RFA has designed Bradford's National Media Museum's new exhibition, In Your Face.
The exhibition has been created to explore the most photographed, examined and expressive feature of the human body: the face.
In a series of interactive demonstrations, displays and activities, it looks at how people and faces are represented in the media through mediums such as photographs and on screens.
The National Media Museum brought the consultancy on board earlier this year in May. Its brief was to design the exhibition to bring together all of the disparate elements in a coherent way, so that it doesn't matter what order people explore it in.
Interactive art, hands-on learning experiences and conventional museum exhibits are all displayed together. To give it a sense of coherency, creative director Richard Fowler and senior graphic designer Andrew Galvin introduced a new colour palette and a connecting line device that allows unconnected installations ranging from 1980s artefacts to contemporary interactive art to be joined using coloured graphics.
“Yellow is the main colour used in the branding material created by B&W Studio,” says Galvin.
“We then looked at developing colour palettes that were sympathetic with this, but altering the colours as the visitor progresses through the galleries gives the opportunity to create more diversity within the displays.”
Another key design feature is integrated learning stations that can be used by groups of visitors, according to Galvin.
“Simple 3D structures complement the graphic elements, offer surfaces for projection and a variety of interactive displays,” he says.
In Your Face runs until 30 October 2016.
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Published and printed by Balding + Mansell in 1963, 17 Graphic Designers London, a monochrome hard-back review of practitioners working in the capital, notably featured an array of what were to become illustrious names including Derek Birdsall, Bob Gill, Alan Fletcher, Colin Forbes, George Mayhew, Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert among others.
The very first of the elite names to be found in the pages of this slim, letterpress printed book was that of Dennis Bailey. Among his eminent peers, he was part of an emerging and dynamic post-war generation of designers, who were to pioneer the revolutionary development of British graphic design through the 1960s and beyond.
Despite enjoying far less fame than many of his contemporaries during his long and varied career, he held a well-established presence within the exalted ranks of his profession. His profile also featured in the very select listings of Thames and Hudson's Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers, alongside the world's leading international figures.
Born in Bognor Regis in 1931, Bailey trained in the years 1946-53 both at the Worthing Art School and the Royal College Of Art, where his fellow RCA students were David Gentleman, Alan Fletcher, Len Deighton and Raymond Hawkey.
Bailey's early career saw him take to the continent twice the first as assistant editor of Graphis magazine in Zurich in 1956. In addition to seeing the work of US designer Saul Bass coming through the journal's office, the exposure to Swiss design was to greatly influence him over the next two decades, becoming one of the first foreign designers to work in the Swiss style on his return to London.
A subsequent spell in Paris between 1960-64 brought him work in advertising and publishing during which time he became the design and art editor of Olympia Review. During these years in the French capital he also worked on a film with his Swiss friend and designer Sandro Boccola that featured their mutual love for jazz. Despite the music having been recorded, the script written and the shooting schedule planned, the project then remained unrealised due to the last minute withdrawal of funding.
Bailey became the subject of a profile in a later issue of Graphis (issue 99) from 1961 and he was described by writer Charles Rosner as “a strong individualist, reacting against what others might attempt to impose on him as a person; he himself imposes the greatest discipline on his work.”
Magazine design came to prominence once more in Bailey's role as art director of the influential Town magazine in London from 1964-66. It was an area he would often return to and later editorial design for AA Files (Architectural Association journal), The Listener, The Economist and New Statesman followed.
Writing autobiographically in Designer, the SIAD magazine (November 1980), and accompanied by his distinctive, idiosyncratic jacket-as-self-portrait cover illustration, Bailey reflected on being made an RDI:
“What fascinates me about graphic design is its immediacy. The timespan between conception and realisation can be extremely short, a matter of hours. Going into a magazine office in the morning knowing that there are two pages that must be filled that day and having to send the finished artwork down by 6pm is very exciting.
“I used to enjoy doing covers for The Economist: I'd go in on a Wednesday afternoon without any notion of even what the subject was to be and by Friday morning I could pick up a copy on the bookstalls (and if it wasn't quite as good as it might have been, there was always next week).”
From 1967 onwards he pursued his own freelance design and illustration practice, involving work such as books, magazine design and posters, in addition to forays into the specialised niche of exhibition graphics.
Book cover commissions for Penguin Books saw Bailey become one of the many eminent designers whose creative prowess came to define the publisher's distinctive visual identity.
His list of other prestigious clients included that of The Royal Academy, RIBA, British Council, British Medical Association, NM Rothschild and The Arts Council.
Operating both collaboratively and independently, from 1987 he had combined with Mike Kenny to form Bailey & Kenny on projects such as The World in 1987, which continued all the way up to The World in 2016 an annual magazine for The Economist. Work also continued for Prospect magazine and the journal The Author.
Meanwhile Bailey undertook assignments for organisations promoting the awareness of climate change such as the Centre Technicole d'Agricole and The Hard Rain Project designing books and working on exhibitions.
He lectured in typography and design at the Central School Of Art & Design (1957-60), Chelsea School of Art (1970-81) and at Middlesex Polytechnic during the late 1980s.
In teaching, which he viewed as a master/apprentice role, he aimed at establishing a professional rapport with the students, becoming a mentor for aspiring graduates, where several of them were to find invaluable opportunities to work with him straight from college.
Himself a master of understated layout and restrained, elegantly disciplined typography, Bailey was one of a rare class of designer-illustrators who possessed an assured deftness of skill as a draughtsman. These were dual qualities greatly admired by his fellow RDI designer Mike Dempsey who said: “Dennis Bailey's subtlety with typography was equalled by the beautiful sensitivity of his illustrations.”
Bailey was a stringent self-disciplinarian unswerving in his commitment to his work who never saw a reason why he would want to retire so he never actually did.
In later years in order to continue to practice, he forcibly adapted himself to the radical technological changes in design production brought about by the advent of the computer.
In the 2007 commemorative volume of anecdotes in tribute to his great 1960s late contemporary Alan Fletcher, Bailey succinctly and astutely wrote: “Alan never used 10 words where one word would do”.
Diffident, quietly spoken and gentlemanly, Bailey's work often reflected his calm yet exacting manner. Designer, illustrator, art director and tutor, he was one of the few remaining independent craftsman-designers. His dominantly individualistic approach, range of abilities and expansive scope of work went beyond any definable categorisation.
Commenting on what he saw as the closely integrated relationship between graphic design and art in the same SIAD Designer magazine article of 1980 Bailey said:
“Graphic design has profited enormously from its close relationship with more serious art: it has had the pleasure of seeing artists pulling material out of graphic design techniques for doing things, or ways of thinking. There is a very satisfying give and take.
“That gives life to graphic design and the other revivifying influence is when designers initiate something entirely themselves which is not dependent on a client”.
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Stanton Williams and Asif Khan have been chosen to design the new Museum of London, after the shortlist was whittled down to six concepts in June.
The project comes as the museum moves to a new site in West Smithfield, central London, and is expected to open in 2022.
After a six-month competition that attracted more than 70 entries, they were selected from a shortlist of six architectural teams, including Lacaton & Vassal Architectes and Pernilla Ohrstedt Studio.
The judging panel was made up of figures from industries including arts, media, property, architecture and business.
It was chaired by broadcaster and economist Evan Davis, who says: “Stanton Williams and Asif Khan offered some really innovative thinking, and managed to combine a sensitivity to the heritage of the location, with a keen awareness of the practicalities of delivering a really functional museum.”
Key design features included in the early stage concept are a domed entrance to the museum, spiral escalators that transport visitors down to exhibition galleries in an excavated underground chamber, flexible spaces that can serve as venues for events and debates, a sunken garden and tranquil green spaces.
“Encountering the historic market spaces for the first time in early April this year, we were blown away by the power and physicality already existing,” says Paul Williams, director at Stanton Williams.
“[We] knew then, that whatever scheme we developed, this physicality needed to be harnessed, and not lost, and that initial observation has inspired our initial design proposals.”
The winning architects will now work closely with the team at the museum, conservation architect Julian Harrap, landscape design consultants J&L and the museum's stakeholders including the Greater London Authority, City of London Corporation and the local Smithfield community to develop their initial concepts further.
The museum intends to submit a planning application for the West Smithfield site to the City of London Corporation in 2018 and complete the new museum by 2022.
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What: Steven Heller and Gail Anderson's new book on typography follows on from The Graphic Design Idea Book, which they released last year. This book promises to be a “jargon-free” guide to typography, and includes examples and inspiration from the likes of Neville Brody, Milton Glaser and Eric Gill. Heller was previously the art director of the New York Times, while Anderson is a design writer and lecturer, and the book has been published by Laurence King.
When: Released in August 2016.
Info: The book is £12.95 and will be available to buy online here.
What: Somerset House's annual alternative film poster exhibition returns this month, and will see the gallery's East Wing taken over by wacky print design interpretations. Print Club London has commissioned artists and illustrators to recreate posters designed for films show at Film4 Summer Screen, which this year includes the likes of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Robocop, Trainspotting and the Best of Ten by Kubrick.
When: 28 July 17 August 2016.
Where: East Wing, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA.
Info: Admission is free. The exhibition is open daily from 10am 6pm, and additionally from 6.30pm 9pm for Film4 Summer Screen ticket holders. See more info here.
What: Unsuspecting travellers passing through Edinburgh Airport will experience an array of Scottish design this month. Local Heroes will present the work of nine contemporary designers spanning textiles, tech and product design, who have explored the concept of the souvenir. By placing it within the multicultural hub that is an airport, the exhibition director Stacey Hunter hopes to give Scottish design a “global presence”, and expects it will be accessible to 1.2 million passengers spanning 120 international destinations. The event has been supported by Creative Dundee and Creative Edinburgh.
When: 1 31 August 2016.
Where: East Terminal Plaza, Edinburgh Airport, Edinburgh, Midlothian EH12 9DN.
Info: Admission is free. See more info here.
What: With its beautiful architecture and renowned Design Museum, Copenhagen is known as a city of design. Post is a design festival which takes a more academic stance it brings international illustrators, designers and academics together for talks, debates and workshops focusing on the ethics of design and work environments. The festival hopes to “encourage and inspire students, practitioners and educators”, and this year will see workshops from artists such as Supermundane and talks from academics including Lawrence Zeegen, the dean of the School of Design at Ravensbourne, London. At less than £50 for four days of talks, the festival will be a budget-friendly, intellectually stimulating addition to the summer.
When: 17 20 August 2016.
Where: Space 10, Flæsketorvet 10, 1711 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Info: Tickets cost 415 DKK (£47) with a booking fee, or 260 DKK (£29.50) for students. The full line-up is yet to be announced. See more info here.
What: With Brazil's Olympic games set to kick off in August, we'll see the full roll-out of the Rio 2016 Olympic branding too, which was first revealed in 2014. Designed by Brazilian consultancy Tátil, the visual identity is based around a 3D logo of three human figures holding hands a “sculptural logo to represent a sculptural city”, says Tátil creative director Fred Gelli. The Paralympics logo adopts a similar style, but also incorporates an infinity symbol to represent the athletes' infinite energy and strength says Gelli, and has multi-sensory elements when in its physical 3D form. Read more here.
When: 5 21 August 2016.
Where: Various venues across Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Info: See more info on the Rio 2016 Olympics here.
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New visualisations have been released of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which will become home to a new V&A outpost, UAL's London College of Fashion and performing arts theatre Sadler's Wells.
The Stratford Waterfront location, situated by the London Aquatics Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London is expected to be delivered by 2020/21.
Collectively the area will be known as the Cultural and Education District. It will comprise the V&A building which is an 18,000m2 museum focusing on the digital age, neighboured by the 550 seat Sadler's Wells theatre and the new London College of Fashion also home to 6,500 students.
The district is being designed by a consortia of architectural practices master-planned by Allied and Morrison, which is also designing the London College of Fashion and residential areas. O'Donnell + Tuomey is working on the V&A and Sadler's Wells projects. Arquitecturia is designing a bridge.
A spokesman for The Queen Elizabeth Park, which is run by the London Legacy Development Corporation, says that interior design of the buildings will be the responsibility of the V&A, the London College of Fashion and Sadler's Wells.
The new visualisations have been created by Forbes Massie on behalf of the architects. Designs are still being honed ahead of planning applications, which will be submitted by the end of the year.
University College London will also have a new campus at the Cultural and Education District, marking its largest expansion since 1826. It will take 3,000 students and 625 staff.
The Queen Elizabeth Park, which is run by the London Legacy Development Corporation says it wants the district to provide a showcase for innovation and creativity across arts and education, science and technology.
London Legacy Development Corporation executive director of regeneration, Rosanna Lawes, says: “In a few short years we will see not only a new cultural and education district in east London with some of the world's leading institutions sitting in the heart of the Park, but new neighbourhoods and business districts and hugely successful sporting venues delivering on the legacy promises made for the 2012 Games.”
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Trust says preparing 17 months of accounts is to match financial year but delay adds to critics' concerns over project's running costs and private donations
The charity behind London's proposed garden bridge has delayed publishing its full accounts for five months, adding to concerns that the financing of the project could be in trouble.
The Garden Bridge Trust, which aims to begin work later this year on the 367-metre tree and plant-filled structure across the Thames, said the delay in filing accounts to Companies House and the Charities Commission was simply an administrative matter.
Related: Why build the garden bridge when we could plant trees on Blackfriars?
Continue reading...Whether the job at hand was the rehousing of Londoners or the dining arrangements of Oxford fellows, the architect John Partridge, who has died aged 91, was a natural problem solver. To housing, colleges, courthouses and theatres alike he brought a combination of creative flair, social purpose and sound building technique qualities rarely seen together in contemporary architecture.
Among his most celebrated projects was the creation, with his partners, Bill Howell, John Killick and Stan Amis, of 2,000 homes for London County Council in tower blocks at Roehampton. In Oxford, the Hilda Besse building for St Antony's College, probably his finest built work, is an essay in how each part comes together to make an intricate yet ordered whole, while in his halls of residence for St Anne's College, strongly modelled facades refract the daylight entering the interiors and frame views out. He was always creative and conscientious.
Continue reading...Architecture-inspired greeting cards
‘I Promise to Love You' by Tracey Emin, New York