What with all the Helvetica talk lately and then Vernon's Flickr set I've felt the urge to dig out my copies of Octavo.
If you don't know: just 8 issues of Octavo were produced by London-based design studio 8vo between 1986 and 92. All but the final issue were printed magazines of the finest quality (the last was a CD ROM produced at a time when such things were "cutting-edge").
The contents often had a distinct leaning towards matters of modernist typography: Zwart, Schuitema, Burchatz et al, alongside more contemporary exponents and theorists.
They were quite expensive and I was a poor studio junior at the time so could only afford these two. But even now I take them out occasionally and marvel at their beauty. You can read more about 8vo here or you could buy the book of course.
Now disbanded the partners - Mark Holt, Hamish Muir and Simon Johnston - are working independantly and are still doing interesting things.
You're a man after my own heart, Richard. Octavo was brilliant, brilliant, brilliant - plus it also taught us that Univers was way ahead of Helvetica when it came to font choice, don't you think?
Posted by: davidthedesigner | 15 June 2007 at 12:09 AM
I'm glad to see 8vo get a mention; they were such pioneers of digital typography. And I love that they did a little retrospective book based on process, rather than a self-aggrandizing coffee table book.
Posted by: Bruce | 15 June 2007 at 01:16 AM
Thanks so much for digging these out! Helvetica is truly timeless - that cover and contents spread could've been designed yesterday!
Coincidentally I recently dug out some interesting 90s journals and books recently that I'd squirreled away as a student. Highlights (?) include the Carson Emigre issue, multiple copies of BlahBlahBlah and Raygun, Tomato's Bareback and an interesting Citrus Exhaust:Emission A3-sized catalogue. I just got the base model, I couldn't spring at the time for the T-Shirt+CD issue! Still looks great in its A3 anti-static bag!
Doesn't date me at all, I'm sure!
Posted by: Simon | 15 June 2007 at 08:56 AM
I too, have most of the Octavo books. I was so touched by the designs back then, that to this day, I treasure them with more value than gold!
Posted by: Alyce | 13 July 2007 at 01:33 AM