Unit: Design/Research 02 – Space and structure Paper
Design Spin

“Number two in a series of ‘newspapers’ devoted to the overlooked and unexpected corners of graphic design and visual culture.

U:D/R 02 – Space and structure. Looking at Form, a quarterly magazine of the arts (1966—1969)

Not much has escaped the archaeologists of graphic design: zealous bloggers, Flickr hoarders and design historians seem to have found everything there is to find. Occasionally, however, something goes unnoticed. This is usually because it doesn’t come from the canon of recognised design greats – or because it doesn’t fit into the pattern of the times from which it sprang.

Form, a quarterly magazine published in Great Britain between 1966 and 1969, is one of those misfit artefacts. The co-editor, publisher and designer was Philip Steadman. Today, Philip Steadman is Professor of Urban and Built Form Studies at University College, London. He trained as an architect, and has taught at Cambridge and the Open University. He is the author of books on geometry in architecture, kinetic art and computer-aided design.

Although it only ran for ten issues, Form is an important component in the history of British graphic design: it is remarkable that it should have emerged at a time when Britain had been invaded by Pop Art and the Psychedelic style. But for the young Steadman, steeped in Modernist thinking, to design the magazine in the Swiss style was entirely natural. As an architecture student in the 1960s, Modernism was what he was taught – ‘it was just the received wisdom,’ he notes.

Form’s kinship with Neu Grafik and the Ulm bulletins are plain to see. ‘If you know Ulm you’ll see that Form is pretty closely modelled on it,’ says Professor Steadman. ‘It used Helvetica and white space. But I had my own ideas; I wanted the magazine to be square for example. Our plan was to keep publishing it until we made a perfect cube when all the issues were stacked one on top of another.’

In a long interview published in U:D/R 02, Professor Steadman discuses his early discovery of graphic design and his time as editor, publisher and designer of Form.

Editors: Tony Brook & Adrian Shaughnessy
Design: Spin
64pp, 4-colour tabloid (folded to 290 x 190mm) with card wrapper printed 1 PMS”.

It’s arrived! (No, not a new book from Unit Editions ;) but a brand new design/research ‘newspaper’ which deals with more, interesting design-related subject matter and also sees subtle changes in layout from its predecessor. Big thank you to Natasha for sorting these images out for me at the last minute. I’ll be adding the original high-res images (complete with halftone detail and specks of dust) to the SI Flickr shortly ;) . And with that, I bid you all a great weekend.