The highly influential graphic designer/typographer Wim Crouwel died on 19 September at the age of 90. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time.

Whilst Wim did not directly work with or for Factory Records, his 'New Alphabet' typeface was famously used by Peter Saville on the cover of Joy Division's Facd 250 Substance 1977-1980. Crouwel commented on this in 2011 in the catalogue of the 'Wim Crouwel: A Graphic Odyssey' exhibition at the Design Museum in London, as part of an interview with exhibition curator Tony Brook:

"I discovered this at the end of the 1990s, and I was flattered that people had used it. I have seen it in pop magazines - mostly as headlines, and sometimes made a little more readable. They always made it by hand and didn't always follow my strict rules and guidelines. Suddenly, at the end of the 1990s, there was interest in this thing that had been developed 25 years before. That was also the time The Foundry came to me and asked if they could digitize my typefaces for their series of experimental typefaces by people like Jan Tschichold. I was greatly flattered. I immediately gave them permission, and I worked on the project with David Quay from The Foundry."

Crouwel also worked with the 8vo design collective and commented on this too in the same interview:

"I was invited by 8vo to do an article on lower-case typography for their magazine, Octavo. By doing this I got to know the three of them - Hamish Muir, Mark Holt and Simon Johnston - and I was impressed by their work. Hamish and Simon had trained in Basel and there was a strong influence from Swiss design, but different from what the Swiss did. I was impressed by their work, and also by the work, and also by the magazine, the layout of the Octavo magazine."



From a personal point of view, Crouwel's typography has always seemed indelibly Factoryesque, and, when it was time for a website redesign some time in the distant past, I chose to put the new masthead in his Vormgevers typeface which was also used on the cover of Fact 290 'Electronic'.



Rest in peace Wim.

Labels: 8vo, graphic_design, obituary, Wim_Crouwel

It came as a shock to hear that Tim Walsh, lead guitarist of Manchester band Northside had passed away suddenly on the evening of 19 August 2019.

Most people will have heard of Tim due to his time during the early 90's as a member of Northside.

The band signed to Factory Records, released 3 successful singles and a Top 20 Album, 'Chicken Rhythms' and, for those of a certain age in the North West, provided the music for 'Granada Soccer Night'.

The band toured extensively across the UK, Europe, America and the Far East building a loyal fanbase who rapturously welcomed the band back to the live circuit in 2014.

I met Tim on a number of occasions and always found him to be friendly with a great sense of humour, very humble and almost unaware of the natural talent he had.

As well as being a accomplished guitarist he was also a highly skilled sound engineer, working for over 25 years for Mersey TV, initially on 'Brookside' before moving onto 'Hollyoaks'.

There have been many tributes over the last 24 hours on Social Media, from the band, musicians, and fans. This one from a member of the Hollyoaks cast says it all...

"So shocked and sad, we lost and amazing, gentle generous, cool great guy today. So many people will truly miss you."

RIP Tim, gone too soon.

- Iain Key, for Cerysmatic Factory

Labels: Iain_Key, Northside, obituary, Tim_Walsh

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