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Description: | Point of view Change of format With this issue, DESIGN changes its format and its typographical scheme. Both DESIGN magazine and the ColD have consistently urged the implementation of accepted and acceptable standards for a umber of years, and the magazine change the A4 international paper size brings it to line with the majority of the ColD's rinsed material. There are many factors in favour of standard paper sizes: ease of manufacture and storage, economy in printers' stocks and, of course, the widely quoted ease of ring. Full implementation of the international recommendations will make an enormous difference to the printing industry and office systems in terms of both time and oney. There are, however, other problems which exist, particularly in complex catalogue d magazine work, for there is a tendency or the A4 size to conflict with the other standard which must necessarily be accepted by the print designer -the angloAmerican system of typographical easurement, which uses the em unit pproximately 1/6 inch). To find a typographic grid which will give two, three and four column setting (almost essential or a magazine of this nature), the only practical grid width for any page width between 8 - 9 inches is 47 cms. This does not low anything like the margins required by e traditional book approach and hardly lows for the modern narrow margins which are used when a complex of elements brought together on the same spread. The international paper sizes are based on two factors: the proportion of one to the square root of two; and the basic sheet size of a square metre. One to the square root of two ill give a constant proportion each time the sheet is cut in half, and this is immensely valuable. But the basic sheet size has limited intrinsic value as it does not coincide with either the English or Continental systems of typographical measurement, and hardly coincides with any of the numerical series which will produce a workable typographic grid. The diagram below shows how the 47 em wide grid, adopted for the magazine, fits onto the A4 format giving column widths of 1 1 , 1 5 or 23 ems. The other major change occurring in this issue is the introduction of sans serif typography throughout the magazine. We are aware that this will meet with either acclaim or derision, depending upon the attitude to design held by opposing pundits on the matter. Nevertheless, it is our premise that there is not sufficient statistical evidence to maintain the hoary idea that serifs are the only way to "join letters together" and consequently make reading easier. The so-called sans serif . "fashion" has been with us now for over 40 years, and while typographical fashions have come and gone, the use of sons serif has increased to the point where there is now a continuous tradition. The major factor of all readability criteria is acknowledged to be the habit factor, which is as yet unmeasured. We contend that sans serif is sufficiently established for it to have overcome many of the initial problems associated with unfamiliarity. This is borne out by the recent readability tests carried out at Cambridge where, for the first time in all the many readability and legibility tests that have been undertaken, a sans serif face (Gill Medium) was found to be at least as readable as any of the three representative Roman faces employed. It's that road again. This month there is to be another enquiry on Oxford roads, and this will be the last opportunity for objectors to state their case against the road through Christ Church Meadow, which has already been approved by the City Council and (in principle) by the Minister of Housing and Local Government. he idea of the Meadow Road, in fact, was first put forward by Thomas Sharp in his book, Oxford Replanned, published in 1948. Assuming that it survives the forthcoming enquiry, it will have taken more than 16 years to get it accepted and perhaps another three to get it built. What has been learned in this time ? For Douglas Murray, Oxford city architect, the answer is clear: "The main lesson", he says, "that has been learned from Oxford's experience in replanning her roads is that there is a terrible lack of research into the facts needed for making decisions and teams of sufficient size both to do this research and to follow it through." During the last 18 months he has tried to remedy these inadequacies by building up his own team consisting of architects, engineers, quantity surveyors and even a legal advisor, which has met weekly to make planning comprehensive and consistent over a period of time. This is the kind of approach that has been adopted by Coventry and Birmingham and is now proposed for Leicester. It recognises that adhoc planning and unrelated decisions can no longer solve the problems of our time. More for good design The business of setting up and making design awards is generally believed to take some time and consequently all not least the recipients - were surprised when he Royal Society of Arts announced the first awards of its Presidential Medal for Design Management last November: the wards had only been established in June. he ColD made the initial recommendations fom which the winners were chosen. The edal selection committee of the RSA, under the hairmanship of Sir Ernest Goodale, a vice-president, included representatives from the Society's council, the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry, and the ColD. The committee decided to make the awards in two categories, the first to recognise long pioneering in the field of design management, the second to mark current achievement. For the first category, an award went to Heal & Son Ltd and the London Transport Board. Conran & Co Ltd. W. & A. Gilbey Ltd. S. Hille & Co Ltd and Jaeger & Co Ltd received awards for the second category. All of them deserve areas credit for having established and carried out a firm design policy which, in the case of Heal's, goes back over half a century. But perhaps the award to the London Transport Board is the most significant. It points out that a large, public undertaking is capable of making a design impact over a wide range of services and installations. If other public bodies followed suit, they could give the kind of lead that would encourage every management to appoint a designer to its board or at least give its design policy top level consideration. SIA appeals for half a pillion The Society of Industrial Artists and designers has launched an appeal for '500,000 to equip itself properly as a professional body. The appeal has been talked about for a number of years, and the discussions have not been entirely without a faint rumble of dissent among some of the rank and file members who have seen the appeal only as an attempt to keep up with the architectural Joneses. But the critics seem misunderstand both the purpose of the appeal and the function of the society which they belong. The appeal is necessary because any professional association has a responsibility for, among other things, building up a body f knowledge and disseminating that knowledge to its members. This means a lose control of educational standards, facilities for research and, on a more material level, things like places to hold lectures, meetings and exhibitions and, of course, a library. With the exception of the educational front on which there has already been considerable progress, the SIA has none of these things. And with a membership of only 2,000 it cannot hope to build up the necessary resources from membership fees alone. Lord Chandos summed up the requirements in his recent appeal letter to The Times, which was signed also by Milner Gray, Paul Reilly, Sir Colin Anderson, Sir Ralph Perring and Sir Isaac Wolfson: "The proposed headquarters is required to serve as a focus for continuing studies of industrial design on the scale that is needed; to bring the profession closer to industry and to equip it properly to do so; to harness the talents of the young men and women now training in schools of design throughout the country, and Dive them opportunities further to develope their talents after they have left school. It will need space for equipment and study, as well as the money for research, education and other services, the better to meet the needs of its members, command the respect of industry and commerce, and fulfil its obligations to the public." Industry is gradually coming to realise that good design has an essential part to play in the strengthening of Britain's economy, especially where exports are concerned, and the SIA displayed a nice sense of timing by launching the appeal at the moment when the Wilson Government began to introduce its measures to improve the balance of payments situation. There can be no doubt that a strong professional body is vitally important to the development of better standards of design in this country. In Lord Chandos' words: "This is a cause which should surely command the support of companies and of individual industrialists." Successful campaigns Everyone enjoys blowing his own trumpet, and we are pleased to report that some of the campaigns run by DESIGN are having ffect. More than a year ago, for example, we published an article entitled The Off-white Cliffs of London (D DESIGN 175/30 -35), attacking the shambles that is London Airport. Last autumn, Nell Marten, former arliamentary secretary to the Ministry of Aviation, took a sledgehammer to the old Terminal building on the north side of London Airport and looked as if he relished he idea of joining a demolition squad. He pointed out that the "shanty town" of huts, heds and hangars along Bath Road has been around since the second World War notthateithertheairportstaff or the travelling public need reminding. But they can now enjoy the hope that it will be replaced by a properly planned complex of buildings by 1970. Travellers often judge a country by the first impressions they get at the airport: Heathrow has too long been an advertisement of the less desirable kind. A more recent campaign was started by Claire Rayner's article, Iam a Very Confused Consumer. . . (DESIGN 188/2 27), which attacked the labelling and packaging used to present such things as detergents and tinned foods. The arguments put forward by the article have been confirmed by a report issued by the Food Standards Committee which calls for (among other things) provisions prescribing the size and location of the information printed on food labels; much stricter requirements for the declaration of chemical additives as foods; and a large reduction in the exemptions from the present provisions which require food labels to declare the common or usual name of the food' a full list of its ingredients, and the name and address of the packer or labeller. Battle has also been joined by The Consumer Council which, in conjunction with the British Standards Institution, is introducing a national informative labelling scheme to help consumers choose goods in the shops. The scheme will be based on a label of standard design and, although it will not indicate a minimum standard of quality, it will ensure that all the information given is correct, including such details as durability, shrink resistance, safety levels and so on. Deck plans of the Dragonfly, above, and Audacity. A : berth; B: galley (shown by the circle and cross symbol on the Audacity); C = sail stowage area; D = lockers; E = toilet compartment; F: cockpit area; and G: centreboard. Both plans have been red reduced to the same length although the Dragonfly is 18 feet and the Audacity 21 feet 5 inches long. The main difference between them, however, is in the distribution of space for cockpit and cabin. Dragonfly: 2 - berth cruising sloop of plywood hull construction with five main frames and solid timber coamings. Length overall 18 ft 1 inch; n waterline 16 ft 6 inches. Beam 6 ft 11 inches, draught 2 ft 9 inches; misplacement 2,000 Ibs; sail area 164 sq ft; headroom 4 ft; ballast 616 Ibs. Designer Alan Buchanan. Builder Blue Hulls Ltd. Price 550. Audacity: 4 berth auxilary Bermudan centreboard sloop of cold moulded marine ply construction. Length overall 21 ft 5 inches; on waterline 18 ft 6 Inches. Beam 7 ft 3 inches; draught 1 ft 8 inches or 5 ft 7 1/2 inches with centreboard down; displacement3,560 Ibs; sail area 200 sq ft; headroom 5 ft 2 inches; ballast 1,300 Ibs. Designer Laurent Giles. Builder Walter Laurence & Son and Woolverstone Shipyard Ltd. Price (with engine) 1,600 | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Editorial | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8291... | Go to resource |
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