Icelandic illustrator/artist/graphic designer Siggi Eggertsson has the most interesting work I’ve seen recently. A “post-modern impressionist”, his work has a maturity beyond his age (24). In 2006, Print Magazine named him as one of the brightest design stars under 30. He already has a formidable client list including Nike, H&M, and Coca Cola, to name a few.

Most interesting to me, his work is underwritten by formal rules and systems, which is more common in graphic design than illustration. I have just asked him if he feels graphic design has influenced his work as an illustrator, but he said that he doesn’t like to categorise his work as “art”, “illustration”, or “graphic design”.

So, I’m going to leave it there, and share a few cool pieces of his work that I particularly like:

Here are three books that I read in the last year and found to be inspiring and valuable additions to my bookshelf.

Adrian Shaughnessy: How to be a graphic designer: without losing your soul
I would say, straight off, that if you’re a graphic designer, you must read this book. Own a copy. Illustrator Siggi Eggertsson said that its awesome design made him suspicious of the quality of the content, but the content is at least as good as its design. It works as a handbook, a resource for inspiration, and gives solid and practical advice. It covers how to set up your own design studio (with helpful diagrams), and how to handle job interviews. Here is a very good interview with Shaughnessy that focuses on his book.

As for the book title, I think it is apt: ‘losing your soul’ (I think it means becoming disillusioned with your craft, which is easy enough to do) is a danger in everything, and in a profession that is primarily preoccupied with surfaces, it’s especially precarious. This book did a great job at inspiring me, and hopefully other designers will find it useful, too.

[Amazon UK: How to Be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul]

Robin Kinross: Unjustified texts: perspectives on typography
This happened to be one of the books I picked off the shelf while I was researching for my dissertation, and was a fantastic find. Self-published, and with no less authority (perhaps more?), Kinross’ ‘Unjustified texts’ gathers together 25 years’ worth of writing on the themes of editorial typography, the emergence of graphic design in Britain, and the work of modernist designers.

This is an unusual and smart collection of writings that I’d recommend to designers who are interested in history and culture. The essays also deal with the recognition and definition of graphic design as a profession, and the writings are no less relevant to the current day and even the future.

[Amazon UK: Unjustified Texts: Perspectives on Typography] [Hyphen Press]

Christopher Burke: Paul Renner: the art of typography
Originally Burke’s PhD thesis, Burke converted his ideas into a highly readable and beautifully-designed book. It is the only biography on Paul Renner, the designer of the typeface Futura. Although not as widely used as Helvetica, geometric sans-serif Futura has been prominently (over)used in advertising and across visual culture since its creation in 1927. Burke argues that Futura was a product of the classic German third way: an answer to the conflict of Roman (western) type, and German gothic blackletter. This was highly contentious in Germany in the early twentieth-century. The political and social forces behind the creation of Futura are compelling, and Burke does a fantastic job at revealing them. Here is a longer review of this book at Typebooks.

[Amazon UK: Paul Renner: The Art of Typography]

Yesterday I watched Helvetica, the movie, on the train to Oxford from Brighton. I would dare to suggest this documentary is interesting to normal people as well as geeks working with typography, as it is very well directed and there are even laugh out loud moments (not good when you’re sitting on a crowded train).

It was a strange experience to watch this movie because I know so many of the figures speaking, through their books, articles, and graphic design work. To actually hear accents and see faces added a new interesting dimension to my previous knowledge. Michael Bierut is as engaging in interview as his articles on Design Observer (perhaps written editorship isn’t humour-friendly, as Bierut was one of the funniest speakers in the documentary), and Rick Poynor, of Eye Magazine fame, is a smart and engaging speaker as well.

The typeface Helvetica is special because it is ubiquitous as air. It is now an ever-present and perhaps permanent visual fixture of modern life. We have all seen Helvetica; Jonathan Hoefler suggested that people perhaps knew what Helvetica was before they knew what a font was. A joint creation of Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann, Helvetica was born in Münchenstein, Switzerland, at the Haas typefoundry. The Haas typefoundry is a fairly nondescript warehouse building, and was quite a visual contrast to the previous shots of New York city which showed Helvetica in use on the top of buses, on huge billboards, on shop signs and corporate identities.

Helvetica and Akzidenz-Grotesk

Initially named Neue Haas Grotesk, Linotype suggested it was renamed to Helvetia, the Latin name for Switzerland. Miedinger argued that a typeface cannot be named after a country, so he in turn suggested a corruption of the word Helvetia: Helvetica. Linotype agreed, and Helvetica was born. What’s really interesting to me is that Helvetica was designed by Haas to compete with Akzidenz-Grotesk (see above image to compare with Helvetica), a Swiss typeface already on the market. It’s still not clear in my mind why Helvetica enjoyed fame, wide-usage, and now, perhaps bizarrely, movie fame, while Akzidenz-Grotesk languished in relative obscurity. It’s possible the United States-friendly name “Helvetica” had something to do with it; perhaps Miedinger was especially successful in his goal to remake Akzidenz-Grotesk as a “more even and unified” typeface. I’m not sure. Perhaps it was both.

Massimo Vignelli, another funny speaker and typographic genius, I was less familiar with. Vignelli started the New York branch of Unimark International in 1966, the firm that designed the American Airlines logo. Designed around fifty years ago, the American Airlines logo is still in use today. American Airlines in red and blue, and in Helvetica. How could it be more American, how could it be better? I think this example underlined that Helvetica is a rare, timeless typeface. Although it is around fifty years old, the corporate identity still looks so new, modern, and clean:

American Airlines logo designed by Massimo Vignelli at Unimark

Vignelli gave some interesting and very funny insights into type. I agree with his view that type should not be expressive, or that it should aim to express the information the words contain. A typeface should not draw attention to itself as a typeface. Vignelli disagrees with the people who think the word dog should look like a dog. Worse, he says, there are people who think the word dog should bark. “They have a different point of view from mine.”

In conclusion, this movie is about a typeface that has been successful in being completely nondescript, so nondescript that it’s been adopted across modern visual culture to communicate brands, instructions, and information clearly and ubiquitously. Helvetica is also remarkable for its flexibility: as Vignelli said, you can say “I love you” in Helvetica (and in Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy; extra bold if you want to communicate intensity), and remarkably, as Vignelli says, you can also say “I hate you” in Helvetica. It’s a chamaeleon typeface that can at once make Urban Outfitters look “cheeky”, and serious corporations appear efficient and professional. It’s a flexible, clear, modern, timeless typeface that doesn’t distract with decoration, and I think Helvetica successfully fulfills Paul Renner’s vision of a unified, single typeface, which was his vision for Futura.

Futura

Now a movie has been made about Helvetica, I wonder if its time is up?

I guess we’ll have to use Neuzeit instead…

In this post, I’ve attempted to share the tips and advice I was looking for in the final year of my degree. There’s a lot more I could add to this; I don’t think I could put comprehensive advice into one post. It’s relevant to students doing their degree now, to new graduates, and to graphic designers early in their career.

When I graduated in July, I found that the advice on the web for job-seekers in graphic design didn’t come close to fulfilling what I was looking for. That’s because graphic design, as a discipline, is changing a lot. I don’t believe it’s just about web and print design anymore. Technology is changing things fast, and it looks like it’s only going to accelerate. In addition to graphic design being a changing discipline, the infrastructure of jobs and employment is changing. So I found it particularly difficult to find some really useful and relevant advice meant especially for new graphic designers.

While you are doing your degree, it’s helpful to see it for what it is: a means to an end. The end is getting a job (this includes further academic research, which also leads, I hope, to some kind of employment, in a university or elsewhere). Getting a job is just the beginning. It’s easy to lose track of this when you’re working for your degree; three or four years go by extremely fast, and before you know it, you’re plunged unceremoniously into the cold water of the real world.

The real world is tough, and sometimes cold, perhaps especially tough for graphic design graduates because the market is saturated, competitive, and hard. There are more qualified graphic designers than there are vacant jobs. There are things you can do in preparation to make the transition less painful.

Here are some things I wish I’d known:

1. Despite what everyone says, your attitude is the most important thing (more important than your portfolio)
OK, a good portfolio is important. Make sure you pick your best pieces, and display your best pieces professionally. However…

… cultivating a good attitude is more important than a good portfolio. Mentally prepare yourself for hardship. In job interviews, expect rejection, and be humble and persistent. If you’re humble and persistent, you can work through most rejection and small failures; with hubris and pride, you will find the process dispiriting and get discouraged faster. Only the lucky few get jobs soon after graduation, and it doesn’t have much to do with talent. A good portfolio helps get a job, but having a great attitude will see you through rejection, and help you through other stages in your career as well.

While you’re still studying for your degree, try not to care too much about your grades. Use the time to explore your interests within graphic design to the end of the web and beyond. Aim to learn.

2. Pay attention to the industry outside your graphic design department
I found that my university department had a very strong and specific graphic design philosophy. This is one of the things that makes Reading a great place to study graphic design. But I think this has pros and cons.

It’s important not to forget the big picture: the creative industry as a whole. Think really carefully about what you’re interested in most. If you’re more interested in images, photography, and illustration than typographic book design, then find a way to learn about this interest outside of the studio. Learn what you can on your course, but remember that your university department is preparing you to join a large, multi-faceted, changing industry.

Finally, realise that feedback is largely opinion: someone marking your work is one individual, someone else may respond differently.

3. Be proactive in learning during and after your degree
You are doing a degree to learn. When you are doing a project, if something in particular interests you, for example, coding the HTML of a website, explore this interest further. Read as much as you can about coding a website in CSS and HTML. Take your interest as far as you can. Find out what the recent developments in website design are and follow them closely; aim to be an expert.

4. Treat project briefs like exams
Read the project brief ten times. Make sure you really understand what your examiners want from you. Scribble all over them and underline words and phrases. If it’s a vague brief, as briefs in your final year will be, try to narrow your ideas down to about three or four. Save every good idea you generate to put into your work-file.

As you work through project briefs, ask for feedback from as many people as possible. Extensively research all of the explicit and implicit questions in each practical project, and learn as much as you can from each one.

5. Try not to get too focused on what your classmates are doing
It’s important to answer a brief in your own voice. At the same time, get feedback from as many people as you can. Try to identify your specific skills and strengths and work to them.

If your classmates get jobs faster than you, don’t let that get you down; just keep trying.

6. Don’t pigeonhole your interests too quickly
Think about what you enjoy doing most, but don’t try to limit yourself. For example, don’t apply exclusively for editorial/magazine design jobs. It might not be until after you graduate that you work out what you’re really interested in doing.

Aim to try everything and find out what you like the most.

7. Relax and be yourself in job interviews
I’ve found that employers have sharper sight than you do when it comes to knowing what you want. So in an interview, relax and be yourself as much as possible. Try to work out if you would genuinely like to work for them. Interview your employer as much as you are interviewing them.

8. Academia and graphic design
Graphic design is finally gaining credence in the academic world. There are some great MA degrees at Reading in history and theory of graphic design, and some other MAs that meld the academic with the practical (for example, a MA in Typeface Design also requires a long dissertation). The RCA has an interesting research unit called Design Interactions.

That said, a lot of interesting research is done outside universities. But I think that typeface design, for example, requires supervision and support from experts.

9. Inform yourself with smart magazines, books, and of course, blogs
A basic staple for design culture is:

Eye Magazine, the International Review of Graphic Design. Founded by Rick Poynor, this magazine is the strongest argument for print available. The sentences are as well-crafted as the pages. The articles are generally smart, well-written, and thought-provoking commentary on graphic-design related issues.

Design Observer, similar to Eye Magazine, but without the delicious smell of ink and the smooth feel of coated paper.

Typography Papers The publication is beautiful, inside and out. I’d recommend this to any smart, thinking, curious person. “This occasional, book-length work is edited and produced at the Department of Typography, University of Reading, and is now published by Hyphen Press. It publishes extended articles on its subject, exploring topics to the length to which they want to go. Its scope is broad and international, its treatment – serious and lively.”

In addition, I’d recommend TechCrunch for technology news, ReadWriteWeb for tech and web trends and occasional very interesting articles, and Publishing 2, a very smart blog written on the theme of technology’s impact on media.