Print Autumn Book Reviews November 11, 2010 Some of the book reviews featured in Article Issue 1, Autumn 2010.

Faile: Prints and Originals 1999-2009

Gestalten

A bone of contention in the Article office is the difference between street art and graffiti. With one proponent deeply assured that street art is just a poncey, non-credible version of the ‘proper street’. The other view is quite the alternative; graffiti is merely juvenile, sloppy and pointless tagging, whilst street art is something genuinely fascinating and intriguing. So, being the bearer of the latter position I was really excited to get to review Faile 99-09 Prints and Originals.

This hardback monograph is a moderately autobiographical look at the past ten years of Faile’s journey from graphic design students to internationally acclaimed street artists and print makers. Their work clearly demonstrates their graphic background, and combines layered images, sharp graphic elements, coarse halftone images, and text. Written by the artistic duo and childhood friends, Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller, the book succinctly tells the story of the rise and rise of Faile, and provides us with some beautiful prints along the way. Seeing as any original Faile print will set you back around $2000, ripping pages from this book is the most financially viable way of getting some of their art onto your walls. If you fall on the right side of our petty office dispute then this book is definitely worth a look.

Fanzines by Teal Triggs,

Thames and Hudson,

So, before I start this review, I want to warn you that there is nothing I can do other than gush. Naturally, as a maker of an independent magazine, this is what you would expect. But even if you don’t make a magazine or a fanzine yourself, chances are that if you like this magazine, then you’ll love this book.

A book about the history of self-publishing… why has no one done this before?! Teal Trigg’s Fanzines is a massive collection of zines dating from as far back as the thirties. From early science fiction zines, through to the punk classics of the seventies, to feminist zines from the nineties, up to the present day. This isn’t just a picture rich monograph either, Triggs is professor of Design History at the London College of Communications and has been an enthusiastic collector of zines for years. Fanzines is a text heavy history of the cultures that have fuelled and utilized self-publishing.

OWT Zine Issue 1 Beginnings

OWT is a collective of five graphic design graduates from Manctown. Together the five have produced a zine. Large black and white images fill the zine, which is broken down into five sections by small typed initials on the top left corners of the page – one section for each designer. Short on text, the zine explores the theme of Beginnings using monochrome imagery. The section breakdown allows the personalities of the five designers to come through, and gives the zine a layer of intrigue.

The follow up issue, themed Reflections, is out now.

Graphic Design for Fashion by Jay Hess and Simone Pasztorek

Laurence King

Design books often feel like much of a muchness, that is except when they endeavour to explore a highly specialized area of design. The latter is the case with Graphic Design for Fashion, a two hundred and eighty odd page hardback that looks at the exclusive, high-end sphere of graphic design: those who make imagery for luxury labels.

The book divides into chapters on logos, invitations, lookbooks and packaging, and looks at the collaborations between graphic design studios and fashion houses. It is an unspoken implication that clothing companies are dream clients who allow graphic designers the freedom to pursue wonderful aesthetic and conceptual ideas with substantial budgets. And, more apparently, that the work of these designers is what makes fashion, well, Fashion. Packaging, images and labels are just as, if not more, important (and interesting) than the clothes themselves.

Presentation is in the usual design book format of brief interviews with the designers, accompanied by samples of their works. For those interested in the subject this is a book of fantasy briefs and jobs. It is also a useful blagger’s guide if you want to look like you know about this stuff but don’t have the time to read loads of samey blogs.