FEATURES
Thinking Images
From the mind of Mozart to the movements of Merce, the OpenEnded Group is expanding the boundaries of art, animation, and artificial intelligence.
BY JOHN CANEMAKER
The God of Small Things
It took three months and $20,000 to film two amorous armchairs making love. Four years later, PES is still discovering the madness of household objects.
BY JIM HANAS
Dancing About Architecture
Do not adjust your high-resolution monitor: dbox is building digital worlds—from Ground Zero to the Watergate—where none exist.
BY STEVE DOLLAR
Technicolor Dreamcoats
Psychedelia is making its triumphant return. But in the updated Age of Aquarius, data is the new LSD.
BY JAMES GADDY
Digital Design Annual
The best in interactive design from our yearly competition features dolls that eat garbage, a designer out of ideas, and a gruff, yet genial, Professor Mr. T.
BY RICH HOXSEY
Life in Italics
New Zealand graphic designer Catherine Griffiths lives on the edge of the world and the edge of design. And that suits her just fine.
BY HELEN WALTERS
Souvenir Mao
On countless porcelain figurines, the Chinese dictator’s benign face, complete with homely mole, became the revolution’s trademark.
BY STEVEN HELLER
Some Like It Ri Nao
On the Beijing street, a monochromatic past is giving way to a vibrant, colorful present, as a booming economy invites ubiquitous signage of every kind.
BY DANIEL ELSEA
Medicine Man
To depict modern Japan in its own true image, Yoshimaru Takahashi channels his nation’s past through its pharmaceutical labels and erotica.
BY MAGGIE KINSER HOHLE
Charismatic Cosmonauts
Kinetic Singapore is rocketing through the galaxy of print and interactive design—and a small country is getting some very big cheers.
BY EMILY GORDON
Business Graphics 2006
The diverse group of winners in our second business graphics competition have one thing in common: beautiful restraint.
BY AKIKO BUSCH
DEPARTMENTS
CONTRIBUTORS
Where we’re calling from.
F.O.B.
Return of the Space Invaders, the identity of lingerie, pop-up origami, and more.
SHELF LIFE
Thom Yorke’s low-tech look, packaging for Philip K. Dick, and Bono gets a red card.
MONOLOGUE
Word Games Two native tribes shed light on the relationship between language and design.
BY DAVID WOMACK
OBSERVER
Gothic Extra Böld The big hair, the ax-man heroics—how could any design lover loathe heavy metal?
BY RICK POYNOR
DIALOGUE
Mike Mills, graphic artist and filmmaker.
INTERVIEW BY STEVEN HELLER
IN PRINT
Vol. 7/no. 4 Who invented printing with metal movable type? Guess again, says a 1952 PRINT article.
BY MARTIN FOX
DESKTOP
A Chip’s Ripples
BY JEFF HOWE
Plus: Type tees, photo booths, and a Flash flood.
BOOKS
Comics as Art: We Told You So, by Tom Spurgeon
REVIEW BY FRANCESCO MARCIULIANO
Made in Japan, by Reed Darmon
REVIEW BY GIL ASAKAWA
Design Studies: Theory and Research in Graphic Design, edited by Audrey Bennett
REVIEW BY JEREMY LEHRER
Body Type: Intimate Messages Etched in Flesh, by Ina Saltz
REVIEW BY SAGE ADDERLEY
FRAMES
Women and Cartoons For half of America, the Golden Age of comics is still a work in progress.
BY MEISHA ROSENBERG
END PRODUCT
Noir Futuriste
BY BENJAMIN SUTHERLAND