Innovating through Design

LOGOS ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 26-36
Author(s):  
Alessandro Bigardi

During the American hardcover revolution, in the 1980s and 1990s, Alfred A. Knopf established itself as the leading publishing house in book design. Founded in New York in 1915, Knopf has been the recipient of many literary prizes and in 1999 was awarded the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Corporate Leadership Award, a prize that recognizes forward-thinking organizations that have been instrumental in the advancement of design by applying the highest standards. Knopf made a name for itself using quality in design along with quality in writing as a strategy for its long-lasting success. One of the main people responsible for this success has been the graphic designer Chip Kidd, one of the most renowed American book cover designers alive. Kidd started working at Knopf in 1986 and soon became the go-to designer for well-known writers such as Michael Crichton, Haruki Murakami, and James Ellroy. His work shows an intuitive understanding of the narrative and a unique and deep connection between text and paratext. Kidd stretches the visual boundaries between words and visuals, asking readers to bridge the gap between what they read and what they see. His covers leave the image open to interpretation; this deliberate lack of definition engages contemporary readers more than traditional covers do. This article illustrates, through the analysis of a selection of the most significant covers designed by Kidd, how his work at Knopf helped create a revolution and shape a new visual language in American book design.

Author(s):  
M. C. Gaines

This chapter contains a 1942 article written by publisher M.C. Gaines about the exhibit The Comic Strip: Its Ancient and Honorable Lineage and Present Significance, organized for the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) by Jessie Gillespie Willing, which first opened at the National Arts Club, NY. It was the first known touring exhibit to show comics in art historical context with ancestors like Japanese scrolls, Mayan Panels, and cave paintings alongside contemporary comic strips and comic books. This may have been the first exhibit to include a wide selection of comic books including More Fun, Superman, and Wonder Woman #1. Gaines opines on the educational importance of comics in reply to the decency movements that were attempting to censor comics in this era. Images: Caniff exhibit 1946, Fred Cooper cartoon 1942.


1978 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 382-383
Author(s):  
Javed Iqbal

This book is essentially a selection of the articles written by Arther T. Mosher during his long career as a rural development expert. Also appended at the end is a complete list of writings by him. The Agricultural Development Council has chosen to publish this book to honour the author, who was its President during 1967-1973, The publication of this book is welcome in the context of the recent rediscovery of rural development as a principal plank of need-oriented develop¬ment strategies. A basic defect of writing on rural development has been excessive resort to stereotype rehtoric, over-enthusiasm and a certain pedanticism. Fortunately, Mosher's orientation is practical, not doctrinaire. Although the book is titled "Thinking About Rural Development", the author keeps on bring¬ing together the thinking and practice into their validly interactive perspectives. Not surprisingly so, for the author has himself worked in the field as a rural development practitioner for a considerable length of time.


1968 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 308-309
Author(s):  
Mohammad Irshad Khan

It is alleged that the agricultural output in poor countries responds very little to movements in prices and costs because of subsistence-oriented produc¬tion and self-produced inputs. The work of Gupta and Majid is concerned with the empirical verification of the responsiveness of farmers to prices and marketing policies in a backward region. The authors' analysis of the respon¬siveness of farmers to economic incentives is based on two sets of data (concern¬ing sugarcane, cash crop, and paddy, subsistence crop) collected from the district of Deoria in Eastern U.P. (Utter Pradesh) a chronically foodgrain deficit region in northern India. In one set, they have aggregate time-series data at district level and, in the other, they have obtained data from a survey of five villages selected from 170 villages around Padrauna town in Deoria.


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