Hasta La Ideas

“Peter Saville‘s album covers for Manchester’s Factory Records in the ’80s and ’90s were a true revelation to me, especially his work for New Order. When I was a sophomore in college, the group soon became one of my favorites and remain so to this day, but what was truly striking was that while they more or less a rarified synth-disco band (though a truly great one), Saville’s cool and clasically modernist sleeves didn’t reflect at all any of the expected visual clichés of dance music. No mirror balls, no platform shoes, no ‘groovy’ lettering, and most notably—no discernible emotion. The result is a brilliantly nuanced balancing act between form and content, in which one is so totally at odds with the other that they ultimately complement each other with unique juxtaposition. The design doesn’t have to try to get your toe tapping, because that’s the the music’s job. The lettering is clean, beautifully proportioned, easily read, and, well, ordered. Saville didn’t so much have a style as he did a sensibility—one that consistently defied prediction—and that’s what he made me want to achieve too.”

-Design rockstar—and all-around rockstar—Chip Kidd in one of the essays that comprise his foreword to Simon Garfield‘s Just My Type (Gotham)

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