Blog
Category: Design & Typography
My Favourite Book of 2011: Dan (Publicity)
by Dan
Design & Typography + Film / December 19, 2011
The bookstore I used to work at has sadly gone the way of many great independent bookstores in Canada and shuttered-up shop. It used to be on Toronto's Queen West in the days when the street was, well, "grungier" for want of a better word.
If you don't know the area, the store was near the Art & Design District and the Fashion District. It was right above Blackmarket, a vintage t-shirt store, across the street from MuchMusic, and around the corner from the AGO and OCAD. It rubbed shoulders with boutique stores like Fluevog, small eclectic music stores, a hip urban bike shop and 24-hour grocery store. The owner loved the Beats and was a film critic on the side. Unsurprisingly, a lot of our customers were interested in art, design, film, music, photography and style.
One thing I would get asked quite frequently (apart from "where's the washroom?", "can you turn the music down?" and "where have they towed my car?") was "do you have any books on Saul Bass?"
Along side Paul Rand, Saul Bass was one of the greatest designers of the 20th Century. Even if you don't recognise the name, you would certainly recognise Bass' distinctive (and much imitated) work on films like Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, Otto Preminger's The Man With The Golden Arm and Anatomy of a Murder. And if you don't, you should: they revolutionized film title sequences.
If that weren't enough, Bass also designed logos and corporate identities for AT&T, Quaker Oats, United Airlines, Minolta and the Girl Scouts of America.
His output was remarkable.
Strangely, there were no (zero, zip, nada) books available on Bass for the longest time. It seemed almost unbelievable and customers would always look at me skeptically when I told them there was nothing on the shelves. I have to admit that most times I didn't even bother to look it up (which may have contributed to the skepticism) but that's because I knew there weren't any — I would be first in line if there was. You see, I love Saul Bass' work, especially his film work and his use of hand-drawn lettering. Bass' work is truly like no one else's. He was a design original.
You can imagine, then, how excited I heard about Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design. From seeing it in the Lawrence King catalogue in April to when it was published last month, there was little doubt what my favourite book would be this year. Designed by Bass' daughter Jennifer, written by design historian Pat Kirkham, and weighing in at over 400 pages, the book doesn't disappoint. It is STILL the only book on Bass's work and is must-have for anyone interested in the history of design or film.
If you're only going to buy one honking great big book on American mid-century modern design for your coffee table this year, make sure it's this one. I'm just sorry my old bookstore isn't there to sell it to you.
The Inside Scoop on Spring 2012
by Dan
Design & Typography + Fiction + Graphica / December 05, 2011
For those of you who don't know, I'm usually based in Toronto. But last week, I was out west for the Raincoast Books spring 2012 sales conference. Sadly I didn't get to see much of Vancouver (the photo above was taken less than a block from the hotel!) or catch up with half the people I meant to, but I did get to hear about a lot of great new books and so I thought I would quickly share a FEW of my personal favourites...
The strangest book on the week was surely How To Build Android: The True Story of Philip K. Dick's Robotic Resurrection by David F. Dufty which is on the Henry Holt & Co list. Spoiler alert: THEY LOST THE ROBOT!
Henry Holt also have a new novel by Herta Mueller, winner of the Nobel Prize in 2009, called The Hunger Angel, and the latest from John Banville's alter-ego Benjamin Black, Vengeance.
Picador are publishing a collected edition of Edward St. Aubyn's Patrick Melrose trilogy in January — the first time they've all been properly available in the US & Canada I believe — to coincide with the release of his new book At Last (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux). Picador also have a collection of essays by Siri Hustvedt, Living, Thinking, Looking.
Although this season's long-awaited Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design will be hard to beat, there are several art and design titles that caught my eye. Princeton Architectural Press are publishing Woodcut, a book of beautiful prints by artist Bryan Nash Gill and Up on the Roof, a collection of photographs by Alex MacLean of New York's hidden rooftop spaces. PAPress are also publishing a paperback edition of Michael Bierut's must-read Seventy-Nine Short Essays on Design, and a paperback edition of the beautiful Typography Sketchbooks by Steven Heller and Lita Talarico.
Lawrence King are publishing a new book on the history of picture books, Children's Picturebooks: The Art of Visual Storytelling by Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles, and a new edition of The End of Print by David Carson. 100 Years of Fashion by Cally Blackman also looks stunning.
On the comics side, Drawn & Quarterly are publishing Jerusalem: Chronicle from the Holy City, the latest travelogue from Guy Delisle who previous books include The Burma Chronicles, Pyongyang and Shenzhen, and a new edition of Chester Brown's controversial, scatological and long out-of-print comic Ed The Happy Clown.
I'm also looking forward to seeing more of Baby's in Black: Astrid Kirchherr, Stuart Sutcliffe, and The Beatles in Hamburg by Arne Bellstorf which is being published by First Second in April, and to getting my hands on Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown and All My Friends Are Still Dead by Avery Monsen and Jori John from Chronicle Books.
And lastly — because I am big nerd and recently finished reading his earlier book about the Dark Knight Batman Unmasked — I'm excited about Will Brooker's Hunting the Dark Knight: Twenty-First Century Batman, which is being published by I. B. Tauris in July.
Phew! More to come... 
The Title Design of Saul Bass (A Brief Visual History)
by Dan
Design & Typography + Film / November 14, 2011
I've been waiting for a book about Saul Bass since I was bookseller (i.e. for a LONG time), so I was really, really excited when I discoved earlier this year that Laurence King would be publishing the gorgeous Saul Bass: A Life In Film & Design – the first book to be published on the great American designer.
Now it's finally in bookstores, Ian Albinson of the brilliant Art of the Title has put together a brief visual history of some of Bass's most celebrated work:
Comments (0) |
Tags:
cinema saul bass
Happy 20th birthday Laurence King!
by Danielle
Architecture + Art & Photography + Design & Typography + Film + Reference / August 12, 2011
Well Laurence King the publishing house, not Laurence King the founder himself (I think he's older than 20).
Established in London in 1991, Laurence King Publishing is now recognized as one of the world's leading publishers of books on the creative arts.
Their books are acclaimed for their beautiful design and authoritative text as well as the quality and care taken over their production. They publish books in the fields of art, graphic design, architecture and fashion; just to name a few.
Mark Lamster of Design Observer took up the chance to interview Laurence to hear his thoughts about the state and future of design publishing, and what makes a design book (and book proposal) successful.
...Even with this distinguished catalog, few Americans are likely to know much about King or his press, as until recently most of his titles were sold in this country by other publishers, who purchased their rights. I got to know him this way, both as a buyer and a seller, when I was an editor at Princeton Architectural Press. We worked on many books together — some winners, some losers — and it was always a pleasure. King is one of the true gentlemen of design publishing, self-deprecating and charming in the classic British manner... ~ Mark Lamster
Full article can be found here.
This Fall LK has some pretty amazing new books that I get to publicize (yep I do!). Please pre-order at Amazon.ca, Indigo. ca or take a walk to your local bookshop, they can order a copy for you. Below are just a few. There's planty more to come! I'll keep you posted!
And what's a blog without some cool Laurence King videos? Enjoy!
Angus Hyland on Design Matters
by Dan
Design & Typography / July 19, 2011
British designer Angus Hyland recently talked to Debbie Millman on the design podcast Design Matters about Tintin, how dyslexia led him to design, getting a job at Pentagram, the peace sign, Deutsche Bank, the London Olympics, and his new book Symbol co-authored with Steven Bateman.
You can download the Design Matters podcast from the itunes store, or directly from the Design Observer website.
There is also a short interview (accompanied by some lovely images of his work) with Angus at It's Nice That. Asked what makes his day, Angus answers:
Breakfast, or more precisely my perfect breakfast, which would be coffee (Illy or Lavatza made with UHT milk), a newly baked brioche from Ottolenghi and some fresh strawberries – preferably English. I would also settle for some fresh figs.
That sounds pretty good to me!
Symbol
by Dan
Design & Typography / May 31, 2011
I have to confess, I could spend A LOT of time looking at icons, symbols, trademarks and logo designs.
I already have more than a few books on my shelf but Symbol by Steven Bateman and Angus Hyland is a welcome addition. The book features over 1300 symbols, organized by the visual characteristics such as 'Curves, Crescents and Arcs', 'Wild Animals' and 'Birds.'
Each category has a brief introduction with expanded captions providing details about the symbol and there are short case studies on classic symbols still in use, such as the symbols for Penguin Books and Continental Airlines, as well as some exceptional new designs.
And if Symbol takes your fancy, you might also be interested in the fantastic American Trademarks: A Compendium by designers Eric Baker and Tyler Blik — an extra-chunky paperback featuring 1,000 trademark designs, published by Chronicle Books last year — and/or Logo by design journalist Michael Evamy which is packed with over 1,500 contemporary, international logo designs, published by Laurence King in 2007. Both are great looking books for design junkies.
Beer
by Dan
Design & Typography + Vancouver / April 25, 2011
I just arrived this morning in Vancouver for Raincoast's Fall 2011 Sales Conference and, with 4 days of meetings ahead of me, my mind has (strangely enough) already turned to beer!
Fortunately, we hold our conference in the lovely Listel Hotel in downtown Vancouver and, coming in from Toronto, it's always great to have some local beer and catch up with my west-coast colleagues in the bar at the end of the day.
This sales conference tradition is also the perfect excuse to post this hilarious video for Vancouver Craft Beer Week 2011, which starts May 6th:
Comments (0) |
Tags:
beer design events funny typography vancouver
The Beautiful Raincoast Newsletter Banners
by Dan
Design & Typography + News / January 26, 2011
If you're a regular reader of the Raincoast Newsletters, you might have noticed that each one has a unique graphic banner that incorporates elements from one of the books in the email.
In recent months, the banners for all of our newsletters have been designed by talented Vancouver-based designer Mark Stokoe.
Favourite Books 2010: Siobhan Long
by Dan
Art & Photography + Design & Typography + News / December 09, 2010
Stickwork
Patrick Dougherty
Princeton Architectural Press ISBN 9781568989761
$39.95
The sculptures that Patrick Dougherty makes from twigs and sticks completely amaze me. If I could live in one of his stick houses, I would. They are magical.
If you like Andy Goldsworthy, or were envious of the huge wooden fort they built in the Where the Wild Things Are movie, then you should check out this book.
The Small Stakes: Music Posters
Out of Sight
Siobhan Long is the Marketing Manager at Raincoast. When not thinking about books, she's likely daydreaming about fabric patterns, paint swatches or heirloom tomatoes.Favourite Books 2010: Dan Wagstaff
by Dan
Art & Photography + Design & Typography + News / December 07, 2010
Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig
Steven Heller and Elaine Lustig Cohen
Chronicle Books ISBN 9780811861274
$58.00
Responsible for the iconic book covers of New Directions’ New Classics series from the 1940’s and early 1950’s, Alvin Lustig is the book designers’ book designer. Although he died tragically young aged 40 in 1955, Lustig changed the face of modern American design forever.
I tweeted about Born Modern the moment I heard about it at sales conference and immediately discovered that A LOT of other people just could not wait to get their hands on it. This really is my favourite, favourite book of the year and if you're at all interested in design (or just want a taste of genuine Mad Men era chic), you need this in your life.
Large Scale: Fabricating Sculpture in the 1960s and 1970s
Jonathan D. Lippincott
Princeton Architectural Press ISBN 9781568989341
$52.00
A couple of years ago, PAPress published an amazing collection of Pedro Guerrero's work that include photographs inside the homes of sculptors Alexander Calder and Louise Nevelson. Then earlier this year, PAPress published Large Scale, a collection of behind-the-scenes photographs that capture the fabrication and installation of gigantic (GIGANTIC!) sculptures by Nevelson and other amazing post-war American artists like Claes Oldenburg, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Indiana, and Barnett Newman. Like the book of Guerrero's photographs, Large Scale is beautiful, rare and candid glimpse of artists in their element, and it captures a very particular moment in 20th century art history. Stunning.
KENK: A Graphic Portrait
Richard Poplak, illustrated by Nick Marinkovich
Pop Sandbox ISBN 9780986488405
$27.95
I think KENK caused me more anxiety and nail-biting than any other book we distributed this year, but the down-to-wire production and the subsequent controversy was all worth it in the end. The launch party at the Cadillac Lounge in Toronto was one of the most surreal book events I have ever been to (and yes, Kenk, like a moth to the flame, did arrive in person sending the attendant CBC camera crew into something of a tizzy). And although the book sadly wasn’t eligible for any of the major book awards in Canada, it was gratifying to see it picked by the Quill & Quire as one of their books of the year.
Dan Wagstaff lives in Toronto and works in online sales and marketing for Raincoast. He also drinks a lot of coffee and blogs about books, design and related stuff at The Casual Optimist.