Editor/s: Micheal Beirut, Steven Heller, Jessica Helfand, Rick Poynor
Who is Micheal Beirut?
Beirut is from Cleveland, Ohio he was born in 1957 he is a graphic designer.
His first job was for the renowned Massimo and Lella Vignelli. After many
years he became the vice president at Vignelli' Associates, since then he became
a partner at the pentagram. He has worked on other similar books such as
Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design, Princeton Architectural Press, (May 31) 2007.
Who is Steven Heller?
Steven is an Art Director, author, editor and several other occupations. He in
particularly specialises in writing on topics related to Graphic Design. He
also publishes his own books.
Who is Jessica Helfand?
Jessica is a columnist and Graphic Design lecturer she is also a critic of
graphic design which is fitting as the book is critical writings on graphic
design.
Who is Rick Poynor?
Poynor is a writer on graphic design, visual culture and typography. He is
well know for writing for Eye magazine. He founded the 'Design Observer'
blog with M. Beirut and Jessica Helfand who also edit for this book. He has
wrote books such as;
No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism, Laurence King Publishing, 2003
Steven is an Art Director, author, editor and several other occupations. He in
particularly specialises in writing on topics related to Graphic Design. He
also publishes his own books.
Who is Jessica Helfand?
Jessica is a columnist and Graphic Design lecturer she is also a critic of
graphic design which is fitting as the book is critical writings on graphic
design.
Who is Rick Poynor?
Poynor is a writer on graphic design, visual culture and typography. He is
well know for writing for Eye magazine. He founded the 'Design Observer'
blog with M. Beirut and Jessica Helfand who also edit for this book. He has
wrote books such as;
No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism, Laurence King Publishing, 2003
and
Obey the Giant: Life in the Image World
Publisher: Allworth Press
Who/What is Allworth Press?
From looking at the website Allworth Press was founded in 1989 10 years
before this book was published. The publishing business started from just
one person 'Tad Crawford' Tad is both as Author and Publisher the first book
to be published was Crawford's classic Legal Guide for the Visual Artist in
Fall 1989. Now there is 6 staff and annually they publish around 15-20 books.
" Crawford saw the need for a publishing company that would provide practical
information to creative professionals such as artists, photographers, designers,
and authors. Based on his experience as chairman of the board for the Foundation
of the Community of Artists in New York City, general counsel to the Graphic
Artists Guild, and lobbyist for the Coalition of Visual Arts organizations, he knew
first hand the issues faced every day by creative people."
Allworth was recognised early in 1994 as it was rewarded Quality books 1994
Small Press Publisher of the Year Award during the annual American Booksellers
Association show (now BookExpo).
Allworth is currently located in New York City.
In total Allworth have over 300 titles in print.
What other books have they published?
Alworth press have published such books as;
- Looking closer: Critical writings on graphic design
- Looking closer 2: Critical writings on graphic design
- Design Literacy (Continued) By Steven Heller
- Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design By "" and Karen Pomeroy
- The Swastika: Symbol beyond redemption? By Steven Heller
- Sex Appeal: The Art of Allure in Graphic Design By ""
- Design Culture: An Anthology of writing from the AIGI Journal of Graphic Design Edited By Steven Heller and Elinor Pettit
- Design Dialogues By "" and ""
Their is a clear evidence of similarity of Authors I believe Steven
Heller has a contract with Alworth Press, a lot of the book published
are about the principles and theory into graphic design, they also do
other books such as;
- Business
- Performing Arts
- Interior Design
- Art
- Theater
- Web Design
- Book Arts
- Photography
- Crafts
From their website their is a guidline for book proposals it states...
2. A one-to-two page synopsis
3. An annotated chapter outline
4. Market analysis, including competitive research
Published: 1999
What is the context of this book?
From reading the introduction and foreword from the book I'd say the books
context is to inform and educate.
Who is the target audience for this book?
I'd say anyone interested in Graphic Design, but more specifically design
students and practicing Graphic Designers.
What is it about? What is it?
The book consists of some really interesting and inspirational essays on graphic
design by such designers as;
- Marinetti
- El Lisitzky
- Tschihold
- Bayer
- Weignart
- Vignette
The book starts as early as 1893 the essays progress through the years showing
a brief history of time specifically movements such as "Art Nouveau", "Bauhuas"
"Art Deco" "Post modern and modernism" It really has a wide timeline of
movements, each author has their own theories and it is interesting to see this change
from essay to essay. The last essay in the collection is by Vingelli title 'Call for
criticism' written in 1983. It is clearly about typogrraphy and its history majority of
the essays feature typography It shows the development of Graphic Design and its
the essays feature typography It shows the development of Graphic Design and its
first appearances. In the foreword it is said that the editors felt because the essays
written at the time were philosophically correct the book was not going to be re-published.
Comment on aesthetics?
I wouldn't say the book is typeset very well not all text is left aligned and there is
a lot of hyphenation! As it is a long piece of text I would suggest adding a line
between paragraphs to make it easier to read etc so if you loose your spot it is easier
to find. The placing of images I feel is not thought out well, and could be
improved.
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