10 years have passed since the founding of this unusual experiment of a post-graduate design school in Arnhem, NL. Some of its participants had no formal design background, and some who did questioned the basic fundamentals of accepted design practice. And many are now regarded as influential, problematic, unclassifiable figures in the field today. It started as, and remains, a curious and wondrous place.

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Wonder Years / Werkplaats Typografie 1998-2008. An attempt at a comprehensive archive of the school’s output over the last decade. Organized by classifications submitted by anonymous outside observers of the institution. Edited/designed by Alex DeArmond, Jeremy Jansen, Julie Peeters, Scott Ponik, and Boy Vereecken, with Lisette Smits. Contributions by Stuart Bailey, Uta Eisenreich, Paul Elliman, Raimundas Malasauskas, Karel Martens, Armand Mevis, Willem Oorebeek.

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It was an interesting story that illustrator Kat MacLeod was interviewed by the Melbourne newspaper The Age speaking about the high level of interest in her bedazzling work who like Julie Verhoeven, have produced highly tactile illustrations. In the article mentioned the grappling effect of computer-based art, which seemingly has dominated so much of what is so called ‘graphic design’. Some have said that its becoming dead but it isn’t as alarming as the global financial crisis. The only crisis would be the non-existence of a love for Graphic Design as both a discipline and a craft and not as a play toy. Thankfully, there is sanity in that for one, a number of institutions around the world govern the discipline of Graphic Design more artistically in teaching design and not that of honing pure personal creativity only. And whilst Art and Graphic Design are always in qualms with one another, their relationship has always been for personal integrity and a value and appreciation for art and design history. The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in The Netherlands is the oldest art school in Europe with the affectionate title of its Dutch pronunciation, ‘Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, Den Haag‘. The school providing both interdisciplinary levels of study including Graphic Design and Type/Media as well as Textiles and Fashion and Fine Arts, sees the school giving its students more aligned artistic skills and honing those skills in order to breathe and live Design as a bigger and broader picture. In one way, as outlined by the recent edition published by the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD), Dutch Design can be seen in one light, only design for designers themselves. On the other hand, its a reflection that Design can be pushed intensively to its best creative extent than just for commercial sustainability.

Abi Huynh is one of the students currently studying at the Royal Academy of Art and has kindly taken some photographs of his studies at the institution. As the country for first establishing the only museum dedicated to the discipline of Graphic Design, the school in The Hague is still involving students in traditionalist studies embedded in the Type/Media program such as Typography and Calligraphy which is also a reminder of how the old French art schools taught students Art and Design too. As a saying goes, Grids and Typography keep criminals at bay, as such pen and paper keeps creativity alight.

Ever since the talented duo Alex Bec and Will Hudson graduated from the University of Brighton, they have surrounded themselves with an extraordinary array of diversifying contemporary graphic designers and illustrators, making work original of their own. Their newly established studio eponymously titled their second names HudsonBec has seen them produce work for YCN Online, Nike and of course, their on-going project of ‘If You Could’. The organised event titled, ‘Original Format Exhibition’ was setup as an accumulation of presented work by different designers on their recognised blog It’s Nice That and was shown during September to October in Plymouth. They all are great work examples currently right now of contemporary design.

For a full image collection, please visit here on the It’s Nice That Flickr page here.

For more information about the current projects by the duo and YCN Online, please visit It’s Nice That here and YCN Online here.

In the capacity such as a big design office and working studio of Pentagram whose entire work is based more on an extended family of designers, designer Michael Bierut and his team working alongside the dynamic team led by Lisa Strausfeld, their very recent complete visual identity program produced for New York Musuem of Arts and Design, it’s hard not to see how the thought-process and basic sketching is enthralling to see. It is a great approach to the project and transformation of the space. The bespoke typography is as reflective as an opening to visit the museum and shape concerning the building’s structure of circles and squares.

In-depth details on the Pentagram website here. Below are some highlights from the project.

Evidently, you can find the pun of the design amusing.

Current New Haven based designer and illustrator Ryan Waller will be presenting a lecture talk back at his old school at Rhode Island School of Design on September 8. If you can make it, it’ll be sure a witty and exciting talk.

Design Products is a MA course programme delivered by the Royal College of Art in London. Within this programme, students are divided into classes called ‘Platform’. The class Platform 12 was run from last year to this year and was recently featured in Wallpaper. Some very excellent outcomes were produced, well-develop and highly considerate of design principles such as its function, form and structure but being also able to create something within the objects that we see and use in our daily activities is the difficult process. Platform 12 states that:

‘So far, the 21st century trend in industrial design leads to a mad and meaningless overdose of themes, extremes, ego and extravagance, metaphors and typology’s. What is needed is a new beginning, a Renaissance…where design is brough back to communication, celebrating a proper mental model for how things work.’

We will investigate meaningful play and invention, through experimentation with industry. It will value function as beauty, instead of design as form and image.

Can Industrial Design become to divorced from our social community? Can it become too elitist and within Design, it has manifested its own self-ego? It’s difficult to define what is meant by ‘Design’ and when we try and create some sort of meaning, it becomes lost already. American Graphic Designer Paul Rand put it simply:

‘Design is a relationship.’

There are different ways to look at it. If designers within Industrial Design or Product Design weren’t creating objects that were audacious or radical, then where would the next several years within this area of discipline take us? On the contrary, if designed products have a distinct relationship with our contemporary culture, non-design folk can see its importance and relevance. Why designer Michael Young dislikes Contemporary Culture, no one knows because it surrounds us every single waking moment.

Here are some project highlights below:

‘The radio utilizes technology already widely and economically available in digital caliper tools for a very striking, yet honest form and function. The focus on tuning is reinforced with the typography of measuring and the material feel of a precision instrument. Instead of a small scale on a radio, the radio is moving on the scale.’

Mikael’s resolution is particularly strong. A radio is a still life object and we have to physically tune it to receive a particular station we like. The roles of the radio is reversed and there is the inclusion of user interaction by moving the radio along the scale too.

‘Seasonal objects, like desk fans and portable radiators, are only in use for limited periods of the year and then stowed away, usually with little design attention given to the storage stage. Intended for localised cooling and heating of small office-style spaces the products in Climate Station are designed to give equal attention to both use and storage. The A4 size of the fan/radiator allows for storage alongside books on a shelf, and when in use the product plugs directly into a extension cable to avoid messy wires. For radiator use, the positioning allows the fan to sit directly behind the heater for extra circulation.’

‘The greenhouse is a complete, hassle free and self-sufficient growing system for small city gardens and roof terraces. With ‘Grow Your Own’ going on holiday or having a busy life is no longer a reason not to grow fruit and vegetables.’

Sam Hecht is one of three tutors who undertook the class and has created some amazing work of his company Industrial Facility including the Second Telephone and World Clock for Muji.

For more information please visit:
Industrial Facility
Design Products RCA
Platform 12

An exhibition of participants work from the Werkplatts Typografie programme in Arnhem was held earlier in the year at the Neon Diffuseur d’Art Contemporain in Lyon, Paris. Here are much closer photographs of the same exhibition back in The Netherlands at de Ateliers in Amsterdam. Absolutely fantastic work shown by the school. Thank you to Abi Huynh, also a great designer for these photographs.

This is only a selection of the work shown and the rest can be seen on Abi’s website here. To know more about Werkplatts Typografie, you can find a published book titled ‘Dutch Resource’ printed in 2005.

There are many beautiful and great things about Sweden. Maybe the cold winter is a drawback but you get an endless summer later in the year. And even considering the whole country as a big sleepy town as suggested by Ann Sofie-Back, the country breeds incredible designers of all capacities in whatever discipline in most particular, architecture, interior and product design. It’s more of an encompassing thought that design in its basic principles can be applied to anything as Vignelli puts it ‘Design Is One’. Current contemporaries include Olle Eksell who only passed away last year from a wonderful career, womenswear designer Ann Sofie-Back, studio RGB6, portraiture extraordinare Jenny Mörtsell and Front Design just to name a few.

Swedish art-director and photographer Martin Vallin’s work is even more interesting, which is not to say when looking at editorial shoots for various fashion magazines isn’t good, his compositional work strucks out most with him ultilising still life objects and made props from a Chanel ankle boot shoe to checkered ties and bowler hats. If we look at vintage Vogue Paris covers, the design was beautiful and still remain timeless because of the front cover colour illustrations until it was in vogue to use models as a backdrop to Vogue’s bold title. Martin has captured a strong collection of compositions that is both slightly retrospective but a modern reinterpretation of how still life objects can be personified and bring emotion and character from just within one page.

Martin Vallin is a Swedish born art-director and photographer working and living in Stockholm since 2005. His love for literature, books and fine art including movements such as De Stijl has allowed him to work at Wad Magazine in Paris and Bon Magazine shooting for numerous magazines and editorials including Slash Magazine.

To view a complete selection of Martin’s work, please visit here. Please also view his personal blog which contains many interesting snippets of his daily working process here.

Martin Vallin