Rick Poynor
Encyclopedia
Rick Poynor is a British writer on design
, graphic design
, typography
and visual culture
. He began as a general visual arts journalist, working on Blueprint magazine in London. After founding Eye
magazine http://www.eyemagazine.com/home.php, which he edited from 1990 to 1997, he focused increasingly on visual communication. He is writer-at-large and columnist of Eye, and a contributing editor and columnist of Print (magazine)
.
In 1999, Poynor was a co-ordinator of the First Things First 2000 manifesto
initiated by Adbusters
. http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature.php?id=18&fid=99 In 2003, he co-founded Design Observer http://www.designobserver.com/, a weblog for design writing and discussion, with William Drenttel
, Jessica Helfand
and Michael Bierut
. He wrote for the site until 2005. He was a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art
, London from 1994 to 1999 and returned to the RCA in 2006 as a research fellow. He has also taught at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht
. In 2004, Poynor curated the exhibition Communicate: Independent British Graphic Design since the Sixties
at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. The exhibition subsequently travelled to four venues in China and to Zurich. http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-add-design-graphic-design-communicate.htm
Poynor's writing encompasses both cultural criticism and design history and his books break down into three categories. He has written several monographs about significant British figures in the arts and design: Brian Eno
(musician), Nigel Coates (architect)
and Vaughan Oliver
and Herbert Spencer
(graphic designers). Other books document and analyse general movements in graphic design and typography. Among these are Typography Now, the first international survey of the digital typography of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and No More Rules, a critical study of graphic design and postmodernism. Poynor has also published three essay collections, Design Without Boundaries, Obey the Giant and Designing Pornotopia, which explore the cultural implications of visual communication, including advertising, photography, branding, graphic design and retail design.
Poynor was a prominent interviewee in the 2007 documentary film Helvetica
.
As contributor:
As editor of Monographics series:
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
, graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
, typography
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
and visual culture
Visual culture
Visual Culture as an academic subject is a field of study that generally includes some combination of cultural studies, art history, critical theory, philosophy, and anthropology, by focusing on aspects of culture that rely on visual images.- Overview :...
. He began as a general visual arts journalist, working on Blueprint magazine in London. After founding Eye
Eye (magazine)
Eye Magazine, The International Review of Graphic Design is a quarterly print magazine on graphic design and visual culture.- History :...
magazine http://www.eyemagazine.com/home.php, which he edited from 1990 to 1997, he focused increasingly on visual communication. He is writer-at-large and columnist of Eye, and a contributing editor and columnist of Print (magazine)
Print (magazine)
The publication, Print, A Quarterly Journal of the Graphic Arts, was a limited edition quarterly periodical begun in 1940 and continued under different names up to the present day as Print, a bimonthly American magazine about visual culture and design.In its current format, Print documents and...
.
In 1999, Poynor was a co-ordinator of the First Things First 2000 manifesto
First things first 2000 Manifesto
The First Things First 2000 manifesto, launched by Adbusters magazine in 1999, was an updated version of the earlier First Things First manifesto written and published in 1964 by Ken Garland, a British designer....
initiated by Adbusters
AdBusters
The Adbusters Media Foundation is a Canadian-based not-for-profit, anti-consumerist, pro-environment organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in Vancouver, British Columbia...
. http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature.php?id=18&fid=99 In 2003, he co-founded Design Observer http://www.designobserver.com/, a weblog for design writing and discussion, with William Drenttel
William Drenttel
William Drenttel is a graphic designer, editor, a partner in Winterhouse Studios, and President Emeritus of the American Institute of Graphic Arts . Drenttel received a BA in European Cultural Studies from Princeton University....
, Jessica Helfand
Jessica Helfand
Jessica Helfand is an author, columnist and lecturer on graphic design. She is the partner of William Drenttel of Winterhouse Studios, Winterhouse Editions and Winterhouse Institute located in Falls Village, Connecticut. She is a critic in graphic design at Yale University, where she earned her...
and Michael Bierut
Michael Bierut
Michael Bierut is a graphic designer, design critic and educator.Bierut was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning....
. He wrote for the site until 2005. He was a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
, London from 1994 to 1999 and returned to the RCA in 2006 as a research fellow. He has also taught at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht
Maastricht
Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
. In 2004, Poynor curated the exhibition Communicate: Independent British Graphic Design since the Sixties
Communicate: Independent British Graphic Design since the Sixties
An exhibition curated by Rick Poynor at the Barbican Art Gallery charting over 40 years of graphic design in the United Kingdom.The first major attempt to reflect on how the smaller independent studios and agencies marked and shaped the way we look at images in our everyday lives: from book and...
at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. The exhibition subsequently travelled to four venues in China and to Zurich. http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-add-design-graphic-design-communicate.htm
Poynor's writing encompasses both cultural criticism and design history and his books break down into three categories. He has written several monographs about significant British figures in the arts and design: Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
(musician), Nigel Coates (architect)
Nigel Coates (architect)
Nigel Coates is an English architect, author, and prolific designer of interiors, exhibitions, products, and lighting. He grew up in the town of Malvern, Worcestershire and was educated at Hanley Castle Grammar School before studying at the University of Nottingham and the Architectural Association...
and Vaughan Oliver
Vaughan Oliver
Vaughan Oliver is a British graphic designer based in Epsom, South of London. Oliver is most noted for his work with graphic design studios 23 Envelope and v23...
and Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer (graphic designer)
Herbert Spencer was a British designer, editor, writer, photographer and teacher, born in London on June 22, 1924, and died March 11, 2002 ....
(graphic designers). Other books document and analyse general movements in graphic design and typography. Among these are Typography Now, the first international survey of the digital typography of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and No More Rules, a critical study of graphic design and postmodernism. Poynor has also published three essay collections, Design Without Boundaries, Obey the Giant and Designing Pornotopia, which explore the cultural implications of visual communication, including advertising, photography, branding, graphic design and retail design.
Poynor was a prominent interviewee in the 2007 documentary film Helvetica
Helvetica (film)
Helvetica is an independent feature-length documentary film about typography and graphic design, centered on the typeface of the same name. Directed by Gary Hustwit, it was released in 2007 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the typeface's introduction in 1957 and is considered the first of...
.
Published work
As author:- More Dark Than SharkMore Dark Than SharkMore Dark Than Shark is a 1986 book by Brian Eno and Russell Mills. It features the lyrics to Eno's songs, each accompanied by an artwork inspired by the song's lyrics by Mills...
(with Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
and Russell MillsRussell Mills (artist)Russell Mills is a British artist who was born in Ripon, Yorkshire, UK in 1952. He paints, creates multimedia installations, designs stage sets and lighting and has produced record covers and book covers for Brian Eno, the Cocteau Twins,Michael Nyman, David Sylvian, Peter Gabriel, and Nine Inch...
), Faber & Faber, 1986. - Nigel Coates: The City in Motion, Fourth Estate, 1989.
- Typography Now: The Next Wave (co-editor with Edward Booth-Clibborn), Booth-Clibborn Editions, 1991. (ISBN 978-1873968420)
- The Graphic Edge, Booth-Clibborn Editions, 1993. (ISBN 978-0891345879)
- Typography Now Two: Implosion (editor), Booth-Clibborn Editions, 1996. (ISBN 978-1861540232)
- Design Without Boundaries: Visual Communication in Transition, Booth-Clibborn Editions, 1998. (ISBN 978-1861540065)
- Looking Closer 3: Classic Writings on Graphic Design (co-editor with Michael BierutMichael BierutMichael Bierut is a graphic designer, design critic and educator.Bierut was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning....
, Jessica HelfandJessica HelfandJessica Helfand is an author, columnist and lecturer on graphic design. She is the partner of William Drenttel of Winterhouse Studios, Winterhouse Editions and Winterhouse Institute located in Falls Village, Connecticut. She is a critic in graphic design at Yale University, where she earned her...
and Steven HellerSteven Heller (graphic design)Steven Heller is an American art director, journalist, critic, author, and editor who specializes on topics related to graphic design....
), Allworth Press, 1999. - Vaughan OliverVaughan OliverVaughan Oliver is a British graphic designer based in Epsom, South of London. Oliver is most noted for his work with graphic design studios 23 Envelope and v23...
: Visceral Pleasures, Booth-Clibborn Editions, 2000. (ISBN 978-1861540720) - Obey the Giant: Life in the Image World, 2nd edition, Birkhauser, 2007. (ISBN 978-3764385002)
- TypographicaTypographicaTypographica was the name of a journal of typography and visual arts founded and edited by Herbert Spencer from 1949 to 1967. Spencer was just 25 years old when the first Typographica was issued....
, Princeton Architectural Press, 2001. (ISBN 978-1568982984) - No More Rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism, Laurence King Publishing, 2003. (ISBN 978-1856692298)
- Communicate: Independent British Graphic Design since the Sixties (editor), Laurence King Publishing, 2004.
- Designing Pornotopia: Travels in Visual Culture, Laurence King Publishing, 2006. (ISBN 978-1856694896)
As contributor:
- Michael BierutMichael BierutMichael Bierut is a graphic designer, design critic and educator.Bierut was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning....
, William DrenttelWilliam DrenttelWilliam Drenttel is a graphic designer, editor, a partner in Winterhouse Studios, and President Emeritus of the American Institute of Graphic Arts . Drenttel received a BA in European Cultural Studies from Princeton University....
, Steven HellerSteven Heller (graphic design)Steven Heller is an American art director, journalist, critic, author, and editor who specializes on topics related to graphic design....
and D.K. Holland (editors), Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design, Allworth Press, 1994. (ISBN 978-1880559153) - Jeremy Myerson (editor), Beware Wet Paint: Designs by Alan FletcherAlan Fletcher (graphic designer)Alan Gerard Fletcher was a British graphic designer. In his obituary, he was described by The Daily Telegraph as "the most highly regarded graphic designer of his generation, and probably one of the most prolific"....
, Phaidon Press, 1996. - Marvin Scott Jarrett and Dean Kuipers (editors), Ray GunRay Gun (magazine)Ray Gun was an American alternative rock-and-roll magazine, first published in 1992 in Santa Monica, California. Led by founding art director David Carson, Ray Gun explored experimental magazine typographic design. The result was a chaotic, abstract style, not always readable, but distinctive in...
: Out of Control, Booth-Clibborn Editions, 1997. (ISBN 978-86154040X) - Michael BierutMichael BierutMichael Bierut is a graphic designer, design critic and educator.Bierut was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning....
, William DrenttelWilliam DrenttelWilliam Drenttel is a graphic designer, editor, a partner in Winterhouse Studios, and President Emeritus of the American Institute of Graphic Arts . Drenttel received a BA in European Cultural Studies from Princeton University....
, Steven HellerSteven Heller (graphic design)Steven Heller is an American art director, journalist, critic, author, and editor who specializes on topics related to graphic design....
and D.K. Holland (editors), Looking Closer 2: Critical Writings on Graphic Design, Allworth Press, 1997. (ISBN 978-1880559560) - Peter Hall and Michael BierutMichael BierutMichael Bierut is a graphic designer, design critic and educator.Bierut was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning....
(editors), Tibor KalmanTibor KalmanTibor Kalman was an influential American graphic designer of Hungarian origin, well-known for his work as editor-in-chief of Colors magazine....
: Perverse Optimist, Booth-Clibborn Editions, 1998. (ISBN 978-1861540922) - Steven Heller (editor), The Education of a Graphic Designer, Allworth Press, 1998. (ISBN 978-1880559994)
- Stephen Coates and Alex Stetter (editors), Impossible Worlds: The Architecture of Perfection, August/Birkhauser, 2000. (ISBN 978-3764363177)
- Michael BierutMichael BierutMichael Bierut is a graphic designer, design critic and educator.Bierut was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning....
, William DrenttelWilliam DrenttelWilliam Drenttel is a graphic designer, editor, a partner in Winterhouse Studios, and President Emeritus of the American Institute of Graphic Arts . Drenttel received a BA in European Cultural Studies from Princeton University....
and Steven HellerSteven Heller (graphic design)Steven Heller is an American art director, journalist, critic, author, and editor who specializes on topics related to graphic design....
(editors), Looking Closer Four: Critical Writings on Graphic Design, Allworth Press, 2002. (ISBN 978-1581152353) - Emily King (editor), Designed by Peter Saville, Frieze, 2003. (ISBN 978-0952741428)
- Susan Yelavich (editor), Profile: PentagramPentagram (design studio)Pentagram is a design studio that was founded in 1972 by Alan Fletcher, Theo Crosby, Colin Forbes, Kenneth Grange and Mervyn Kurlansky in Needham Road, West London, UK...
Design, Phaidon Press, 2004. (ISBN 978-0714843773) - William S. Saunders (editor), Commodification and Spectacle in Architecture, University of Minnesota Press, 2005.
- Alex ColesAlex ColesAlex Coles is an art critic and editor. He is the author of DesignArt . Following the volume of debate and activity DesignArt engendered, Coles edited the critical anthology Design and Art .Coles is currently researching his next book The Transdisciplinary Studio , a two volume...
(editor), Design and Art, Whitechapel/MIT Press, 2007. (ISBN 978-0262532891) - Michael BierutMichael BierutMichael Bierut is a graphic designer, design critic and educator.Bierut was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning....
, William DrenttelWilliam DrenttelWilliam Drenttel is a graphic designer, editor, a partner in Winterhouse Studios, and President Emeritus of the American Institute of Graphic Arts . Drenttel received a BA in European Cultural Studies from Princeton University....
and Steven HellerSteven Heller (graphic design)Steven Heller is an American art director, journalist, critic, author, and editor who specializes on topics related to graphic design....
(editors), Looking Closer Five: Critical Writings on Graphic Design, Allworth Press, 2007. (ISBN 978-1581154719)
As editor of Monographics series:
- Andrea Codrington, Kyle CooperKyle CooperKyle Cooper is a modern designer of motion picture title sequences.Cooper studied graphic design under Paul Rand at Yale University. Early in his professional career, Cooper worked as a creative director at R/GA - an advertising agency with offices in New York and Los Angeles...
, Laurence King Publishing, 2003. (ISBN 978-1856693295) - Veronique Vienne, Chip KiddChip KiddChip Kidd is an American author, editor, and graphic designer, best known for his book covers.- Early life :Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Kidd grew up in the Reading suburb of Shillington, strongly influenced by American popular culture...
, Laurence King Publishing, 2003. - Alston W. Purvis, H.N. Werkman, Laurence King Publishing, 2004. (ISBN 978-1856693899)
- Daniel Raeburn, Chris WareChris WareFranklin Christenson Ware , is an American comic book artist and cartoonist, widely known for his Acme Novelty Library series and the graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he resides in the Chicago area, Illinois...
, Laurence King Publishing, 2004. (ISBN 978-1856693974)
See also
- List of Eye magazine issues
- First Things First 2000 manifestoFirst things first 2000 ManifestoThe First Things First 2000 manifesto, launched by Adbusters magazine in 1999, was an updated version of the earlier First Things First manifesto written and published in 1964 by Ken Garland, a British designer....
- EmigreEmigre magazineEmigre was a graphic design magazine published by Emigre Graphics between 1984 and 2005; it was first published in 1984 in San Francisco, California, USA...
51: First Things First, 1999. http://www.emigre.com/EMag.php?issue=51