Design Good Design

I am an avid collector of design books and on a recent trip back to the UK, I stumbled across a fantastic book containing a veritable gold mine of vintage Sainsbury’s packaging, chronicling the years 1962 to 1977. The books forward tells the story of the author, Jonny Trunk and his search for a particular 1970 Sainsbury’s pack design for cornflakes that he had memories of from his childhood. On calling the retailers head office, he discovers that there’s a huge archive of pristine Sainsbury’s own label packaging dating back from the 1960’s and onwards. An ideal subject for a book! There is also an essay from Emily King, which gives an insight into the relationship between the company director, forward thinking JD Sainsbury and the visionary designer Peter Dixon who founded the Sainsbury’s in house creative studio and spearheaded it’s unique pack designs.       Also of note is the important role that the company played in society. Britain was going through a period of soci...

On Friday 24th of June 2016, Britain woke to the realisation that the majority (52%) had voted to leave the EU. The shock waves that followed have dominated the news. David Cameron has made the decision to step down as Prime Minister and the pound is currently at a 31-year low, making England poorer than France. The FTSE 100 has dropped 8.7pc and ratings agency S&P have downgraded UK's credit rating from AAA to AA, due to the negative outlook after the Brexit vote. Labour's shadow cabinet members are also quitting in response to Jeremy Corbyn's leadership over the EU referendum! Analyst are predicting that many investors are likely to move their money out of the UK and for the people of Great Britain it may mean that European travel and imported products could well rise in cost. In addition Scotland has voted to remain and many of it’s population would sooner break away from the UK instead of leaving the EU. Britain as a whole is divided. For many the country is in turm...

"The most important word you use is why!"  That’s was what Sir John Hegarty told the crowd at an inspiring presentation that I was lucky enough to attend back in 2013. In my role as creative director, I get to brief in the design team. It's important to ensure that everything that goes through the studio is the best it can be. I have to mentor and up skill young designers and I always love to watch how they respond to briefs. Many designers sketch out ideas, others go straight to their computers. Without a doubt, Google is one of the most incredible inventions of our time, yet still, one of my pet hates are designers going straight to Google without an idea. I've been known to not let designers on a computer until I first see an idea. I want designers to have that moment of discovery and to have the ability to ask why. Recently one of my team was struggling with a project. I could see it in her face... The fear... And on her computer... Google!!! After a brief discu...

In 1974 Walter Herdeg edited issue 165 of Graphis Diagrams, a square hardback book showing the scientific side of graphic design. It contains beautifully illustrated, full colour diagrams of abstract data and theres also some lovely multi layered maps that use transparent papers. The cover is a fantastic example of the modernist Swiss style of type and design. It really is a thing of beauty, an iconic classic and I once had a copy, or should I say, I may still have a copy... Somewhere! It wasn't that I forgot I had it, but instead that I was recently reminded when I turned to page 46 of Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne's fantastic book '100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design', and there it was in all it's glory, featuring in the chapter 'The Square Format! I am not completely sure of how this book came into my life. My father was always great at picking up a bargain and may of bought it second hand for his son. My family always supported my love of everything c...