Bauhaus Dessau Foundation Identity

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hort-bauhaus-dessau-identity

Beautiful identity system by Hort for the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. I love the use of Courier and how stripped down the overall look is. Feels very technical. Hort intentionally avoided the visual elements that we think of when we hear Bauhaus. Hort explains:

…we decided to search for a solution that would relate more to the original ideas of Germany’s most influential Modernist school instead of relying on the visual clichés connected to Bauhaus – it seems almost impossible to use circle, square and triangle nowadays without it coming across as ironic or historicist.

Limited Edition Posters Inspired by Wim Crouwel

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experimental-jetset-wim-crouwel-poster

It’s seems like it’s Wim Crouwel month, and deservedly so.

Unit Editions and the Design Museum have asked a group of highly regarded graphic designers to design a poster for the “Wim Crouwel, A Graphic Odyssey” exhibit at the Design Museum. The designers were to create a design based on the dimensions and grid of the Stedelijk Museum posters created by Crouwel. My personal favorite is the one designed Experimental Jetset that is pictured here.

The designers:

Michael C Place/Build
Experimental Jetset
MuirMcNeil
Philippe Apeloig
David Pidgeon
Cartlidge Levene
Tony Brook/Spin

Each poster is 635 x 950mm and screen-printed on Pristine white Colorplan. You can grab a copy at the Design Museum and Unit Editions.

Wim Crouwel: A Graphic Odyssey – Catalogue

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Wim crouwel graphic odyssey catalogue

To coincide with the upcoming Wim Crouwel exhibit at the Design Museum, Unit Editions has published this excellent catalogue that celebrates the work on this design legend.

The catalogue includes Crouwel’s posters, catalogues, documents, manuals, stamps and personal photographs, as well as an interview with him conducted by Tony Brook of Spin.

It’s available now at Unit Editions.

Bloomberg Businessweek Japan Cover

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Businessweek Japan Cover

Lately, I’ve been really impressed with the design of Businessweek, especially the covers. Creative Director Richard Turley has been doing a fantastic job and it’s really refreshing to see this type of aestheitc being applied to something so unexpected. I’ve never been a Businessweek reader, but these covers are tempting me to pick up the issues to see what else is in store. That can only be a good thing for them.

All the covers have been great, but the latest one for their Crisis in Japan issue is superb. The cover is simple. It features an illustration, by Noma Bar, of the rising sun with a crack in the shape of a screaming face. At the top left is the logo, along with “Crisis in Japan”. Simple, beautiful and straight to the point. I’m so glad that they didn’t go with some photo of the devastation, this seemed a lot more appropriate. The final touch is the flap that covers the screaming face, which acts as a nice reveal to the viewer.

Richard, writes on his blog about the process they took to create the cover.