KNOWLEDGE
Online
Archives, References, and Repositories
While the interactivity and immediacy of blogs, forums, and other comment-driven journals and magazines did not kill the printed magazine, book, or newspaper, as was feared—it just scared them silly—it did instigate a new form of dialog between authors and readers that, within the proper context, yields conversations augmented by differing points of view. In graphic design, where the means of communication are mostly visual, the propagation of the written word urged a new generation of designers to develop a voice that could easily find an audience, and it provoked the older generation to adapt their experience to a new medium, creating a level field on which to find out who has the last word about design. Luckily, no one does.
With bottomless servers that can host an infinite number of images and documents—granted, as long as someone takes responsibility for feeding them the data, paying the hosting fees, and renewing the domain names—the Internet is an endlessly blossoming environment where collections of design ephemera, out-of-print articles and essays, or archives of a designer’s work can be globally shared with relative ease, whether curated by individuals or generated by hundreds of users. These generous gestures—more often than not, this content is free to passersby—offer the opportunity to delve into visuals or words that would otherwise remain inaccessible or, worse, forgotten.
The unique intonations, acoustics, and cadences of the spoken word can bring most subjects to life, including graphic design. With the improbability of a live AM or FM radio show solely devoted to graphic design offset by the ease and accessibility of generating digital audio files that can be archived, shared, and downloaded, a slew of interviews with designers has been broadcast over the Internet, providing designers with a relatively fresh content form through which to learn about their industry and practitioners. Plus, words like Helvetica, Spiekermann, and kern sound more exotic spoken than written.
Detail of ALVINLUSTIG.ORG / Kind Company / USA, 2006
Typo-L
LISTSERV.HEANET.IE/LISTS/TYPO-L.HTML
Prior to the rise of blogs and forums, a now seemingly prehistoric mode of group discussion was through email—a discussion list—where a group of people would sign-up and send queries and replies through their own email applications. In 1992, to support the development of TeX, a typesetting system popular for computer science, mathematics, and physics books, Peter Flynn started Typo-L to discuss the minutiae of typeface design and the practice of typesetting. As the list outgrew its initial niche audience, typeface and graphic designers, developers, and other interested parties subscribed to Typo-L. There they shared reading lists and discussed everything from ligatures to accents, modernism, and David Carson › 186 with the unbridled energy permitted by this new mode of global communication. A large majority of subscribers migrated to blogs and forums in the early 2000s, but Typo-L continues—one email at a time.
Typophile
TYPOPHILE.COM
In April 2000, San Francisco-based designers Jared Benson and Joe Pemberton launched Typophile as a host to exclusive, interactive articles on typography developed by Jonathan Hoefler › 230. Alongside it were the increasingly popular forums, where anyone with a subscription could start a discussion (usually heated), upload ongoing development of a typeface for public critique, or challenge the growing readership to identify typefaces in use. Since its inception, Typophile has engaged the relatively small community of type designers and developers through an endless barrage of discussions attracting its most fervent practitioners. Benson and Pemberton launched the Typophile Film Festival in 2004 to coincide with that year’s TypeCon › 249 conference in San Francisco, and the collection of type-driven films and animations gathered in the three years it ran were received by sold-out crowds.
Typographica
TYPOGRAPHICA.ORG
Originally edited by both Joshua Lurie-Terrell and Stephen Coles, the latter of whom retains sole editorship, Typographica—no relation to Herbert Spencer’s journal of the same name › 95—was launched in 2002, one of the first industry blogs to operate with multiple authors from around the world talking about typography and typeface design. Dozens of authors have contributed over time, most effusively during its first three years, as Typographica deployed post after post after post to an enthusiastic crowd learning the good manners and bad behaviors of blogging. To further engage its readers, Typographica encouraged them to submit designs for the blog’s rotating nameplate, wowing fellow readers. Since 2006 Typographica has been, to the sadness of many, briefly active, only offering an annual review of typefaces where readers sing the praises of their favorites through conscientious reviews.
Speak Up
UNDERCONSIDERATION.COM/SPEAKUP
While it wasn’t the first blog to focus on graphic design, nor the last, Speak Up was the first to engage a broad following from the industry through its no-holds-barred, heated discussions fueled by the fluctuating group of authors that would light them and the growing congregation of commenters that would fan them. Launched in 2002 by Armin Vit—who was exposed to blogging as one of the authors on Typographica—and Bryony Gomez-Palacio, Speak Up grew over the years as it chronicled and critiqued the news, events, books, and general output of graphic designers. Continually looking to engage its readership, Speak Up has hosted a number of contests, it provides a monthly word that readers can illustrate through the Word It feature, and its has served as a launching pad for events like seriouSeries and publications like Stop Being Sheep.
Design Observer
DESIGNOBSERVER.COM
As traditional writers and journalists pondered the benefits and detriments of blogs, four of the graphic design industry’s leading writers and practitioners with many years of experience—Michael Bierut › 203, William Drenttel, Jessica Helfand, and Rick Poynor › 237—unexpectedly launched Design Observer in 2003. Broadly addressing the topics of business, culture, art, politics, and architecture as they intersect with design, the four writers quickly gathered a wide following with typically long and considerate writing. For the most part, the ensuing discussions follow a similar path, although explosive interchanges are not rare. Over the years, other seasoned writers who otherwise do so for professional fees—like Steven Heller › 238, Alice Twemlow › 241, and Tom Vanderbilt—have joined Design Observer to strengthen the quality of writing and research that is rarely associated with blogging.
VOICE: AIGA Journal of Design
VOICE.AIGA.ORG
As the AIGA sought a new critical writing outlet to reach its membership it seized the growing acceptance of online design writing and launched VOICE in 2004 with Steven Heller › 238 as editor. Unencumbered by the costs and logistics of a printed journal, VOICE has been able to publish as articles become available and attract a changing number of contributors, including veteran writers and critics like Ralph Caplan › 238, Ellen Lupton › 240, Phil Patton, and Véronique Vienne. While not an immediate comment catalyst like its fellow blogs and forums, VOICE fosters an authoritative tone lent by its organization and extends the tradition of design writing and criticism first established in 1947 with the AIGA Journal of Graphic Design › 105, long before the “post” button was even an idea.
Core77
CORE77.COM
In 1995, as students in the Industrial Design graduate program at Pratt Institute, Stuart Constantine and Eric Ludlum presented Core77 as their thesis: embracing the nascent medium of websites and interface design to consolidate information and resources about their future profession. From the outset, Core77 attracted a wide and loyal following that avidly contributed articles, resources, job openings, and more, and fueled its growth to become a de facto destination for industrial designers. Allan Chochinov joined in 2000 as a partner and has overseen the consistent development of Core77’s editorial voice and community, including a popular blog, feature articles, special publications, and offline events. Found in its accompanying forums is the 1 Hour Design Challenge, where readers are invited to come up with concepts and sketches for things like cycling shoes or bettering the rainshower experience. Despite a focus on industrial design, much of its content is relevant to any creative endeavor.
A List Apart
ALISTAPART.COM
More than just the 1534-0295 International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) that identifies it as an electronic periodical publication, A List Apart is a hub that has influenced the way web design is practiced. Launched as a mailing list in 1997 by web developer Brian M. Platz and web designer and writer Jeffrey Zeldman, it amassed a following of 16,000 subscribers within months. In 1998, it moved to the web to establish a consistent stream of knowledgeable articles vetted and edited by Zeldman and his team and organized in the broad topics of Code, Content, Culture, Design, Process, and User Science, under the long-running premise of developing content “for people who make websites.” Leading by example, A List Apart was one of the first websites to migrate to a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) layout in 2001—in other words, a big deal, for those who may flinch at web talk.
Typotheque
TYPOTHEQUE.COM/ARTICLES
To complement the online presence of Typotheque, the type foundry run by Peter and Johanna Bilak from The Hague, a comprehensive and growing selection of articles has been easily available on their website since 2001—perhaps the only online curated anthology of critical writing on typography. While some articles are reprints from old magazines and journals—including the infamous 1993 “Cult of the Ugly” (Eye) by Steven Heller › 238—Typotheque offers previously unpublished material culled from presentations and lectures as well as a generous serving of book reviews and interviews. With more than 140 articles in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Korean, Typotheque offers a global view of design writing and criticism.
Rene Wanner’s Poster Page
POSTERPAGE.CH
The world of poster design is an international one, and each locale has its share of heroes, exhibitions, and competitions. Chronicling this world, in detail, is Rene Wanner, a PhD in experimental physics who happens to be a poster collector. Now in early retirement in a small town in Switzerland, Wanner started his website in 1997 as a way of showcasing the sizable poster collection he began in 1977 on a trip to Warsaw, Poland. Maintaining the site himself, Wanner mounts web exhibitions showcasing the work of a specific poster designer, or exhibitions shown in parallel to bricks-and-mortar shows, and keeps score of biennial winners, publications of books and catalogs, and photo galleries that readers submit of exhibit openings across the world. It all adds up to a massive archive of poster work that would otherwise have remained unseen except by a few individuals.
BibliOdyssey
BIBLIODYSSEY.BLOGSPOT.COM
In 2005, Paul K—or peacay, or PK, or anything that downplays his own persona in the benefit of the content he presents—launched BibliOdyssey, a blog gathering some of the most remarkable rare book illustrations, graphic art, illuminated manuscripts, lithographs, and Renaissance prints found online, creating a stimulating dichotomy of centuries-old work presented through a two-decade-old medium. Paul ventures into the web with inquisitive zeal, treading through digital libraries, cultural archives, and social bookmarking sites. He is aided by illustrators, librarians, historians, bibliophiles, archivists, and other bloggers who provide help and tips. Along with the addictive images, Paul provides insightful commentary on the artist as well as the source collection. After only two years, Paul published the aptly titled BibliOdyssey: Amazing Archival Images from the Internet book, bringing a large percentage of its content full circle to the printed page.
Grain Edit
GRAINEDIT.COM
Focusing on the graphic design work produced between the 1950s and 1970s as well as on modern-day work influenced by its aesthetics, Grain Edit provides a constant stream of visual nostalgia in the form of type specimens, posters, postage stamps, books, album covers, and other ephemera from across the world. Edited by California-based David Cuzner since 2007, the site also conducts interviews with designers who revel in the same visual frequency and regularly provides galleries of their work. Cuzner draws from his own library as well, offering photographs of rare books, catalogs, maps, magazines, and other materials that rarely fail to extract a sigh of longing for this kind of work.
The Design Encyclopedia
THEDESIGNENCYCLOPEDIA.ORG
Conceived by Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit of UnderConsideration and built by Chicago-based House of Pretty, The Design Encyclopedia was launched in 2003 to piggyback on the growing interest, both positive and negative, in Wikipedia, itself launched in 2001. Using and acknowledging the same premise of users being able to create and modify content, The Design Encyclopedia aims to funnel as much information and imagery found online as well as references to print materials and publications to create a clearinghouse of resources and information about the broad practice of design. Despite a slow evolution, The Design Encyclopedia offers more than 600 entries covering everything from Dungeons and Dragons to Emigre › 100, Herb Lubalin › 167 to Steve Jobs. A special section is devoted to archiving student thesis projects and other articles that have not benefited from wide publication.
Alvin Lustig
ALVINLUSTIG.ORG
In an ideal twenty-first-century world, every historic character from the annals of graphic design would have a domain name pegged to his or her legacy, the site hosting a detailed collection of the work, exhaustive biographical details, bibliographical references, and any other materials that would act as an expanding archive, educational resource, or, even, mere inspiration. An example of this approach is at alvinlustig.org, a website launched in 2005 by Patricia Belen and Greg D’Onofrio of Brooklyn-based Kind Company, that gathers the work and writings of Alvin Lustig › 144. With the help of Lustig’s widow, Elaine Lustig Cohen, and Steven Heller › 238, Kind Company has built the definitive online presence for this designer, whose work has been highly celebrated and influential—now, even more so.
AIGA Design Archives
DESIGNARCHIVES.AIGA.ORG
As of this writing, more than 19,000 entries have been dutifully cataloged in the online AIGA Design Archives, a dynamic website launched in 2005 that contains the winners of AIGA’s national juried competitions from as far back as 1925. Designed and built by Portland, Oregon-based Second Story, the archives are accessible through an extremely friendly Flash interface that skitters to bring up results organized by category or special collection and responds swiftly to detailed searches for anything from typefaces used, to firm and designer names, to client industries. A welcome bell-and-whistle device is a powerful zooming tool that allows exploration of all the tiny 4-point type that was all the rage in the 1990s, to mention one example.
FFFFOUND!
FFFFOUND.COM
One of the many promises of the Internet is the ability to harness the interests of hundreds and thousands of users to create a single whole. Through FFFFOUND! a social image bookmarking website developed by online trailblazer Yugo Nakamura in 2007, users “find” images they like and, with the press of a button, add that image to the infinitely updatable home page. The bent is decidedly toward the graphical, with hundreds of book covers, posters, logos, illustrations, photography, typefaces, and type experiments gracing the alternatively sparse design of FFFFOUND! itself. The endless and random barrage of images provides unprecedented exposure to a variety of work from all over the world, generating an evolving snapshot of global visual culture.
Design Matters
STERLINGBRANDS.COM/DESIGNMATTERS.HTML
The image of a graphic designer in the twenty-first century eagerly carving an hour out of each Friday afternoon to listen to a radio show, as if it were the only means of communication, doesn’t sound quite plausible. But so was the debut of Design Matters on Internet talk radio network VoiceAmerica in 2005, hosted by brand fiend Debbie Millman. Broadcast live on Fridays—and handily available for future download—Design Matters presents lively conversations between Millman and her increasingly engaging list of guests, including design luminaries like Michael Bierut › 203, Milton Glaser › 170, and Paula Scher › 182 as well as mainstream talents like writer Malcolm Gladwell, Nobel Prize-winner Eric Kandel, and artist Lawrence Weiner. Establishing the mood through a thoughtful monolog, Millman leads her guests through properly researched questions, extemporaneous banter, and, an overall sassy attitude that keeps her listeners tuned in.
Typeradio
TYPERADIO.ORG
Attendees of the 2004 TypoBerlin conference were treated to the introduction of Typeradio, a live show transmitted from a makeshift studio and broadcast as a “micro FM station”; anyone within 5,000 feet, or within distance of the 20 Typeradio-endorsed radios placed throughout the venue, could tune in to 92.7 FM and listen to interviews with Stefan Sagmeister › 202 and Peter Saville › 180, among others. Typeradio—a collaboration of Donald Beekman, Liza Enebeis, and Underware › 232 (Akiem Helmling, Bas Jacobs, Sami Kortemäki)—has since traveled to other conferences around the world to capture interviews and conversations, while at the same time developing original shows and content independent of conferences. Their full library, available for streaming online or as iTunes podcasts, provides a bounty of dialogs with more than 150 designers, writers, and educators worldwide.
