Designer Desire: Zvi Narkiss

Born in Romania, (1921-2010) Zvi Narkiss was an award winning graphic designer and topographer.

He emigrated to Palestine at the age of 23, settling in Jerusalem. There, he attended painting classes with Jakob Steinhardt and Mordecai Ardon. He progressed on to study graphic design at The New Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. He was so considered so talented, he bypassed the first academic year. The following year, he was invited to join the graphics department at the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (the Jewish National Fund). Between 1950 and 1955 he was the chief graphic designer of the IDF’s training aids unit and served as head of the manuals’ design unit of the Israeli Air Force.

In 1955, he founded his own graphic design & typography studio where, for half a century, he designed books, exhibitions, stamps, banknotes, coins, advertising posters and logos. Amongst his many projects he designed two biblical books – the Horev Bible and the Hebrew University Bible – Jerusalem Crown for which he created a special typeface. He designed Israel’s very first tourism poster (included in the montage above), the IDF pavilion at the First Decade Exhibition (1958), the Victory Medal (1967), the Peace Medal (1977) and banknotes for the national bank of Israel.

Of all the design genres he practised, his real speciality was type design (fonts). He was the most prolific designer of Hebrew types during the 20^th century; throughout his career, he designed a total of 14 typeface sets. Narkis, the book types he created that bear his name (Narkiss, Narkis Block, New Narkis, Narkis Tam and Narkisim), are the most popular and commonly in use in Israel. All in all, he designed five of the ten most frequently used typefaces in Israel.

In 2006, he won the EMET Prize in the design category for his Hebrew font designs.

At Narkiss’ funeral in 2010, the head of the department of visual communications department at his alma mater eulogised that, although the population at large don’t know the name Zvi Narkiss:

…most of us ‘consume’ Narkis’ work on a daily basis, at nearly every moment… Zvi’s letters, the Hebrew letters Zvi designed over many years during his long career, appear and are in use everywhere. Nearly any material printed in Hebrew bears at least one of the typefaces Narkis designed, be it a best-selling novel, a daily newspaper, packaging for cheese, the opening of a television program, a road sign or paper currency. Narkis’ work is outstanding and very unusual. He nurtured and enriched the appearance of the Hebrew letter in a variety of new shapes – Zvi’s work has become the standard relative to which everything is designed.

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Additional image credits:
Palestine Poster Project | Wikipedia

Designer Desire: Anthony Burrill

In this week’s Auction Alert post, one of the lots we featured was a poster by Anthony Burrill. When I did a little research about him, I discovered that he hails from Littleborough – literally down the road from where we used to live in Todmorden!

Now based down south in rural Kent, Burrill (b. 1969) is a graphic artist known for his bold, typographic works. He attended Leeds Polytechnic and gained a masters from the London College of Art.

I’m not a great fan of the increasingly popular ‘inspirational quote’ type of wall art – but Burrill’s work is something else altogether. It’s clever in its design; powerful and intelligent without the schmaltziness.

I try to say the most, with the least and connect with people through words…

I absolutely love his striking public art piece in Leeds city centre, alongside the River Aire (shown at the top of the montage above); it’s a massive 88^ft high, a gable end emblazoned with his “YOU&ME ME&YOU. Have a watch of this bit of film where he talks about the 2020 project.

YOU&ME and ME&YOU from MANIAC on Vimeo.

Buy his work at Jealous, Nelly Duff, Print Club London and on Burrill’s own website.

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Additional image credit:
Chris Spencer-Payne

Designer Desire: Margaret Calvert

Even if you’re not that much of a fan or know that much about graphic design, Margaret Calvert will surely have had an influence on your life.

Calvert (b. 1936), with her former teacher at Chelsea College of Art, Jock Kinneir designed the signage for the burgeoning motorway system. Ironically, at the time, neither Calvert nor Kinneir could drive.

As well as the signage for the nation’s road and rail, Calvert & Kinneir designed the accompanying typefaces. Motorway was first used in 1958 on the M6 Preston bypass (now part of the M6). It’s also been adopted on the road networks of Ireland and Portugal. Rail Alphabet, designed in 1965, was first used at London’s Liverpool Street Station. It would later be adopted by the NHS in England, Scotland and Wales for its signs. It continues to be the dominant typeface used on signs in older hospitals. It’s also been adopted by British Airports Authority and by Danish railway company, DSB.

Calvert re-imagined her ‘Man at Work’ sign as a ‘Woman at Work’ artwork (compare the top pair of road signs). She also updated her ‘Children Crossing’ sign in 2016 (the girl was based on a childhood photo of herself); can you spot the differences?

She was responsible for designing the Tyne and Wear Metro typeface in 1977. It was later updated and evolved to be used, in 1992, as 3D external signage for Royal College of Art.

In her own words:

We never decided, ‘Oh, let’s brand the United Kingdom’… but as with London black cabs and red buses… You thought of everything from the standpoint of: ‘What if I am at the wheel, doing speeds of over 70mph?’
I like the idea of designing for the larger public… Design is a service. The term graphic design didn’t exist then. They called it commercial art. It’s not designing from a fashion point of view, it’s purely logic, function and aesthetics. And you can’t get simpler.

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Additional image credits:

It’s Nice That

1Wall Creative Collage

We just received this Creative Collage set from the lovely people at 1Wall.

The box contains 64, A3 sized sheets with which to create random patterns or specific words & phrases.

Possibilities are endless with a choice of typefaces, letters, numbers and symbols.

All the sheets can be applied en-mass to a feature wall or designs can be room-specific; food-related for a kitchen diner, bathing for the bathroom – or relaxation for a lounge or bedroom.

We also think that they’re great for use as Christmas decorations – and we’ve been experimenting in our own house this week.

They’re very easy to use. The sheets can be applied directly to the wall using the paste mixture supplied or mounted on movable & re-usable boards which adds a further dimension of flexibility.

Perfect for both domestic or business use – retailers in particular might find them useful. They’re ideal for a shop space or market stall – spell out company names, product ranges, messages to your customers etc.

The Creative Collage is a wonderful Christmas present – the recipients can mull over ideas with a mince pie, then get creative in the New Year.

In addition to this Typography set you also have the choice of Cityscene and Map collage designs. If you’d like to give it a go yourself, just enter the promotional code ‘nuffnang15‘ (valid until 31 Jan 2015) which will give you 15% off purchases on the 1Wall website.

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Tag: typeface

Designer Desire: Zvi Narkiss

Designer Desire: Anthony Burrill

Designer Desire: Margaret Calvert

1Wall Creative Collage