Hasta La Ideas

Information designer Nick Felton probably needs no introduction here: besides his current dayjob at Facebook, his perennial reports have offered a unique window into one particularly astute designer’s life as a sort of digital-age diary par excellence.

While the latest edition of the Feltron Annual Report spans twice as long a time period as the reports from 2005 through 2009, it is perhaps less ambitious than last year’s report, which was dedicated to his late father. (Willem Van Lancker and Robin Camille Davis provided a nice bit of commentary on the Felton’s “struggle to define and reaffirm departed loved ones’ existence in the 21st century.”)

Yet insofar as the designer himself is the subject of his report, the document contains a mind-boggling amount of raw data on a full gamut of otherwise mundane activities. That it’s beautiful goes without saying; in fact, the visual and typographic presentation is arguably more significant than the content itself, at least to the extent that Felton’s day-to-day activity consists mostly of enjoying coffee, riding the subway, spending time with friends and family, etc. In other words, he’s just a regular guy… who happens to rigorously record his daily activities and compile the data in a brilliant artifact.

Which is to say that the Feltron Report is, as always, well worth closer examination (why summarize a summary?); the Dieter Rams shout-out—”Best Celebrity Encounter / at NYC Vitsoe Shop”—is just one of many hidden gems.

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Oscar Bolton Green may just be the most prolific illustrator his age. At 23, he’s produced more illustrations, graphics, ads, animations, books and book covers than I can digest in a week’s worth of online perusal—and I peruse a lot. Born in London, Green graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in 2010. “Pretty soon after I graduated in 2010 Corraini offered to publish Bird Beak Book, which was a dream come true,” Green said. “Everything seemed to follow on from there, really.”

Since then he’s worked on projects big and small, from cheeky homages to Dieter Rams (above) and with larger clients like American Express, Rolling Stone, GE and Modus Magazine. His latest project is Un Sedicesimo, a series produced by Corraini. “Every couple of months they ask someone to design a 16 page book,” said Green. “At the time I was doing these line drawings using a pen I’d recently discovered. These turned out to be the starting point for the book. It was a real honour to create number 25 alongside Nathalie Du Pasquier.”

His figurative work and character pieces are a delight; I particularly love the pages filled to capacity with objects and people. But even more than that I’m drawn to “Alphabet Animation” (below), a quick tour of the alphabet through a series of simple sketches of letters that morph into object after object and finally into the next letter. Like the rest of his work, it knows its clever but it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

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University graphics lecturer Jim Williams’ A4 Type Matters! booklet, originally created to hand to his students, has been expanded and is set to be published in April as a notebook-style 160 page, faux leather covered book (Merrell, £17.95).

The book sets out the basics of typography and is sure to be added to graphic design course reading lists. The first chapter deals with the history of type design, the origins of typographic terminology, type measurement, Roman type and a very helpful spread entitled The Anatomy of Letterforms which will allow readers to correctly identify a stem, crossbar, descender, terminal, tittle or bowl at a glance.

Chapter two deals with setting headlines and display type, while the third chapter (by far the longest chapter) looks at setting text – from selecting a typeface through leading, kerning, letter spacing, alignment, indicating paragraphs, hanging punctuation, hyphenation, widows and orphans, apostrophes and quotation marks, ligatures and more. In short, Type Matters! is an indispensible guide to the basics of typography that no budding graphic designer should be without.

The publisher Merrell has kindly sent us an advance copy to peruse – and so here are some spreads:

Type Matters! by Jim Williams is published in April this year. More details can be found at merrellpublishers.com

CR in Print

Thanks for visiting the CR website, but if you are not also reading CR in print you’re missing out. Our March issue is an illustration special with features on Clifford Richards, Pick Me Up, the relationship between illustrators and writers, the making of the cover of the New York Times Magazine and a powerful essay by Lawrence Zeegen calling on illustrators to become more engaged with the wider world and accusing the profession of withdrawing “from the big debates of our society to focus on the chit-chat and tittle-tattle of inner-sanctum nothingness”.

The best way to make sure you receive CR in print every month is to subscribe – you will also save money and receive our award-winning Monograph booklet every month. You can do so here.

The March issue of Creative Review is an illustration special with pieces on the relationship between writers and illustrators, the making of New York Times Magazine covers, Pick Me Up, an impassioned call for illustration to get involved in bigger issues and a profile (and cover design) by the estimable Clifford Richards

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

Gavin Lucas profiles Richards, the former adman turned illustrator who has been creating his own line of charming products since the 60s

London graphic art fair Pick Me Up is coming round again this month – we profile four of the emerging illustrators showing there

Mark Sinclair looks at the relationship between illustrators and writers – such as that between Hunter S Thompson and Ralph Steadman

And Arem Duplessis of the New York Times Magazine takes us through the process of creating covers for the title, showing the various options explored before he arrives at the final design

And to round our illustration coverage up, the LCC’s Lawrence Zeegen makes an impassioned plea for today’s illustrators to create work with greater influence and meaning: illustration has become entrenched in navel-gazing and self-authorship, he argues. It’s time for it to stop pleasing itself and engage with the wider world

If illustration is not your thing, we also have a great piece by Eliza Williams drawing on research from her new book to create a list of ten top tips for making great ads

And in our Crit section, Jeremy Leslie visits an exhibition to mark 50 years of the Sunday Times Magazine

and Gordon Comstock looks at the relationship betwen advertising and the film world

Our Monograph booklet this month, for subscribers only, features highlights from the ICA’s exhibition on artist magazines, In Numbers

Monograph is printed on Curious SKIN Ivory 270gsm for the cover and Conqueror Print Excellence Diamond White 120gsm for the text pages, from Antalis McNaughton antalis-mcnaughton.co.uk

Unfortunately, this month’s issue of Monograph was printed with the wrong paper credits. Our apologies to Antalis McNaughton for this error

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

Issue 14 and 15 of ARC

The roots of the Royal College of Art‘s student-run journal, ARC, go back over sixty years. But unless funding for the production of the next issue can be found, it may already have printed its last. So the students have started a Kickstarter campaign and have several great packages on offer to encourage donations…

ARC is a continuation of the RCA’s Ark magazine which ran from 1950-1978 and saw the likes of designers Alan Fletcher and Ray Hawkey, writer Len Deighton, and artists David Hockney and Patrick Caulfield involved in its art direction and design. In 2004, students restarted the magazine as ARC and, since then, the journal has been edited, designed and published entirely by the college’s students with a different team brought in to work on each issue.

The forthcoming edition, archly titled the Death issue, will be the first to be created via Kickstarter. It is being edited by Charmian Griffin, Natalie Ferris, Elizabeth Glickfeld, Sarah Jury and Jamie Sutcliffe, while the designers are Matthew Stuart and Pedro Pina.

“We all work for free: the designers, the editors, every single contributor, even those who are usually better reimbursed for their time,” say the ARC students. “All funds raised here are exclusively for print, packaging and postage.”

Various RCA student magazines, including The Beam (1896), ARK 7 (1953), Ark 13 (1955), ARK 36 (1964). Alan Fletcher worked on Ark 13

While neglected in the 80s and 90s, the magazine has helped launch the careers of many emerging designers who are keen to work with print. “Many of our readers, practicing artists and art students, spend their time in the studio covered in the muck of their medium, not plugged into a laptop, ” say the students. “For them, and for you, and a little bit for tradition, we would like to make something on paper.”

As a further incentive to those willing to donate to the students’ cause, ARC say that “every backer will have their name printed in the magazine. Depending on how much you can pledge, we will also send you the magazine, limited edition posters or works of art.” Contributors can donate upwards of $1 to ARC on Kickstarter here or pre-order ARC 16 for $12 (£7.50 inc p&p). Full details of the students’ plans for the new issue are also listed on the page.

Pledge around the $50 mark and you’ll also receive one of the three posters shown below, along with a copy of the magazine (with your name inside) and an invite to the launch event.

ARC’s own website is rcamagazine.co.uk.

The cover of Ark 46 (Spring 1970), one of three selected for reproduction as a poster by writer Michael Crowe. The actor Alan Rickman also worked on this issue (as a writer). Poster: A1, inkjet, printed at RCA. Please add p&p to your pledge as follows $4.50 (UK), $6 (Europe) or $9 (rest of the world)

Cover depicted by (then recent) RCA graduate Patrick Caulfield. Poster: A1, inkjet, printed at RCA. Please add p&p to your pledge as follows $4.50 (UK), $6 (Europe) or $9 (rest of the world)

The issue this poster depicts, edited by Derek Hyatt, was on colour symbolism and originally sold 3,000 copies in three days. Poster: A1, inkjet, printed at RCA. Please add p&p to your pledge as follows $4.50 (UK), $6 (Europe) or $9 (rest of the world).