All posts in the Design category

Friends on the Shelf: real life stories

Have you heard about Friends on the Shelf? This beautifully designed independent magazine features real life stories from known and unknown writers. At the beginning of the latest issue, you have Harry Enfield writing about adopting a duckling; later on, you have me describing my brief foray into the world of naturism. Some stories are […]

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Visit to the Design Museum, Copenhagen

On a recent visit to Copenhagen, I made a pilgrimage to the Danish Museum of Art & Design. My mission was to get a fix of Hans Wegner chairs, breathe in some Verner Panton hypercolours and drool over a bit of vintage Bang & Olufsen. It delivered on every count, with a few surprises. First […]

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Tom Dixon: a designer’s view of Finland

About a year ago, Nokia asked me to interview some people for a new book that Gestalten were publishing on Finnish Design. I talked to Finns in Brighton about their love of Iitala glassware and gin in a tin, and interviewed designers Jasper Morrison and Wataru Kumano about a chair they were making for Finnish furniture company […]

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Designer Soapbox: Gill Wildman

Gill Wildman has been on a circular journey to Hackney Wick. Growing up in nearby Bow, she used to visit family in the area. She studied in Manchester and worked all over the world before returning to E9 a few months ago. Together with her husband, Nick Durrant, she makes up Plot, a refreshingly forward-thinking […]

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Mike Paisley – Designer Soapbox

Mike Paisley loves simplicity, making things and tinfoil gadgets. We first met when he was involved in Throwawaylines, a wonderful project which treated rubbish like royalty. Mike is a Design Director at The Partners, where he’s solved brand and communication problems for clients as diverse as LV=, eBay, Allen & Overy, HSBC, Penguin and Richard […]

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Horror stories at Shoreditch Town Hall

It was the day before Hallowe’en – a suitably sombre evening for a night of horror stories hosted by D&AD. Shoreditch Town Hall was packed with people keen to hear terrifying tales of screw ups from ad industry insiders. Here are five things I learned. 1. “The key to brilliant work is to have no […]

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Designer soapbox: Tim Foster

Born in Yorkshire and raised in Kent, Tim Foster trained at Ravensbourne and since then has worked for everyone from the Observer magazine to Dorling Kindersley and Mitchell Beazley (twice). Here he talks about combining his roles as an editorial designer and art director, why he loves working with text, and what inspires him. What’s […]

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Designer Soapbox: Dave Petherbridge

Dave Petherbridge is one half of the Two Teas design partnership based in West Yorkshire. As ‘Purveyors Of The Finest Pamphlets, Motifs, Slogans & That’, the agency works with clients including the RSPB, Kelly Hoppen, Motorola and WharfeBank Brewery. They may work with a brewery, but these are people with a serious love of tea. […]

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Designer Soapbox: Gill Thomas

Gill Thomas has played many roles since she left Liverpool Poly with a fresh BA Hons in Graphic Design. She’s been a designer, team leader, creative partner and board director. She’s worked for some of the most influential design agencies around, including Pentagram, Newell & Sorrell and The Partners, and her clients have ranged from […]

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A bouncer, a cat and a dog lead

Why is this dodgy-looking bloke holding a cat on a dog lead outside what looks like a club in Berlin* in the 1980s? As part of an ‘archive dive’ project, the D&AD asked people from the 26 writers’ collective to write about previous award winners. I could choose any winner that began with ‘F’ (a very fine letter). I chose […]

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Money, chemistry and the moral sliding scale

Why would you say no to new work? Does having firm principles increase your influence? How important is chemistry? And do principles go out of the window because you need the work or want the money? On 5 May 2011, three eminent design principals gathered at a Designer Breakfast event at the offices of Bartle […]

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