The next destination for the Letterbox’s typographic odyssey is an exhibition that is a typographic tribute to the animals lost in space research.

Between 1949 and 1990 the space-race between USA and USSR involved dozens of animals being sent up into space to test future conditions for mankind. These unwilling participants included monkeys, dogs, cats, rats, frogs, worms, fish, spiders and even fruit flies. Most were never seen again.

The works, comprising of a series of illuminated billboards, are accompanied by a limited edition exhibition catalogue and type sampler, Orbit Oblique. It also features the public release of Bisque, a typeface that made design history by being the first font whose international rights were auctioned on ebay in 2007.

Opening night
5.30pm onwards, to be opened by
Dr Mark Davis / School of Culture & Communications,
Faculty of Art, University of Melbourne
Thursday 17th April 2008

Craft Victoria / 31 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, Australia
Gallery hours / Tues to Sat 10am to 5pm

Exhibition dates / 17th April to 17th May 2008
Enquires / info (at) letterbox.net.au

Everyone welcome!

Information about the Letterbox
Called a ‘typographic evangelist’ by Eye magazine, designer Stephen Banham is the founder of Letterbox, a type studio based in Melbourne, Australia. Banham has written and produced 14 publications on typography, run a successful public forum series on graphic design and typography known as Character, and spoken at international design events from Barcelona to Beirut, New Zealand to New York.

For more information about all of the above and more, visit the Letterbox here

The studio has designed this event identity for the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment and the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet. The scheme was developed with a range of stakeholders and under the constrains of a tight timeline. The approved identity was then distributed to various parties facilitating the event’s signing, print, advertising and digital components. The tick is an abstract of the climate change issue being one overarching problem, that requires numerous and diverse solutions – which is what this summit is facililating. Thanks to the DSE and DPAC for for fostering a smooth and productive process.

Visit the Victorian Climate Change Summit here

Andrew was recently invited by the Design Institute of Australia to be on the judging panel for graphic communication for the QDOS Awards. In between commitments there was a little time to steal a little Brisbane.

Stephen Mallinder, Richard Kirk and Chris Watson as music entourage Caberet Voltaire (CV) burst onto the music scene in 1973, it was said that the group was more interested in making noise rather than music. Dub House, techno, dance and experimental electronica have a lot to owe CV and Shelfield.

Nag Nag Nag released in 1978 is no exception. One won’t get to heaven with this sound track, yet in terms of noisy music this is paradise. What has this post got to do with graphic design? Answer: Neville Brody’s CV sleeve designs.

Neville Brody came onto the graphic design scene in the 1980s. His graphic design and art direction began with record cover sleeves for music groups like Cabaret Voltaire. At this time his works was a distinctive expression, that encorporated graphic marks, contemporary image making, photography and a customised approach to typography.Brody’s monograph the Graphic Language of Neville Brody was touchstone of the design industy in the late 1980s. It was a publication that began the age of designer = rockstar opening the way for a flurry of graphic design monographs which became more like vanity publishing.

The age of Neville Brody was the toiling bell, so to speak, that heralded a new era for graphic design where the drawing table was soon to make way for graphic design being produce on the desktop computer.

Brody came to Australia in 1989 toured by Australian Graphic Design Association. Brody’s curious presence brought to life the notion of a lowly graphic designer being an edgy youthful global entity. Kevin Wilkins (working at FHA, now freelance) and Robyn Wakefield (working at Ross Barr, now Walter Wakefield) collaborated to design a set of postcard invitations for this tour. The cards were pieces to a puzzle incorporating mixed italic and roman typography, when assembled the collection cards made an image composed with distressed photocopied images. The invitation (well and truly before email) arrived in the post within a tracing paper envelop.

In 1989 at the Sydney event, Brody presented with 35mm slides and video tapes at the Sydney School of the Arts in Balmain. His youthful presence put in the minds of emerging designers – that one can make an impression on the graphic design movement in their youth. Brody was proceeded by a stable of brand like, global designers, including Tomato, David Carson, more recently Stefan Sagmiester and the rise of the designer ego. A legacy this designer is steering clear of.

Twenty years on Brody’s work in type design and image making is not as public as it was back then, never-the-less it remains prolific and very familiar.

Visit Neville Brody, Visit CV here

Visitez le site Apeloig, visitez le site Alliance Graphique Internationale