Peter Saville was apparently involved in this retro styled road safety short.

Kistufell II

Kistufell II, originally uploaded by -axel.

I've been impressed with this guy's work for ages. Especially worth checking his photos out if you like horses.

My bikes : pt 1 : Cotic Soul Mk1

Kelvin Takes The Plunge, photo by Niall Flinn.

arizonaCotic_01, originally uploaded by Niall Flinn.

Accent Business Card

Accent Business Card, originally uploaded by Accent Creative.

"Cardstock with Spot Gloss UV Varnish on transparent Logo."

Flat and Boring

The Evening Standard reports how the 'compact' nature of the Olympics is causing problems, especially as regards trying to find suitable venues for the 'rural' events, like mountain biking and 3 day eventing, close to the capital. Now England is not a huge country, and allowing a few choice events to escape from London and nearby counties wouldn't really dilute the games, would it? Of particular concern is how an 'unchallenging' site and course has been proposed and rejected for the Mountain Biking. Over the last decade the UK's reputation for mountain biking has improved greatly with overseas visitors, admittedly with England falling behind Wales and Scotland, and showing the whole world a flat and boring track at the Olympics could set this back and would do nothing for future tourism prospects. Tourism you say? Yep, I've bumped into a few people who have visited the UK to mountain bike, esp from Europe. Okay, we don't have the alps, but we do have trails that are open all year around and offer a huge variety of experiences. We don't want the message going out that cycling off-road in the UK is about riding around flat easy trails.

Paul Rand

Has Paul Rand's stock fallen these days? Is that because those that picked up his style have become so prominent (I'm thinking the great Saul Bass for one)? Or because his insistence that design should be seen as art conflicts with the practical realities of designers working today? Perhaps it's just the fact that he could practise his art while satisfying hard nosed large corporations, while most struggle to produce work they can be proud of when chasing the whims of their clients. Whatever, both his work and writings are essential. Check out any of his own books, rather than books about the man and his works written by others, and you're sure to smile at most that you see or read. If you haven't got the time for that, check out the short film above that uses quotes from the man himself with animation based on his work, most notably the charming children's books that he created with his wife.

Update: some related links:
- view those children's books online
- the final logo?

Simple-tons

My last weekend of summer, for various reasons, seems to have been the SSWC up in Aviemore. It was relaxed yet energetic, social yet peaceful.

Some people speaking and riding at the 'event' :



Jenn and Nigel were our English heros, for differing reasons, not that any of that mattered much.

A link to my loverly bike

Lost Format

Courtesy of those nice people at Experimental Jetset.

Band names taken from song titles or lyrics

A Certain Ratio (Brian Eno)
Sub Sub (A Certain Ratio)
Oasis (Happy Mondays)
The Sunshine Underground (Chemical Brothers)

Got any?