Each January since the dawn of the 21st century (I’ve always wanted to write that – it sounds better than since the year 2000) there has been a proclamation made by the high council of all things colour – the ‘PANTONE® Color of the Year’ whereby a mysterious coven of colour alchemists (I’m sticking with the … Read More
Graphic Design
Happy New Year
New years resolutions don’t usually feature in my life, but I have decided to put more effort into blogging after the dismal efforts last year, so I guess this can be classed as a resolution. I hope you all had a great holiday and that you gave and received a few good pressies too. I … Read More
Trumpet Blowing
Hello again. It’s time to blow my own trumpet. As a freelance designer, I am usually called upon by design agencies to create something that will be a part of a much larger project. Quite often I only see the part of the project I am directly involved in and sometimes never see the end … Read More
Keeping you covered
More booky goodness from Nick’s collection! This time three German titles with interesting cover papers and neat tipped-in titles. If the internet translation tools are correct, this first one is entitled “Curriculum Vitae of St. Wonnebald Pück”, a light-hearted satire apparently… Originally published in 1905, this edition is dated 1953 and is printed in the … Read More
Patterns of Poetry
There was a time when most serious readers had a poetry section on their bookshelves but alas, no more I fear. These few gems were rediscovered by my friend Nick recently and I thought they were beautiful; elegantly understated but playful. Penguin led in the design of these collections, but other publishers soon caught on and … Read More
Saturday night at the movies…
Well, Sunday morning, actually, to catch an early tour around King’s Lynn’s Majestic Cinema, a lovely late 1920’s building with an arched entrance and copper domed clock tower. Even before you get in the door you are confronted by lovely mosaic tiles – when I’ve mentioned this to people I have found that many regular … Read More
On reading books
For the first few years of blogging I posted up a monthly list of the books I had read and a playlist of music that had formed the soundtrack to each month, but eventually stopped. To some, that would indicate that I have given up reading and adopted a more monkish silent order, but nothing could … Read More
It’s on the cards
Playing cards are often overlooked for their graphic qualities, probably because of the familiarity and repetition of symbols and numbers. Granted, not all sets of playing cards are graphically distinctive and so they all tend be much of a muchness. I’ve recently acquired a few packs of cards, all of varying vintage, and enjoyed examining their … Read More
Raise your glasses
I’ve been releasing teaser images of this project in progress on Twitter and Instagram as well as here and have received a fair bit of interest so far, so I am delighted to reveal the complete project. One of the main design elements of the design is the typography, loosely based on English uncial scripts … Read More
Here come the snakes…
I have recently come into the possession of a well-used part of that old favourite board game Snakes and Ladders and thought I would share its wonderful illustrations and moral intention with you fine people. As far as I can ascertain, it dates from anywhere between 1890 – 1914 and has been clearly enjoyed by several generations! … Read More