Cerysmatic.Factory

2 Sept 2004

The supporting programme for the forthcoming Communicate exhibition at the Barbican includes a screening of 24 Hour Party People ("Michael Winterbottom’s cult film about the dawn of punk to the death of acid house") on 20 October 2004 at 6pm. In addition, exhibition curator Rick Poynor will give a talk entitled 'Communicate: Spirit of Independence' on 27 October at 6.30pm.

The full programme of talks is on the Barbican website.

Labels: 24_Hour_Party_People, design, graphic_design, Rick_Poynor

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28 Aug 2004

The graphic grab

"From record covers to road signs, posters to packaging, graphics and typography touch every area of our lives. Forget fine art, Rick Poynor argues: it's design that is at the core of 21st-century visual culture"

The media coverage of the forthcoming Communicate exhibition at the Barbican continues with another illustrated Rick Poynor article in today's Guardian.

Thanks to Conor.

Labels: design, graphic_design, poster, Rick_Poynor

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27 Aug 2004

Declaration of Independence

From Creative Review September 2004: "Much of the most innovative, influential and downright beautiful graphic design of the last 40 years has come from independent studios, says Rick Poynor. Which is why he made them the focus of a major exhibition of British graphic design opening in September 2004 at The Barbican."

The following extracts mention both Peter Saville and 8vo, two of the most important designers for Factory Records:

"The generation of designers that had arrived in the late 1970s on the coat tails of punk had exerted enormous influence both on the look of graphic design and on conceptions of how and where design might be used and the ways it could address its audiences. Peter Saville has received a great deal of credit in the last year for his contribution to these developments, but at the time it was Brody, enthroned at The Face, who was the more outspoken and influential figure, rapidly achieving international renown. Although he is slightly overlooked now, Vaughan Oliver, based at the independent record label 4AD, provided another luminous example of the sort of graphic vision that it was virtually impossible to achieve ensconced with the commercial mainstream."

It goes on: "The designers who made the running from the late 1980s - 8vo, Siobhan Keaney, Why Not Associates, Cartlidge Levene - followed by 1990s start-ups such as Jonathan Barnbrook, Graphic Thought Facility, Tomato, Fuel and North were able to operate in a communications landscape that was much more aware of the possibilities of design. They could work for a more varied range of clients than just record labels and style magazines."

Details

Communicate: British Independent Graphic Design since the Sixties
16 September 2004 - 23 January 2005
Barbican Centre
Silk Street
London EC2Y 8DS

Tube: Barbican, Moorgate

Box Office: 0845 121 6828

Labels: 8vo, design, Factory_Records, graphic_design, Rick_Poynor

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24 Mar 2004

Systems of Romance

The Shareholders' Analysis continues with Fac 3: Second Factory poster: CV, JD, & TB's [Tiller Boys]. White on Black, simultaneous to Systems of Romance cover [?]; 250; October '79, all put up, One gig.

In this interview with Rick Poynor published in Eye 17/95, Peter Saville expands on the influences for Fac 3 including the 'Systems of Romance' reference:

[Rick Poynor] At what stage did you become aware of post-modernism as a cultural idea?

[Peter Saville] In 1978, while working on the second Factory poster. On a trip to London I picked up a book of Philip Johnson's proposals for the AT&T building in New York. On the cover was the broken pediment. It made me think that maybe I wasn't wrong in wanting to use Tschichoid's later work - that and a John Foxx album cover for Ultravox [Systems of Romance] with serif type on a black background. Within 12 months, neo-classicism and the influence of architectural post-modernism were everywhere. People in New York were buying columns to put in their apartments. My contribution was the graphic equivalent. It was always an emotive feeling and after a year or so I began to trust in my senses. I didn't need to wait for supportive signals and became brave enough to take a step myself, but nearly always informed by some historical reference.

Labels: Factory_Records, Factory_Shareholders_Analysis, Peter_Saville, poster, Rick_Poynor

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