By: Print staff | September 7, 2011
Each issue this year has seen a new collaboration between Print and a guest art director. One after another, they’ve reinvigorated the magazine with their own vision. Fittingly, the latest—and last—issue in the project, guest designed and coedited by the Dutch designers Metahaven, is the Identity issue. We expanded our usual focus, moving, as Metahaven writes, “to the fringes of the design world.” You’ll find stories on the “design” of geopolitics, the artist behind M.I.A.’s unusual websites, Experimental Jetset’s grappling with modernism, and the masks that comic-book artists wear in their own work. Elsewhere in the magazine, Rick Poynor wonders if we need a new term to describe the field of graphic design, Chermayeff & Geismar previews its new monograph for Print Publishing, and the Heads of State offers its take on the iconic form of the business card.
Features
IdentityA special section of Print, guest designed and coedited by METAHAVEN
The Big DeorganizationAs the world deorganizes, there are fewer and fewer clear ways to set an organization apart from its surroundings.
Autoreply: ModernismA conversation with Experimental JetsetBY METAHAVEN
Ripps It UpThe artist Ryder Ripps searches for for honesty online. BY PADDY JOHNSON
Design and Geopolitics: The Altergloba, Soft Power, and Disaster CapitalismAn interview with Benjamin Bratton BY METAHAVEN
Cloud CommunismA conversation with Deterritorial Support Group BY METAHAVEN
Marks MenAn interview with Chermayeff & GeismarBY AARON KENEDI
Major League MythWhy did Harmon Killebrew—and everyone else—believehe was the batter in baseball’s iconic logo?BY PAUL LUKAS
The Mask of MyselfSelf-representation in autobiographical comicsBY BILL KARTALOPOULOS
Rebrand…or Else!How boycotting became the new advertising BY METAHAVEN
Smoke Screen of InformationThe many identities of 2×4BY IAN VOLNER
UnmooringStewart Smith’s quiet critiquesBY JUSTIN SULLIVAN
Departments
DialogueSteven Heller talks to Maharam about creating individuality on a mass scale.
ObserverRick Poynor files a report from the place formerly known as graphic design.
Best PracticesJeremy Lehrer on whether Seventh Generation’s pulp redesign lives up to the hype
StereotypePaul Shaw wonders if designers have a type (and Stephen Coles comments from the margins).
EducationHow do you tell the story of the L.A. art scene? Eva Hagberg explores.
Design ThinkingDamien Newman flips through IDEO’s lesson plan.
InteractionChristopher Butler argues against augmented reality.
Up Front
Design BriefAs our year of guest art directors ends, we’re left with an uncanny feeling.
Crit+CommentsFeedback from readers
Grids+GuidesBen Katchor goes to the library, Manhattan’s grid turns 100, Chris Anderson talks TED, and Palestine gets its passport stamped
In the back
ReviewsA Saul Bass monograph, an anthology of Yiddish comics, and a preview of the Walker’s blockbuster show on graphic design.
Back IssueEditor emeritus Martin Fox on why Print declared the swastika the symbol of the century
Creativity + Commerce Competition WinnersThe best business graphics from around the world
The GoodsA new album from Girls, a personal project by Chip Kidd, Sagmeister’s Portuguese identity, and a place for social media to gather
One Perfect ThingMichael Silverberg on why the business card won’t die
In the StudioThe founder of Browns takes us into his office.