New at Pentagram
New Work: ‘Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy’
Summer equals superheroes, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art has its own summer blockbuster this year in “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy”, presented by The Costume Institute. The exhibition explores the symbolic and metaphysical associations between fictional comic book characters and fashion and features popular icons such as Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk, Wonder Woman, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Jean-Paul Gaultier. The show will be celebrated tonight at the Institute’s spring gala—co-chaired by George Clooney, of Batman & Robin nippled Batsuit infamy—before opening to the public on Wednesday, 7 May. It remains on view through 1 September.
Abbott Miller’s design for the exhibition catalogue affirms the alliance between fantasy and fashion through the juxtaposition of fashion imagery, comic book details and film and TV stills of superheroes in a comic book frame format. These images have been closely cropped and break the frames to heighten the sense of interconnection. “Comics pioneered the fragmentation of time and space with multiple-frame compositions,” says Miller. “Our design uses this comics strategy to show multiple details and perspectives of a single garment.” The catalogue also features a pressed tin front and back cover that adds a tactile, three-dimensional element to the design, and of course doubles as a kind of armor or chest plate (think Iron Man).
Although nostalgic—the tin cover is reminiscent of a superheroes lunch box—the catalogue avoids a profusion of obvious comic book mimicry. There are no speech bubbles, allowing the images to speak for themselves, and instead of newsprint, the pages have a high-gloss acrylic coating that make the colors pop from the page. In an effort to differentiate the introductory essay by Michael Chabon (Secret Skin: An Essay in Unitard Theory) from the rest of the catalogue, the commentary has been designed as a book within a book and printed with a silver border as opposed to white.
Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy is published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press.
A look inside the book after the jump.
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New Work: ‘100 Baseball Icons’
Just in time for opening day, Kit Hinrichs has designed 100 Baseball Icons, published by Ten Speed Press. The book, a collaborative effort between Hinrichs, photographer Terry Heffernan and writer Delphine Hirasuna, tells the story of America’s favorite pastime through memorabilia from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Heffernan, a lifelong baseball aficionado and award-winning still life photographer, chose the 100 icons from the Hall of Fame’s immense archive and then meticulously photographed them. Included in the book are images of Shoeless Joe Jackson’s shoes, Cy Young’s mitt and a coveted Honus Wagner baseball card. This is the third book collaboration by Hinrichs, Heffernan and Hirasuna, after Long May She Wave and The Art of Gaman.
Several spreads after the jump.
New Work: Laurence King
Angus Hyland has designed the spring 2008 catalogue for Laurence King Publishing. The catalogue demonstrates Hyland’s ongoing work as the company’s consultant creative director and features two forthcoming books designed by Hyland and his team at Pentagram.
New Work: Serif Books
Justus Oehler has designed a website for Serif Books, a London-based independent publishing house. The website is the latest outcome of Pentagram’s six-year relationship with the client; Justus and his team in Berlin have designed every Serif book since 2002.
New Work: ‘Reflection of a Man’
DJ Stout has designed a new book of photographs by Stanley Marcus, the Neiman Marcus heir and the creative force behind the retailer’s success. Stanley, who passed away in 2002, was well-known as a man of refined taste and culture, but nobody really knew that he was also a photographer. What he photographed over the years, during his many trips around the world, were the things that a successful merchant and a man interested in fashion, style, architecture and design would document. “The challenge in designing the book,” says Stout, “was taking fairly ordinary snap-shots and presenting them in a design that was interesting and dynamic, but that also showed the world through the eyes of Stanley Marcus.”
Part of Neiman Marcus’s 100th anniversary celebration, the book is being sold exclusively at Neiman Marcus stores and through their online and holiday catalogs until January, when it will be available in bookstores nationwide. Reflection of a Man: The Photographs of Stanley Marcus is being distributed by the University of Texas Press.
Several spreads from the book after the jump.
New Work: 'Time & Territory'
Domenic Lippa, with design assistant Beatrice Blumenthal, has designed Time & Territory, a book published by the landscape architecture and urban design firm J&L Gibbons to celebrate their 21st anniversary.
The book is a review of the best of the firm’s output to date, presented in the form of a visual essay interspersed with written contributions by a selection of 21 clients, friends and former colleagues.
Lippa has a long-standing, close relationship with J&L Gibbons and has previously consulted the firm on their identity and designed their website.
New Work: ‘Naked Ambition’
DJ Stout and his team in the Austin office have designed Naked Ambition: An R-rated Look at an X-rated Industry, just published by Rock Out Books. The book, intended as a social documentary exploration into the American porn industry, is composed of photographs culled from photographer Michael Grecco’s portraits and still lifes taken at the Adult Video News Awards and features introductions by David Navarro and Larry Flint along with titillating interviews with porn industry professionals.
When asked about designing a book about porn, DJ responded: “I’ve designed books on Mexican prostitutes, the Klu Klux Klan, women in prison, skin heads, violent gangs and now the world of pornography. I’ve also designed books and magazine features on pigs, dairy cows, computers, guitar players, lawyers, realtors and the entire history of Saudi Arabia…I preferred the porn book.”
Naked Ambition is being launched in conjunction with an exhibition at the Stephen Cohen Gallery that opens in Los Angeles on 25 October and at Photo Miami/Art Basel on 5 December.
Spreads after the jump. (SFW!)
New Work: Canongate Books
Angus Hyland and his team have designed book covers for four new releases from Edinburgh-based publisher Canongate Books: The Life of Pi: Illustrated Edition by Yann Martel, The Crimson Petal & the White and The Apple by Michel Faber and The Gift by Lewis Hyde.
Hyland’s relationship with Canongate has been ongoing since the launch of the acclaimed Pocket Canons series in 1998. In the subsequent years, he has designed over 100 book covers, as well as their website.
Images of Angus Hyland’s new book cover designs after the jump.
New Work: ‘On the Road: The Original Scroll’
Angus Hyland, with design assistant Masumi Briozzo, has designed the UK edition of On the Road: The Original Scroll, a sumptuous edition of Jack Kerouac’s seminal ‘Beat’ novel which is being released to mark the 50th anniversary of the book’s original publication on 5 September 1957.
Continue reading "New Work: ‘On the Road: The Original Scroll’"
New Work: ‘Spook Country’
Angus Hyland, with design assistant Masumi Briozzo, has designed the UK hardback cover for Spook Country, a new thriller by the acclaimed novelist, and father of cyberpunk, William Gibson.
Spook Country is published in the UK by Viking Press, part of the Penguin Group.
New Work: James Kelman Cover Art
Angus Hyland, with assistant Masumi Briozzo, has designed four book covers for Polygon’s re-issue of the novels and short stories of James Kelman, the controversial Booker Prize-winning author.
New Work: Laurence King Publishing
Fall 2007 catalogue for Laurence King Publishing.
Art and design book publisher Laurence King has released its fall 2007 trade catalogue which showcases Angus Hyland’s work as the company’s creative director.
The catalogue features five new book covers designed by Angus and his team at Pentagram.
New Work: Nigel Parry’s ‘Blunt’
Cover of Nigel Parry’s latest book designed by Justus Oehler.
Justus Oehler and his team in the Berlin office have designed Blunt, the latest monograph from celebrity photographer Nigel Parry. The book pairs iconic black and white portraits together in a thought-provoking sequence that is paced with memorable quotes from the photo shoots.
New Work: ‘The Namesake’
Cover of The Namesake: A Portrait of the Film
Abbott Miller and John Kudos designed the book The Namesake: A Portrait of the Film, a tie-in to the new film adapted from the acclaimed novel by Jhumpa Lahiri and directed by Mira Nair, that opens today in limited release.
New Work: C/ID
Angus Hyland has edited and designed the new book C/ID: Visual Identity and Branding for the Arts, written with Emily King and published by Laurence King. The book looks at identity design for cultural institutions, which has been flourishing since the advent of “museum as brand.” It includes thirty case studies of successful programs, large and small, from studios around the world.
New Work: The Myths
Cover illustration by Marion Deuchars
Angus Hyland and his team have designed “The Myths,” a new series from Canongate, the publisher for which he previously repackaged the Bible. Each book in the new series is a retelling of a myth by a renowned contemporary author. According to Canongate, the series is “the most ambitious simultaneous world-wide publication ever undertaken,” with 24 publishers issuing the books around the world. Angus created the series identity and will commission a different cover illustrator for each of the planned 200 titles — which are set to come out at a rate of three per year, wrapping up sometime around 2070. Yes, Angus is one of the Immortals.
The project was featured in last month’s issue of Creative Review.
New Work: Stanley Kubrick
(Click image for larger view)
Angus Hyland and his team have designed the book Stanley Kubrick Drama & Shadows: Photographs 1945-1950, published by Phaidon Press. The book collects previously unpublished images shot by Kubrick while he was a staff photographer at Look magazine, before he directed his first feature film. The design emphasizes the ways in which he used photography to cultivate the visual techniques and themes found in his later work.
More images after the jump.
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