Interview with Brenda Dermody and Teresa Breathnach

This is a hard question to answer in a way because it’s a fluid concept – our ideas about what makes good design change all the time according to context. But looking at a wide range of design over a long period of time puts some perspective on it – at a basic level, good graphic design has to solve a problem effectively. It has to communicate clearly to its intended audience and it should have a considered concept at its heart.

There is a generational element at work here – what seems dated to one generation looks exotic to the next, and means something different to them. It also takes on a different meaning for designers and consumers using it for the second time around. Retro often looks to the recent past, relatively speaking, but it seems that there has to be some sense of distance between then and now to use it effectively.
When we were researching the book, it also seemed to us that the periods encompassed by retro have been extended backwards too – there’s a greater interest now in the nineteenth century, for instance (Mucca Design’s Decora Typeface, Sandstrom’s XGames poster). There can also be a lot of layering of references – the current interest in sixties- and seventies-style illustration also incorporates references to art nouveau (Marlin’s Randapalooza logo for Starbucks, Ashby Design’s and Thievery Corporation’s music packaging). Many pieces are now also using effects that suggest age or material things, as well as style.

All periods of design are interesting, and there are designs that work well and those that don’t in all eras. Modernist ideas of the twentieth century always stimulate interest – this is when graphic design per se really kicked off, and when designers were really idealistic about what design could do. The International Style remains a really big influence on contemporary designers, and in a way it has never receded.
There are periods that we both find interesting, for our own reasons. Teresa loves the nineteenth century for its sheer exuberance and confidence, and for how clearly it expresses the ideals of the age. She also became keen on British design of the 1950s and 60s when researching this book. I loved the opulence and sophistication evoked by the streamlined, geometric forms found in work from the art deco period. I also loved the application of the International Style for the ‘high street’ in examples such as Marber and Facetti’s covers for the 1960s Penguin crime series and the Peter Dixon’s work for Sainsburys in the same period.

The research process itself was really enjoyable, and we have different strengths so the collaborative nature of the project helped. Looking for new work for the portfolio section meant keeping our eyes wide open for interesting pieces, trawling through design books and magazines and following leads. Many of the designers involved had some very interesting things to say about their own work. We got a lovely piece from Atelier Works, the sixties influenced Trees for Cities logo, which uses a thumbprint. Designer Quentin Newark was able to tell us that it was actually Alan Fletcher’s thumbprint that he had kept from a previous project. This was very poignant because Alan Fletcher had since passed away.

This is really tough, because often there have been a chain of developments that have resulted in change during any one period. The introduction of the Apple Mac in the 1980s has to be of primary importance for design since then. The 1960s saw some interesting innovations including the IBM Selectric Golfball Composer which allowed designers to have greater control in layout. There were a plethora of inventions in the nineteenth century that had an enormous impact – the introduction of colour printing through chromolithography was just one. Technological developments have impacted on retro design too. Open Type has allowed type designers to offer many variants within a single typeface so it’s possible for designers to emulate the scripts and handlettering popular in the early and mid twentieth century.

How long have you got and how many favourites are we allowed? Templin Brink’s packaging for Target’s Archer Farm brand is really distinctive, Mark Denton’s promotional mailer for calligrapher Alison Carmichael has a real kick, Image Now’s invite for the exhibition 48 Posters, Josef Muller-Brockmann really absorbs the spirit of the subject and pushes the limits in its use of technique and materials. Amongst the historical images, Ken Garland’s 1969 Galy Tots brochure is very evocative of its time but still seems to stay fresh, London Transport’s Festival of Britain Bus Tickets because they are such ordinary things and yet so beautiful, the Siege of Troy poster from the Victoria and Albert Museum because it remains visually arresting some 180 years after its creation.