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I've been thinking about this one for ages now and I'll warn you, it's going to be a long one; probably my longest yet and please remember I'm no Rick Poynor or Adrian Shaunessy so stick with it, there is a point...

You see, every Christmas I like to get a good book about a dead designer. Previous years have included brilliant books about Abrahm Games (a book that inspired probably one of the finest bits of graphic design I've ever done), Hans Schleger, Hendrik Werkman, Paul Rand and Ladislav Sutnar (to be blogged soon I hope).

I've always found that there's so much more to be learnt from books about dead people. You get a critical overview of a lifes worth of work and often insight into technique and influences less common in books about people still breathing.

In 2005 I broke with tradition and got Frost*. I like Frost's work a lot and the book is very nice. Printed on a surprisingly light but bulky uncoated stock; it's thick but weighs very little. I think it's also ecologically sound which is admirable. Alas, contents-wise I was disappointed: nice pictures but I learnt nothing.

This year, not to be put off and despite the temptation to get the Fletcher book, I got Make it Bigger by Paula Scher (who is very much alive). Can't quite remember why I chose it; I think Ben might have mentioned her sometime. Certainly, it's a book that had passed me by when it was first published in '02, not sure why but quite possibly because I don't like Scher's work.

Now, I've learnt that not liking a designer's work is no reason to ignore it, so in I went and although it's too late to say, "to cut a long story short", I must say that it soon became apparent that it's a bloody brilliant book. Scher takes us through the highs and many lows of her career to date and it's the failures that are most fascinating. Or rather the things she learnt from them. Her experiences are insightful and her frankness welcome. For example, she mentions a poster she did on which she'd included an image of Churchill doing the V sign, only when it was put up around New York his first finger was blackened out with marker pen, leaving him "doing the finger". She was actually thrilled.

Then I came to her hand drawn maps and diagrams and suddenly realised I did like her work, I just hadn't realise it was her work. These are fantastic and obsessive and remind me of the big man himself.

Later she gives us a peek at the innered's of Pentagram, a brief history in diagramatic form and even the studio layout which is all very interesting.

To be totally honest, I still don't like all of her work but now I know more about it I have a much greater respect for it and her. Best of all, it's a book that you can learn stuff from, so although I still think there's much to be learnt from books about dead designers, it's not just the dead ones. And I guess that's my point.

That and the one I've already mentioned, i.e. not liking someone's work is no reason to ignore it. Think I might read that Peter Saville book now, I never really liked his stuff.

(And I got through that without mentioning the Boston cover...read the book).

Comments

[Ben]

Don't get me started on Saville...

[Brad Brooks]

Yeah, nor me. Still, I agree that reading books on designers whose work you actually don't like is very worthwile. I'm not a fan of Carson or Brody, but I learnt a lot reading the monographs on them. Not least why I actually don't like their work...