Hasta La Ideas

Ten years ago Malcolm Garrett attempted to suggest to Jonathan Ive that it might be time to ditch skeumorphic design. With the release of iOS7 he appears to have had that wish granted. We asked the digital pioneer for his creative assessment of the recent OS upgrade…

It is already ten years since Jonathan Ive was named Designer of the Year by the Design Museum. It is therefore ten years since Creative Review first asked me to talk to him to coincide with that award.

The brief was to speak ‘designer to designer’, with some discussion of his growing portfolio of groundbreaking products, and to hopefully elicit some informed insight into his personal approach to design.

He had just presented the sleek new range of G4 Titanium PowerBooks but, of course, the iPhone, whose touch screen interface would change computing forever, was not yet so much as a twinkle in his eye.

I brought up the subject of the then relatively new OSX interface. This was an important issue for me. I felt there was a major disconnect between the efficient simplicity and beauty of his hardware design and what users encountered on their screens.

I had only recently upgraded to OSX and I was not yet a fan, despite its functional superiority over OS9. I had been put off from the outset just by the way it looked, a sad confession that aesthetics were blinding me to improved usability.

My thinking was that the visual tone was far too ‘Walt Disney’, with a cartoon-like pursuit of visual realism in the drawing of icons with shadows, bevels and fake three-dimensionality. The term ‘skeumorphic’ had been around since the 19th century, but it had never seemed more appropriately applied than in the world of software, which has few physical parallels with ‘real’ tools and machinery.

I voiced a concern about the loss of what had always been a clear, easy-to-use interface – one that graphic designers loved – to be replaced with a brighter, more colourful, dumbed-down array of big buttons and ‘friendly’ picture-driven screen tools.

This was such an irony given that graphic designers had been a core market for Apple products since the launch of the Mac 20 years previously.

Jonathan Ive’s response was not what I expected. He refused to comment at all, simply stating that he was not the person to talk to about it.

Ten years later, now that he has publicly criticised the older interface and replaced it with this fresh review, I now get some hint that he may well have been thinking along the same lines as me back then. He was far too smart, and professionally constrained of course, to engage in any ‘loose talk’ at the wrong moment.

Naturally then, I see this new iPhone operating system as a welcome progression, as it dramatically reverses the trend towards excessive skeumorphism.

It’s been a long time coming, but the difference is evident right from the first screen. The typography is lighter and has a refreshing clarity, and all unnecessary frames, bevels and shadows around buttons, panels or onscreen instructions (such as ‘slide to unlock’) have been omitted to pleasing effect.

At first glance some aspects do seem a bit rushed, but for the most part I really like it. Some screens really are very pleasing – the compass (above) is a technical delight for instance. Some of the top level things, funnily enough the ones you would notice first, work less well.

Thankfully iOS7 hasn’t pursued the wholly squared-off look of the latest Windows OS, and has retained the rounded corners of the iOS6 desktop icons.

I do think, though, that these would have benefited from a reduction of corner radius to complement the sharpness of the illustrations that adorn them. My first impression is that they tend to feel a bit too flat, the colours a little garish, and the detail and typography too thin.

The more I use it, however, the more I come to appreciate and enjoy it.

I had never noticed before that the letters on the keyboard keys are all in caps, even when typing in lower case. It has always been that way, but it jumped out at me as ‘mistake’ when I first saw it here. I’m not sure that is a good thing.

Going back to check its predecessor again, I now see though that those keys are just too blobby and already feel old fashioned. The new keys are much clearer, they even seem bigger.

Whether Helvetica is the right font to be really forward looking and an ‘honest’ choice for a really contemporary interface is debatable. Given its modernist origins, and the way that for many designers it has come to suggest the best in ‘information design’, it too is arguably skeumorphic in its own subtle way.

After I’ve had more time to explore, I will hopefully come back with a more considered critique. In the same way that I found effortless joy, and unanticipated pleasure in small details when using the first generation iPhone screen, I am hoping to find much more below the surface of this one.

I hope it is more than a cosmetic upgrade, but for now at least it is a welcome cosmetic upgrade.

Malcolm Garrett (RDI) is creative director at communications consultancy, Images&Co. See malcolmgarrett.com.

Design studio Carter Wong has produced an A to Z of bicycle headbadges, all of which come from the collection of Jeff Conner, a cycling-obsessed biology professor from Michigan…

Hundreds of examples of these small, slightly curved metal shields are contained within A Cycling Lexicon, which is curated and designed by the London-based studio.

Conner explains in the book how he only started to collect headbadges in earnest three years ago. Prior to this small-scale (and house-friendly) hobby his passion for bikes extended to owning eight of them.

His badge collection, however, celebrates the “little pieces of art riveted onto the headset of your bicycle”, as designer Paul Smith writes in his introduction. Smith, a cycling afficianado, also has a connection to the home of the most famous British make in the book – Raleigh of Nottingham.

The badges’ size is certainly no barrier to invention. With a canvas usually no bigger than a couple of postage stamps the designs reveal a fascination with notions connected to cycling, as Carter Wong’s Phil Carter notes in his text in the book.

There are symbols of freedom and speed – with wings and birds abounding – and also a debt to heraldic animals (serpents, lions and eagles, in particular), with ideas of strength and precision also conveyed in the designs.

Moreover, the headbadges also hard back to the birth of the “era of affordable mobility” – many pre-date car badges, for example – and usually reflect the maker’s location in the world.

With its gold edges and compact size, the book has a biblical look perhaps reflecting the sacred regard with which this unshowy art form is held. Yet part of the charm of the work featured is that it is unsung – each piece the product of an uncredited designer.

At 400 pages the lexicon includes a wealth of bicycle art from all over the world, but it remains an ongoing collection, too – Conner still needs to find a ‘Q’ and an ‘X’.

A Cycling Lexicon (£20) can be ordered from the Carter Wong design shop at carterwongdesignshop.com.

New York creative agency Athletics and the Cooper Union’s Herb Lubalin Study Centre are launching an exhibition mapping New York’s graphic design community, inspired by urban planner Kevin Lynch’s 1960 study The Image of the City.

Image of the Studio, which opens next week, will feature original work and studio portraits from more than 75 design studios, as well as infographics addressing what graphic design in New York looks like and how living and working in the city affects contemporary studio practice.

The project was inspired by Lynch’s five year study of how we perceive urban landscapes: examining people in Boston, Jersey and Los Angeles, he concluded that we make sense of our surroundings by forming mental maps of five elements: paths (sidewalks and streets), edges (perceived boundaries such as buildings and shorelines), districts (sections defined by a particular character, nodes (focal points) and landmarks.

Lynch is widely credited with introducing the terms wayfinding and imageability and his research on the importance of visual communications has had a significant impact on urban planning. Athletics says his work is also a study of graphic design “and how we translate the visible world into tangible forms in order to grasp a sense of the whole.”

“Image of the City was a crucial inspiration in that it helped us frame the nature of graphic design within the parameters of NYC. The idea of cognitive mapping – of a mental representation – was the basis of how we approached the exhibition to try to grasp a sense of the whole graphic design community,” explains Athletics co-founder Matt Owens, who curated the show with colleague Allison Connell and Herb Lubalin Centre curator Alexander Tochilovsky.

Infographics featured in the show are based on the results of an online questionnaire filled out by participating studios in June, documenting the history and culture of each company. Athletics has also arranged a series of accompanying talks, debates and studio tours, looking at design in five New York boroughs. After the exhibition, submitted work will be archived at the centre and uploaded to imageofthestudio.com

Athletics has been planning Image of the Studio since late 2012, after Tochilovsky invited Owens to take part in a panel discussion of Unit Editions’s book Herb Lubalin: American Graphic Designer (1918-81). “We were captivated by the recollections of all of the panelists as they discussed Herb, his studio culture, creative working style and the real challenges of being a practicing designer.

“After the panel, we discussed with Alexander the unique dialogue that occurs when fellow designers are face to face, exchanging opinions and professional experiences, as well as how the notion of the design studio changes across people, technology, time and culture. We agreed it wasn’t something that could be fully captured in a singular medium – be it print, online or in motion or live. Thus the idea of the exhibition was born,” says Owens.

“I have long been thinking of a way to shed more light on the design studio model, especially as a teacher. For students, there is a lot of mystery to the way studios operate or how they began,” adds Tochilovsky. “I’ve also been curious to see more of designers’ faces – not many show portraits of themselves on their websites. So when Matt came to me with this idea it seemed like a perfect match for our vision at the Lubalin Center – we aim to produce exhibitions which are educational and illuminate some aspect of graphic design’s role,” he adds.

“For us, its been a great deal of work but as a studio it’s been our love letter to both New York and the graphic design industry. It’s also an excuse to throw a big party for our fellow designers and involve our community and peers in a meaningful way,” adds Connell.

Image of the Studio opens on October 1 until October 26 at 41 Cooper Gallery, Cooper Union. To find out more visit imageofthestudio.com

Images (from top): original work and studio portraits submitted by Demo, the Office of Paul Sahre and Ro and Co, and infographics produced by Athletics for the show.

East London’s Kemistry Gallery has launched an exhibition of Seymour Chwast and Milton Glaser’s work for Push Pin Studios. Here’s a look at the show – and some words of wisdom from an 83-year-old Glaser.

Seymour Chwast and Milton Glaser are two of the most influential designers of the twentieth century. In 1954, they co-founded Push Pin Studios and for 20 years, produced record covers, book jackets, posters, prints and magazine illustrations in the iconic ‘Push Pin Style’ – bright and witty, often heavily outlined images packed with historical, cultural and artistic references and innovative uses of type.

Glaser left Push Pin in 1975 and today runs his own studio, while Chwast directs the Push Pin Group. The pair’s work hasn’t been shown in London for more than 40 years but is now on display at London’s Kemistry Gallery until November 2.

The Seymour & Milton Posters Show is a collection of posters, sketches and copies of Push Pin’s bi-monthly magazine, the Push Pin Graphic (above). The publication was a spin-off of an earlier project, the Push Pin Almanack, which Glaser and Chwast produced with fellow Push Pin founder Edward Sorel and illustrator Reynold Ruffins, who joined the studio in 1955.

The exhibition includes some of the studio’s most memorable pieces – including a series of posters related to war and peace, such as this one criticising the US bombing of Hanoi in 1967:

A 1985 poster commemorating the 40th anniversary of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and one created to mark the bicentennial of the French Revolution (below):

It also includes some excellent designs created to promote conferences and exhibitions such as this one made for a Chwast retrospective:

And illustrations for the New York magazine, which Glaser co-founded with Clay Felker. (He also created the iconic I Heart New York campaign).

A selection of prints on display at the show are for sale, as is a poster designed for the exhibition and a series of rarely seen sketches, including Chwast’s drawings of sex ads and Mexican masks (below). It’s a great collection and one that showcases the skill, humour and attention to detail in both Glaser and Chwast’s work.

“As a young designer I went to a talk Milton and Seymour gave in London. They epitomised to me what being a designer was all about. They created work that was so fresh, intelligent, witty, thought-provoking and beautifully executed, I was in awe. Forty years later, to be hosting an exhibition of their work is thrilling,” says Kemistry co-founder Graham McCallum.

Now in their early 80s, Chwast and Glaser are still designing – both appeared at this year’s Point conference in London, and you can watch a lovely video interview with Glaser which premiered at the conference below.

The Seymour & Milton show runs until November 2 at Kemistry Gallery, 43 Charlotte Road, EC2A 3PD. For more info see kemistrygallery.co.uk

Glasgow creative agency reflexblue has produced a striking new website, almanac, artwork and promotional merchandise for Glasvegas’s latest album, Later…When the TV Turns to Static.

The CD and 12” vinyl artwork features no text, only a bold grey and black repeat zig zag design.  A single zig zag is also used on single sleeves, t-shirts and the band’s official website.

The design was inspired by 1960s op art, Peter Saville’s work for Manchester label Factory Records and the album’s title, says Brian Wishart, head of creative at reflexblue.

“James [Allan, Glasvegas’s lead singer/songwriter] came to us with the basic concept for a zig zag, as he wanted it to look like a pop art version of static on a television screen,” he explains.

“I was very into op art and Saville’s work at the time, so wanted to take that idea and make something that looked like an optical illusion. We chose not to use any text on the cover because we wanted to create something powerful – something very bold and minimal that would shock people, which I don’t think many people have done with album artwork for a while,” he adds.

To give the pattern more depth, Wishart distressed and scanned textured GF Smith paper samples, scrunching and even drenching them in tea. “It’s a simple design but we wanted to add a little complexity, and make it feel more tactile. It also suits the band’s image – their music is quite dark and retro, so I wanted the cover to be a visual reflection of this and have quite a lo-fi, handmade feel,” he says. The texture has also been applied to the Glasvegas site and online store (above).

The deluxe edition of the album comes with a 40-page almanac and a DVD that was filmed and edited by reflexblue and features clips of the band starring in TV commercials, weather forecasts and late night shopping channel spots. The almanac includes a series of original illustrations by Wishart, a ‘dress James game’ poking fun at Allan’s love of wearing all white or black and photographs of all of the equipment used to make the album.

“James brought in a director’s journal one day – a traditional Moleskin book – and we just thought, ‘that’s what we should do for the album’. We created a ‘this belongs to’ page to make it feel authentic, a fake ad with a product named after the guitarist and a mock billboard with five star reviews from family members, even a band member’s dog. It was a lot of fun to create, as I pretty much had free reign to draw what I liked,” says Wishart.

It’s a strong design and one that works well across digital and physical products, and ties in with the band’s existing visual identity and previous album covers.

Later… is the first album reflexblue has produced artwork for, and Wishart hopes it will lead to further cover projects with Glasvegas and other musicians. “It’s always been my goal to design artwork for a band I love, and to have such free reign creatively. James had a strong vision for the design but just didn’t know how to execute it, so we helped make it happen. It was a real collaboration, and we worked very closely together,” he says.