Designers and their Curious Books
Weighing in at an impressive 600 pages the designer Bruce Mau's recently published tome 'Life Style' is just the most recent example of a series of publications authored by graphic designers in the last few years. Bruce Mau, the graphic designer behind the equally weighty 'S,M,L,XL' on the work of the architect Rem Koolhaus is not shy of the recent trend of an abstract and meandering approach to design publication. But unlike many others, upon closer inspection it IS possible to actually find content between the covers, due perhaps to the fact that 'life Style' still essentially showcases key design projects in the designer's career.
The same perhaps could not be said of other recent publications by
graphic designers Tomato, Fuel, David Carson, John Maeda or Scott
Makela. Books such as Tomato's Process and Bareback comprise
mainly of abstract atmospheric photography or typography that is
stripped of any responsability towards content,text or even ideas.
In Fuel's recent Fuel Three Thousand photography also plays a
key full page role, interacting with the barest word or line of
typography. This early trend was also championed by the late P.
Scott Makela in Where is Here and by David Carson in
Fotografiks in which abstract photographic subjects are treated
as graphic elements.
And while much of the sales talk with each publication by such
designer-authors' speak of the designers wish to "re-define graphic
design", it becomes clear that they owe more to the traditions of
'artists books' than any role as graphic design. Stripped of a
function or content the publications sit more as emotional mood
boards or eye candy than as a structured visual communication in
print. And while the graphic designers are adamant that their
publications are not 'Art' it perhaps serves to illustrate more
than ever the leap the designers work itself has taken from
traditional graphic design.
The designer as author role up till now was always still defined
within the role of graphic design as initiated by a clients brief.
Designers such as Vaughan Oliver, Neville Brody, or Why Not
Associates, while self-publishing their ideas or showcasing their
work were still doing so within the realms of a client-designer
relationship. Their creativity and personality came through
answering a brief but doing so within their own terms. However,
once the client has been removed from the role of a publication
many designer's seem to struggle to find a reason for its very
existence, except as self indulgence. Despite this, it is clear
that the role of designer as author and indeed as client has
proved successful in the short term. Perhaps now it is time for
designers who also wish to author books to find something worthwhile to
write about.