Hasta La Ideas

Covers art directed by Mike Dempsey, using block prints by James Lowe

New from James Pardey, the man behind The Art of Penguin Science Fiction, comes another online resource dedicated to the evolution of book cover design, The Art of Fontana Modern Masters…

Noisy Decent Graphics alerted us to news of Pardney’s excellent new website that takes the form of a binder stuffed with information on the design evolution of the Fontana Modern Masters series, which ran to 48 books in the mid-1970s to early 80s, and was edited by the critic Frank Kermode.

The covers, writes Pardey, “featured geometric ‘paintings’ in lurid colours which made no reference to the subject within, but instead appealed directly to the reader. For they did not just catch the eye, they hijacked it, and as such they are now regarded as daring design classics.”

Covers art directed by John Constable, with paintings by Oliver Bevan

The site, fontanamodernmasters.org, documents the various artisitic influences on the development of the covers (namely the Op Art movement and cut-up culture of the 1960s) and then examines the designs initially produced by art director John Constable (who used paintings by Oliver Bevan); Mike Dempsey (who incorporated block designs by James Lowe); and Patrick Mortimer, who oversaw the art direction of the series from 1980-83. 

Oliver Bevan’s Pyramid paintings were used on eight covers

Covers by art director Patrick Mortimer 

Pardey also looks at the work of UK artist Jamie Shovlin – whose 2003 project reimagined the Modern Masters series as a set of dripping watercolours – and in a nice bit of book cover trivia sheds light on the ten ‘lost’ Masters titles.

A history of the original series of covers by Pardey features in issue 74 of Eye magazine – you can read the article, The Shape of the Century, on the Eye website, here.

And if that doesn’t quite sate your appetite for striking 70s design, then Pardey has also included all 48 Modern Masters covers (listed alphabetically) in a 50 x 70 cm print, which is available to buy from his website, here (£25.39 including postage and packing in the UK).

fontanamodernmasters.org

Regular readers of the CR blog may recall we posted about designer Rick Banks’ Type Trumps pack back in August 2007 (see the original post here). Now Banks has created Type Trumps 2 – another pack of 30 game cards (each representing a different, classic typeface) with which players can battle it out Top Trump-style. The weild-worthy typeface statistics on each card include year of design, the amount of weights, and cost. As per the first pack, Banks has aso given each typeface a ‘rating’ score, a ‘legibility’ score and even a ‘special power’.

Type Trumps 2 is available direct from Banks website at face37.com priced at £9.99 including worldwide shipping.

Stuck for a calendar to brighten up your workspace? Well, Research Studios has 20 of its brand new 2010 edition to give away…

The studio’s 2010 calendar was designed using various patterns, with each month rendered as an illustration (August is shown, top). Research Studios‘ Neville Brody worked with designers from the company’s London, Paris, Barcelona and Berlin offices on the project.

The calendar will be posted in full on researchstudios.com soon, but if you would like to see one for yourself, just send your name, postal address and contact number in an email to calendar2010@researchstudios.com – with the subject “PICK ME” (to reach them by 6pm on 20 January).

Names will be drawn at random and calendars sent out as priority mail.

Below are the designs that accompany March and November 2010.

For their fourth annual exhibition, the If You Could team will be showing the fruits of some intriguing creative collaborations in January…

Contributors to If You Could Collaborate, which opens at the Rochelle School’s A Foundation Gallery in London next month, have been challenged to produce a piece of work with a partner of their choosing, from any profession or background. The line-up thus includes some very famous names from the creative industry, plus several up-and-coming talents.

Alongside the exhibition (curated by Will Hudson and Alex Bec of It’s Nice That) a 312-page catalogue will also be produced documenting the processes the various artists used to create their collaborative piece of work. 

If You Could sent us some details of the collaborations, with some work-in-progress shots of their artwork, to be unveiled at the show. 

Marion Deuchars & Margaret Calvert

Margaret Calvert, the graphic designer who, along with Jock Kinneir, designed many of the road signs used throughout the UK has paired up with illustrator, Marion Deuchars. The pair will be exhibiting a large-scale, dissected and re-assembled road sign, re-worked to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the completion of the M1.

Hellovon & Timothy Saccenti

Combining computer technologies and analogue processes, London-based illustrator Hellovon creates highly detailed pencil drawings. His choice of creative collaborator was the US photographer/director, Timothy Saccenti. They will be showing an A2 Giclée print.

Rob Ryan & Michael Marriott

Working with his friend Michael Marriott, artist Rob Ryan will be exhibiting a hand-printed, flat-pack rocking chair. Ryan’s paper cut-out work is famed for its intricate nature and incorporating a touch of the pastoral, so it will be interesting to see this translated into an object.

Job Wouters & Roel Wouters

This one sounds good. The Wouters brothers – Dutch typographers Job (aka Letman) and Roel – will be exhibiting some site-specific typography created using their fabled Rainbow gun; a cumbersome looking hand-held spray painting machine. 

If You Could Collaborate will be open from 15-24 January (private view on the 14 January) at the A Foundation Gallery at Rochelle School, London E2 7ES. The gallery is open 12-6pm and until 9pm on 21 January. CR will be reporting back on the exhibition next month.

More information at ifyoucould.co.uk/collaborate. Here are a few more creative pairings with their work:

Jesse Auersalo & Jesse Pietilä:

Craig Ward, Sean Freeman & Alison Carmichael:

James Gilpin & Helge Fischer:

Sandy Suffield & Fiona Woodcock:

The full line-up of collaborators is as follows:

Andersen M Studio & LekaGape
Fontaine Anderson & Deanne Cheuk
Jesse Auersalo & Jesse Pietilä
BCMH & Smith&Wightman
Anthony Burrill & John Griffiths
Fred Butler & No Days Off
Jacob Dahlgren & Johan Löfgren
Marion Deuchars & Margaret Calvert
James Gilpin & Helge Fischer
Karl Grandin & And Beyond
George Hardie & Leonardo Sonnoli & Sara Fanelli
Hellovon & Timothy Saccenti
Mario Hugo & Micah Lidberg
Hvass&Hannibal & Anne Werner
Oliver Jeffers & Aaron Ruff
Karlssonwilker & Frank DeRose
Jon Klassen & David OReilly
Stefan Kraus & Sebastian Wrong
Max Lamb & Gemma Holt
Chrissie Macdonald & Marie O’Connor
Sam Messenger & Bart Long
Michael Moloney & John Hooper
Praline & The Model Shop
Rainbow Dropshadow & A Nice Idea Every Day
Rob Ryan & Michael Marriott
Jim Stoten & Andy Rementer
Sandy Suffield & Fiona Woodcock
Julien Vallée & Nicolas Burrows
Jorre van Ast & Damien Poulain
Craig Ward & Sean Freeman & Alison Carmichael
With Associates & Anthony Dickens
Job Wouters & Roel Wouters
Ian Wright & Riitta Ikonen

Error on Page by Faye Heavey (in response to Love Creative)

David Holcroft, a graphic design tutor at Pendleton College in Salford, sent us details of a recent project that his 16 and 17 year old students took on: design a cover for CR. We thought their efforts were great, so wanted to share them on the blog…

David emailed a PDF of the project, in which he asked the students to create a cover and a two page article on a design studio or ad agency of their choosing. All the students are in their first year of studying graphic design as a BTEC national diploma at Pendleton College. The project is the result of their first experiments with InDesign.

The brief for the students was as follows: “Over the next few months the magazine wishes to run a feature on some of the country’s best contemporary design agencies. It will be your job to create a front cover that communicates an appropriate message for one of these agencies: BBH, TBWA, Pentagram, The Chase, Saatchi & Saatchi, BBDO Abbott Mead Vickers, Fallon, Love Creative, Spin, NB: Studio, Leo Burnett, Wolff Olins, BMB, Ogilvy, Non-Format, Why Not Associates, St Lukes, McCann Erickson, Barnbrook, and Poke.”

Here are a few of our favourites (the complete set is at the bottom of the post).

Creative Spark by Alex McBurnie (in response to The Chase). Eye-catching colours on black, always strong.

Propaganda by Melissa Egan (in response to Saatchi & Saatchi). Nice to see some illustration being used.

Happiness by Josh Shaw (in response to Love Creative). A riot of colour; bound to stand out on the shelves.

Simple Solutions by Matthew Jones (in response to Non-Format). Simple indeed, but really effective.

Motion by Kirsty Williams (in response to Non-Format). Might be a bit pricey with the fluro inks but a great image.

Vinyl by George Aldred (in response to Non-Format). With a special finish, this one could work really well.

Three of the students’ editorial pages, on BBH and Non-Format:

BBH editorial by Peter Matthews

Non-Format editorial by Michael Upton

Non-Format editorial by James Landing

And here’s the full set:

The students who took part in the project were Jack Brittell, Damian Collins, April Donnelly, Melissa Egan, Mike Emerson, Steven Hill, James Landing, Josh Lang, Amy Lines, Brian Lobeda, Daniel Lord, Alex McBurnie, Tom Morgan, Sean Pendlebury, James Shaw, Josh Shaw, Michael Upton, Kirsty Williams, David Adu Dwumaa, George Aldred, Emma Broadie, Robert Brooks, Rebecca Cascoe, James Davies, Paul Derbyshire, Sean Frost, Josh Harfield, Faye Heavey, Hayley Higson, Jonathon Hodson, Matthew Jones, Lee Kelly, Peter Matthews, Michael McCarthy, Lee Stephenson, and Philippa Williams. Good luck in your studies!