Of all the design related books on my shelf How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul is definitely the most thumbed. Its tatty corners and mucky cover hint at its usefulness since I bought it about five years ago. And you I know I’m not …]]>

Of all the design related books on my shelf How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul is definitely the most thumbed. Its tatty corners and mucky cover hint at its usefulness since I bought it about five years ago. And you I know I’m not alone. So I was pretty excited to receive Graphic Design: A User’s Manual for review. And, in this book, Adrian Shaughnessy does not disappoint, delivering another great addition any designer’s bookshelf.

When the book arrived, I decided that I’d try and use it objectively. After all it is a reference book in every sense of the word. My decision was helped by its size (it’s encyclopedic), and my workload (spiralling), so I didn’t read it cover to cover. Over the past month or so it’s been sat next to my mug, the first point of reference for the times when a question arises that we might usually ask an experienced colleague, friend or a search engine. If it came close to answering the questions of daily design business I’d be very impressed.

It wasn’t love at first sight. I mean I liked the way it was presented, the mono-spaced type, alphabetically organised topics and the super-simple colour-plan, but I was expecting a more diversely populated reference manual—more like a design dictionary. Look up ‘invoices’, get a list of best practices. Look-up ‘bleed’, find some hard and fast rules. Look-up ‘book cover design’, get a winning formula. But this is not a how-to guide as such, nor is it conventional in the way it’s written. However those are the exact reasons why I’m really starting to like it. It’s a conversational directory of experiences, ideas and discussion themes. Instead of telling you what’s best and what isn’t, it draws on the vast and enviable experience of the author to describe those daily situations you find yourself in and offers another point of view. How do I deal with a seemingly balmy client who wants that ‘cute’ photo of his dog in his accountancy brochure? What kind of things should I look out for when I’m choosing graduates for placement? Can designer envy be used in a positive way? It’s a bit like consulting your favourite tutor, a helpful creative director, or the artworker at your preferred printer. It has easily digestible columns of opinion that are equal in their ability to inspire and direct. Every graphic design student will love this book. Aspiring designers will quote it in essays and pitches, older more experienced designers will read it and nod approvingly. Designers from many different disciplines will recommend it to their peers and even the rock-star designers that make the FFF homepage will learn something new.

One of its strengths is the informal way it’s written. The author’s wit is evident when covering a subject that invokes a pet-hate reaction. For the author it’s the pointless addition of extra marks to an ellipsis….. Similarly I hate the common misuse of the exclamation mark!!!! I like a little comic relief and it’s welcome here, poking fun at those who naively abuse the good rules.

Another nice touch is the consistency of footnotes and references. Each topic has a few notes and there’s always a reference for a more in-depth read. So it makes a good stepping-off point. For example, I’ve recently become more interested in book cover design—I’m designing a website for an author—and a reference lead me to the work of Derek Birdsall and his Notes on book Design. In that vein I can see teachers of Graphic Design, getting a little sick of students doing a ‘follow the white rabbit’ number, but that can be no bad thing. It’s a great book to follow.

It may not be exhaustive and there are missing topics, but if the author had tried to comment on everything I wanted to look-up, it’d have been a foot thick. Some of the small things are better left too Google. The rest is covered here.

In short, buy it!

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Here’s the official press video by the author Adrian Shaughnessy.

Words: Liam Crean
Photography: Malcolm Menzies

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Matthias Hübner is quite the seasoned book designer and there’s a good chance one his creations is on your book shelf already. As well as confidently grasping editorial design, there’s also some creative ideas in his workshop section, including solving the world-wide problem of spilling your …]]>

Matthias Hübner is quite the seasoned book designer and there’s a good chance one his creations is on your book shelf already. As well as confidently grasping editorial design, there’s also some creative ideas in his workshop section, including solving the world-wide problem of spilling your tomato sauce down your shirt.

Following a recent feature in eye magazine, International agency, Weiss Heiten have completed projects in Vietnam and Berlin.

Scottish designer Richy Lamb has just launched his new site, featuring a strong range of identity & print work and some very nicely produced artists’ books.

Vijf890, a vivid graphic studio from Schiedam, The Netherlands, are the creators of Fluff, a magazine about the skateboarding culture. They have just released a special Fluff SB book in coorperation with Nike-SB. They have more interesting projects on their website.

Printed Matter is a project by Evelin Kasikov about craft within the context of graphic design. Bringing together craft and modern technology to explore the possibilities of printing processes integrated with textile techniques. By mixing high and low tech, screen based media with slower crafts, …]]>

Printed Matter is a project by Evelin Kasikov about craft within the context of graphic design. Bringing together craft and modern technology to explore the possibilities of printing processes integrated with textile techniques. By mixing high and low tech, screen based media with slower crafts, she investigates different ways of seeing and experiencing visual messages.

Made & Sold charts the efforts of designers outside the usual 9 to 5 bill paying work. Published by Laurence King and edited by FL@33 towards the end of last year; FL@33 have built themselves a reputation for editing quirky titles often …]]>

Made & Sold charts the efforts of designers outside the usual 9 to 5 bill paying work. Published by Laurence King and edited by FL@33 towards the end of last year; FL@33 have built themselves a reputation for editing quirky titles often focusing on work produced for pleasure as much as for the pay. Made & Sold continues this trend showcasing a wide range of work from some well known trend setting creative maestros.

Most, if not all designers and illustrators at some point in their careers have had to produce dull client work stripped of creativity and visual flair. Outside this mundane work creative types have produced zines, tees, books, toys, prints and much more on their own time to stay creatively limber and fulfil the void that can only be achieved by boundless client-free projects. The essence of Made & Sold captures this playful and slightly jovial attitude in a lot of the work which makes for an enjoyable and inspiring read.

The majority of projects presented illustrate their creators own lust to produce a desirable product with the odd exception such as James West’s Create/Reject which donated proceeds to UNICEF. Though the work is often self-indulgent, this is usually out of necessity and acts as a force for good within the design community, bringing both pleasure to the creator and consumer whilst creating a perpetual motion that inspires more creatives to go on and produce their own wares. Made & Sold does a good job of distilling this ethos into a book that will not only please the eye and bruise the pocket but gives you a jolly good kick up the bum to start producing your own merchandise.

However fulfilling, self-gratification isn’t the only driving force for putting in the extra hours after work. It gives creatives the chance to experiment techniques and explore ideas often too risky for client paid work. Inevitably the free reign often feeds back into their day to day work as well as an extension of each creatives brand, which sees Made & Sold acting (in the most forgiving way) like a shopping catalogue as much as a snapshot of creative endeavours.

Each page contains quotes and a short description of the artist. This works well and brings context to them and their work. However these quotes run centred along the footer, seeming a little awkward with the rest of the grid. Apart from this, Made & Sold is well produced with plenty of detailed images that present the work well. Though some of the work really needs to be seen in the flesh the uncoated stock helps to carry the handmade feel of the work but at a relatively low price—just don’t expect any high end production finishes.

?When we first read about this book being released we were very excited, as a lot of the work on show can be far more insightful than the work people do as part of an agency. There’s a sense of authorship in every piece of work in Made & Sold which is a refreshing change and a major factor that is so alluring and spurs on creatives to keep producing this sort of work. FL@33 have become dab hands at producing these sorts of titles, producing visually exciting books that will definitely titillate the creative mind. With a resurgence in craft, this area of design is poignant and it seems a shame Made & Sold only touches the surface. Probing further, discussing the comeback of craft, out of hours work over the history of the industry and looking into creatives who make a living out of the products they create could of added depth. Those of you who like to fritter your pennies away in Magma, Analogue, Etsy etc or have dabbled in product lines will definitely enjoy Made & Sold and at the low price point it’s a great springboard to see what’s possible outside 9 to 5 whilst still developing your creativity. So go grab a copy and set up shop but don’t expect the millions to be rolling in any time soon.

Made & Sold is available from Amazon and all good local book stores now.

FL@33 have also created dedicated site for Made & Sold.

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Words: Gil Cocker
Photography: Malcolm Menzies

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Untitled Magazine is the brain child of designer and art director Mike Perry. The latest copy of the magazine dropped through the FFF post box recently which was a nice surprise. A hefty little publication, it’s more like a paper back book than a magazine, but …]]>

Untitled Magazine is the brain child of designer and art director Mike Perry. The latest copy of the magazine dropped through the FFF post box recently which was a nice surprise. A hefty little publication, it’s more like a paper back book than a magazine, but the simple lack of colour, monotone patterns for the end papers and the diverse range of creative work on show makes for an interesting read.

Though this is Mike’s baby it’s great to see him handing over the design to Emily Anderson and curation to Anna Wolf in the latest issue. Next issue sees guest curation by creative agency Hugo & Marie on the topic of Love & Sex for which we expect big things. Issue 4 showcases work from Ana Laura Perez, Georgia Kokolis and Lizzie Stewart to name but a few as well as the peculiar cover by Løber Nøgen which shows of a bunch of guys streaking.

Mike Perry Studio’s work is also worth checking out for its mixture product and furnishing design, illustration, publishing and a whole lot more. It’s pretty clear the studio has a lot of room for creative exploration and the work in places has psychedelic influences. Mike is also the guy behind the book Hand Job in 2006, showcasing examples of hand drawn typography.

Untitled Magazine has published it’s fourth issue and is available through the Untitled Magazine site as well as back issues with plenty of shots so you can see before you buy, something we’re always a big fan of.

The guys at LongLunch have asked us to remind those of you within shooting distance of Edinburgh to get yourselves down to Analogue Books tonight. Anthony Burrill is still in town and his exhibition is opening at 7pm — so get down there for some visual delight and a …]]>

The guys at LongLunch have asked us to remind those of you within shooting distance of Edinburgh to get yourselves down to Analogue Books tonight. Anthony Burrill is still in town and his exhibition is opening at 7pm — so get down there for some visual delight and
a beer or two.

Analogue Books
102 West Bow
Edinburgh EH1 2HH