octavo and after

In case you missed it, there's a great interview with Hamish Muir (one of the three co-founders of octavo) over at Swiss Legacy. What particularly strikes me, as we draw to the end of 2007, is the similarity between what was going on design-wise in the late 1980s and now. As Hamish explains: "In London at the time, design was very ideas oriented – visual jokes, puns, clever copywriting, gimmicky use of printing and finishing techniques. In terms of typography, it was very different to what was happening in Europe – in the UK things generally followed a kind of traditional approach and it seemed type was always there to support the idea or image, it never seemed to be the idea or image itself.

So what we set out to do was to make design where type and typography were central to the idea. Where type would be the image."

It seems to me that the birth of the new ugly may signal a renewed 'call to arms' to those who appreciate the art of typography.

Comments

[David Airey]

Have a fantastic xmas, David. I look forward to more great blog posts from you in 2008.

Sadly, my domain name was recently stolen, and I'm now using .co.uk instead of .com

If you'd be so kind as to update your blogroll I'd appreciate it.

All the best.

[Richard Madeley]

The problem is one of culture in general. There is a ‘new ugly’ because too much emphasis is given to intellect. We think ourselves too clever to abide by rules, so instead we have the rise of kitsch, the constant devaluing of classical values in art and literature, and the significance of ‘celebrity’ in everything we do.

You only need think of how many conceptual artists are famous. The only modern painter, in the traditional sense, most people will know about is Rolf Harris.

[UorL]

Does anyone have the last issue, the one on cd, and if so could they upload images somewhere? If not do they know where I might find more info about it? Thanks

[jon]

the part with the rings looks nice