Editor’s Letter

H E L L O and welcome to this brand new Graphic Design Magazine.In RGB we explore the depth of the graphic design industry, speak to established designers, who inspire people with thier amazing creations and who we predict will be the next great up and coming designer in the bussiness, there’s so many so we are spoiled for choice in our review.In this first edition we speak to Swiss Designer Josef Müller Brookmann in an Exclusive Interview,We take an indepth look at post modern and modern art and designers, question the use of advertising and explore wordwide Art galleries and exhibitions. We also have special features on the late Alan Fletcher and we visit the Experimental Jetset company studio to see how they create and expand ideas into designs.We hope you enjoy this first edition and continue to view RGB in our up coming issues.You can check out our website www.rgbmagazine.co.uk for more infomation, plus a behind the scenes look on how we created this issue and lots lots more!

please contact me, if you’ve got any questions or ideas in what you would like RGB to feature in future issues

contact me at editor@rgbmagazine.co.uk

I N S I D

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Josef Müller Brockmann Exclusive Interview6

10 The World Of Graphic Design

12 Alan Fletcher tribute

15 Experimental JetsetInside their Design studio

20 The Low down on Advertising

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30 36

Art Galleries/Exhibitions

Post Modern

Modern

RBG

4 5

RBG

www.rgbmagazine.co.uk

A CONVERSATION WITH

JOSEF MÜLLER BROCKMANN

INTERVIEW

MARCH 2008 MARCH 2008

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Josef Müller-Brockmann was born in Rapperswil, Switzerlandin 1914 and studied architecture, designand history of art at the University of Zurich and at the city’s kunstegewerbeschule. He began his career as an

apprentice to the designer and advertising cosultant Walter Diggelman before, in 1936, establishing his own Zurich studio specialising in graphics, exhibition design and photography. By the 1950s he was established as the leading practitioner and theorist of the Swiss Style, which sought a universal graphic expression through a grid-based design purged of extraneous illustration and subjective feeling. His ‘Musica viva’ poster series for the Zurich Tonhalle drew on the language of Constructivism to create a visual correlative to the structural harmonies of the music.

Yvonne Schwemer-Scheddin: You are the protagonist of the Swiss School and stand for objective, radically minimalist geometric design. You invented the grid system for graphic design and were the first systematically to outline the history of visual communication. For Le Corbusier, order was the key to life. George Braque said, ‘I love the law that orders the creative ’For Berthold Brecht,order covered up a deficit. What does order mean to you?

Josef Müller-Brockmann: Order was always wishful thinking for me. For 60 years I have produced disorder in files, correspondence and books. In my work, however, I have always aspired to a distinct arrangement of typographic and pictorial elements, the clear identification ofpriorities. The formal organisation of the surface by means of the grid,a knowledge of the rules that govern legibility (line length, word and letter spacing ans so on) and the meaning use of colour are among the tools a designer must master.

Y S-S: What do you regard as your best work?J M-B: The white reverse sides of my posters!

Y S-S: What was you most creative period?J M-B: My most creative period was in fact my worst because at the time my work was still illustrative. But this period of discovery and clarification eventually led to the rich productivity of my forties.

Y S-S: You were influenced by Carl Jung, but then lost interest.Why was that?

J M-B: As a young man I was intrigued not only by psychology but also by graphology. When I met people who interested me I would read their handwriting and was rarely wrong in my judgements. But this gift began to disturb me, especially in my dealings with clients, where it would unnecessarily prejudice discussion. So I abandoned it over night. Later I paid the price for giving up these analyses when I took on partners and employees whose handwriting would have given me an early warning of trouble ahead.

Y S-S: What is the source of your efforts to clarify everything and aspire to what is eternally valid? Is it a protest against death, or a fear of looking behind the picture to the unconscious?

J M-B: The unconscious is part of the support structure: everything that is stored there comes to light in the work process. What I try to achieve in my work is to communicate information about an idea, event or product as clearly as possible. Such a down-to-earth presentation is barely affected by present-day trends. But it is not so much a question of making a statement that will be valid for all time as of being able to communicate information to the recipient in a way that leaves him or her free to form a positive or negative opinion . . .

‘I would advise young people to look at everything theyencounter in a critical light..

Then I would urge them at all times to be self-critical ,

RBG

Above: Poster Designs by Josef Müller Brockmann

WHO NEEDS THERAPY WHEN THERE’S RETAIL!

Retail Therapy has always been a phrase used by women, the thrill of buying a new handbag or a pair of shoes and trying on that fab dress which fits you perfectly. Shopping makes women feel good and it’s a satisfaction many young girls and women crave for.

According to a survey carried out by USwitch in February 2007, there are said to be around 750,000 shopaholics in the UK, they spend on average more than £200 a month on the habit and are more likely to be more than 11,000 in debt. The survey which was sustain 2,118 adults also revealed that those addicted to retail therapy need to shop for clothes andaccessories at least once a week for the whole year.

The poll also unveil the use of unsecured credict is prolific among shopaholics, with an overwhelming

Celebrity EndorsementsMany high street chain stores have decided to use celebrities to promote their shop and clothing range, in order to increase sales and appeal to a wide audience. H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) have got Madonna to design her own range called M, Kylie Minogue has designed a swimwear range also for H&M, Monsoon have used Liz Hurley and Kate Moss has created a new line of clothes for Topshop which hit stores nationwide May 1st this year.

Having a celebrity wearing an item of clothing associated with your brand can increase it’s popularity and demand for the product which brings in more money for the company. Many shopaholics like to wear fashionable things and if a certain celebrity is wearing something which is said to be this Seasons fashion chances are that the shopaholic would run out and buy it The next day.Naomi Campbell turned up at her community service to work as a cleaner dressed from head to toe in expensive designer clothes adding up to thousands.The designer gear she wore, were meant to stop being manufacture but after Naomi wore the clothes the designer did a U turn and made more for public demand.The £2 superdrug’s bag Kate Moss carried last summer, sold out nationwide after the supermodel was seen with the charity bag.

Celebrity ShoppersIt’s not just orinary women who like shopping, celebrities like Coleen Mcloughlin are well known for their love of shopping, Coleen is rarely seen with out carrying shopping bags and is the face of Asda’s brand George clothing range due to her fashion taste and interest. Victoria Beckham is considered to be a fashion icon and has wrote a book about fashion, givng her own fashion

Online ShoppingSites like ASOS.com are dedicated to copying celebrity style at affordable prices, it has become so popular that it is now the number 1 online shopping website ahead of Next. Like ASOS, a vast amount of high street stores have taken to copying designer clothes which look very similar to the designer version only much cheaper and affordable to the public. This is all in favour of the saying that you don’t have to wear designer to look good because the high street are just as good when it comes to fashion. The fascination of fashion and shopping has generated a new weekly magazine deicated to shopping called Look targeted at all women who love to shop.

High StreetHigh Street stores such as Primark,Topshop, Zara, Next, River Island and Oasis are very popular withshoppers, during the sales peak periods of January, retail chains are expected to attract thousands of shoppers and make millions of profits from bargain hunting customers eager to snap up bargins.

Oxford Street is one of the World’s largest shopping streets with over 300 Shops, many promotional events launch’s are held in flagship stores in oxford street such as the launch of Madonna’s range at H&M and more recently the launch of Kate Moss’s range for Topshop, which attracted thousands of people who queue up to get their hands on the range.

Shoppers will queue for hours to get what they want!

72%Admit to using a mix of credict & store cards

It’s not just the high street which generated queues, queues for Sainsbury’s limited edition reusable carrier bags designed by Anya Hindmarch with the logo “I ‘m not a plastic bag, had thousands of fashion fans queuing up from 2am to snap up the £5 bag. It sold out at stores and were soon on website Ebay for around £100. Actress Keira Knightley and singer Lilly Allen were seen carring them.

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72 per cent admitting to using a mix of credict and store cards, overdrafts and loans to fund their shopping sprees, compared with 51 per cent of women nationally. The research gives a profile of the shopaholic as someone who on average earns 18,959 a year, she tends to be under 25, spends 14per cent of her disposable income on fashion and is found mainly in cities.

Birmingham was revealed to be the fashion spending capital of Britain, with women there splashing out on average £1,813.56 a year, £773.64 higher than the average, for the study a shopaholic was defined as someone who has 50per cent or more as a proportion of unsecured debt attributes to fashion purchases.

tips and advice. The England football team Wags,Wifes and Girlfriends, spent most of thier time doing shopping sprees while thier other halfs competted in the world cup games.Interest in what footballers wifes and girlfriends wear have become a big feature in the fashion media industry.

Becki 17 FROM BLACKPOOLWhy do you like retail shopping?Because it’s Fun, I like to see what new things are in the shops and to treat myself sometimes.Favourite Shop? River IslandBags or Shoes? That’s a hard one, bagsWhat do you think of high street stores using celebs like Lilly Allen, Kate Moss and Madonna to design clothes for their store?I think it’s good because it promotes the clothes more and people become more interested in the clothes.

Amanda 31 FROM CARDIFFWhy do you like retail shopping?umm It’s nice to buy new stuffFavourite Shop?Um I don’t really have a favouriteBags or Shoes?ShoesWhat do you think of high street stores using celebs like Lilly Allen,Kate Moss and Madonna to design clothes for their store? Well if they want to promote their clothes thats a way of doing it.

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Jermaine 20 FROM LONDON Why do you like retail shopping? Buying new trainers and sports stuffFavourite Shop?Lilly Whites, a sport shop and River lslandbags or shoes?ShoesWhat do you think of high streetstores using celebs like lilly Allen, Kate Moss and Madonna to design clothes for their store? I don’t like them but I think it’s good using celebs

Sophie 15 FROM CUMBRIAWhy do you like retail shopping?Yeah I love it because you get new stuffFavourite Shop? New Lookbags or shoes? BagsWhat do you think of high street stores using celebs like lilly Allen, Kate Moss and madonna to design clothes for their store? Yeah It’s good idea it attracts more people.

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Summer May 2007 www.panache.comFeature Summer May 2007 www.panache.com

The Harrods story started in 1834 in London’s East End, when founder Charles Henry Harrod set up as a wholesale grocer in Stepney, with a special interest in tea. In 1849, to escape the filth of the inner city – and capitalise on rade to the Great Exhibition of 1851 in nearby Hyde Park – Harrod took over a small shop in the new district of Knightsbridge on the site of the current store. From a single room employing two assistants and a messenger boy, Harrod’s son Charles Digby built up the business into a thriving store selling medicines, perfumes, stationery, fruit and vegetables, expanding into the adjoining buildings and employing 100 staff by 1880.

But the store’s booming fortunes changed in 1883, when it burnt to the ground in early December; with true Harrods mettle, Charles Digby fulfilled all the Christmas deliveries – and made a record

profit for the store. A new building immediately rose from the ashes, and soon it extended credit for the first time to its best customers among them Oscar Wilde and legendary actresses Lilly Langtry and Ellen Terry. Harrods is also well known as the only store to get celebrites to open it’s door for thier Sales, as the saying goes theres only one Harrods theres only one sale. The Harrods story started in 1834 in London’s East End, when founder Charles Henry Harrod set up as a wholesale grocer in Stepney.

Harrods first opened it doors in 1849. The building

is well established as London’s finest shopping

destination. It was also well known as the building

the Queen shops in. Harrods has a reputation for

excellence when it comes to satisfying customers and

selling quality merchandise.

Welcome to

1. People shopping

inside Harrods store.

2. Harrods Building in

Knightsbridge.

3 and 4. Harrods

window display is

currently promoting the

new James Bond film

Casino Royale.

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