graphic design

Review: Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008-18

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Guest contributor and European correspondent Lara Chapman visits the ‘Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008-18’ exhibition at the Design Museum London.

A visual cacophony of objects including memes, posters, videos, balloons and even a fortune-telling machine come together in a narrative of power and protest at this exhibition. The eclectic collection of pieces traces the turbulent political climate of the past decade and the graphic milestones that have shaped, defined and resisted events in this period. The exhibition also charts recent technological developments and their effect on the production and dissemination of media. Graphic design is presented as a tool that can be harnessed by both the most powerful corporations and the most marginalised groups of society.

Women’s march Washington DC, January 2017. Part of Hope to Nope exhibition at Design Museum London. Images: Chris Wiliams Zoeica

The title of the exhibition references the iconic ‘Hope’ poster designed by Shepard Fairey for Obama’s 2008 election campaign and various appropriations of this, including the viral ‘Nope’ memes of Trump. Between these two moments of American politics, the world has been shaken by a series of charged situations including the Occupy Movement, The Arab Spring, refugee crisis’, LGBT rights, and climate change, which are all represented in the show. Read more →

Five of the best design installations at London Design Festival

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By Penny Craswell

As a fan of multi-disciplinary design as well as experimental projects, I was pleased to see so many design installations at this year’s London Design Festival. I have already covered three of the best installations in this blog: Heartbeat, an installation of 100,000 white balloons by French photographer Charles Pétillon, and two Faye Toogood installations (The Cloakroom and The Drawing Room) incorporating fashion, curatorship, making and sculpture. Here are five more and why they are interesting.

1) Curiosity Cloud by Viennese studio Mischer’Traxler at the V&A Museum

Curiosity Cloud by Mischler Traxler. Photo: Penny Craswell
Curiosity Cloud by Mischler Traxler. Photo: Penny Craswell
Curiosity Cloud by Mischler Traxler. Photo: PC
Curiosity Cloud by Mischler Traxler. Photo: PC

You enter an ornate room of the V&A filled with 264 suspended blown-glass bulbs hanging from the ceiling. In each bulb, a small insect hand-made out of transparent foil flutters against the side of the glass when it senses your movement. Katharina Mischer (1982) and Thomas Traxler (1981) met while studying at the Design Academy Eindhoven and started their practice in Vienna in 2009. Curiosity Cloud is part of their ongoing collaboration with champagne brand Perrier-Jouët exploring “small discoveries.” Read more →

Design and branding: the ethics of colour

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By Penny Craswell

What’s the value of a colour? In the world of branding, colour can mean a lot, so much so that companies are able to use it to deceive us. While researching an encyclopedia entry on Deception in Advertising (which I am co-writing with my partner Chris Falzon for the Sage Encyclopedia of Advertising and Society), we found many of examples of unethical advertising, which led me to question the use of colour in branding, packaging and logos. I found that the simple use of a colour was enough to convey a message, and that this message can be used to deceive us.

From We Feel Fine: An Almanac of Human Emotion. Via Brainpicking.com
From We Feel Fine: An Almanac of Human Emotion. Via Brainpicking.com

The two main examples of this are: greenwash and gendered advertising. BP is famous for its greenwashing, so much so that it was awarded Greenpeace’s Emerald Paintbrush award for greenwashing in 2008. In 2000, BP changed its name from British Petroleum to beyond petroleum, using the colour green in combination with a flower-shaped logo to create the impression it is environmentally aware, despite its terrible track record in environmental management (including oil spills, toxic waste and more, details here). As much as the name change, the flower and other aspects of the rebranding were important, the simple use of the colour green says so much about this brand. It’s not the only brand to use green in this way. For graphic designers who want to be ethical, check out Green Graphic Design by Brian Dougherty. Read more →

Bruno Munari’s children’s book Circus in the Mist

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A couple of years ago, I contributed a number of texts to the Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design which was my first book contribution and an amazing experience. The Phaidon editors selected every example they commissioned from me – from infographics, to fonts, to magazine covers – and as a result, I learnt so much about graphic design. Even though 26 of my entries were published, for some reason, a few stories I wrote on children’s books and toys were not published – they must have decided to leave these out. So, since it is just sitting there, here is one of the stories I wrote, on a beautiful book by Italian designer and artist Bruno Munari.

Circus in the Mist by Bruno Munari. Image via LOG
Circus in the Mist by Bruno Munari. Image via LOG.

 

Circus in the Mist – or Nella Nebbia di Milano – was created by Italian designer and artist Bruno Munari in 1968. With black illustrations printed on transparent paper, this is not just a children’s book, but an object of play. Read more →