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Observatory

Articles & Essays

This list is regularly updated with both new and older writing available online.

INTERVIEWS WITH RICK POYNOR

Thought Catalog, 2011
Designers & Books, 2011
Design Taxi, 2007
Emigre, 1995

LATEST COLUMNS

Critique: The List Goes On

Eye, 3 November, 2011

Observer: Power by Design

Print, February 2012

See all Eye Critiques

SELECTED COLUMNS, ARTICLES & ESSAYS

Books Every Graphic Designer Should Read
Designers & Books, 2011

Notable Books of 2011
Designers & Books, 2011

The Photobook as Crime Dossier

Designers & Books, 2012

Interview with Robin Kinross
Eye, 2011

Love of Lexicons
Eye, 2010

Surrealism and Design, Part 1: Dark Tools of Desire

Eye, 2007

Surrealism and Design, Part 2: Documents of the Marvellous

Eye, 2007

Observer: The Complex Bonds Between Design and Surrealism

Print, 2010

Bruno Munari's Design as Art

Icon, 2008

Observer: A Report from the Place Formerly Known as Graphic Design

Print, October 2011

Observer: Design as Dictator

Print, 2010

Observer: Relational Design

Print, 2009

The Trouble with Video Ethnography

Icon, 2008

Critique: Enter the Void — A Soul Drifting in Neon Limbo

Eye, 2011

Critique: John Coulthart — Dark Magus

Eye, 2011

The Death of the Critic

Icon, 2006

The Time for Being Against

Presented at Looking Closer: AIGA Conference on Design History and Criticism, 2001

The Graphic Grab
The Guardian, 2004

The Soul of Design

Icon, 2006

Down with Innovation
I.D., 2008

Observer: Raging Bull

Print, 2005

Scott King: Our Most Incorrigibly Melancholy Designer

Creative Review, 2010

The Designers Republic: They Sell! We Buy!

Creative Review, 2009

Benetton Hits Middle Age

Creative Review, 2006

First Things First Revisited
Emigre, 1999

Design Conferences: Time We Demanded More?
Creative Review, 2008

Canonical Design: Absolutely the “Worst”
Eye, 2008

We Need More Galleries
Print, 2010

In Praise of the Imperfect
Graphis, 2000

British Posters: All Mouth and Trousers?
Eye, 2010

Collapsing Bulkheads: The Covers of Crash
Ballardian, 2007

Richard Hamilton: Typotranslation
Eye, 2000

Herbert Spencer: Obituary

The Guardian, 2002

Romek Marber: Penguin Crime
Eye, 2004

Romek Marber: Survivor
Eye, 2010

Germano Facetti: Underneath the Covers

The Guardian, 2006

March of the Penguins

Metropolis, 2005

Will Burtin: Forgotten Master of Design
Creative Review, 2007

Unimark: When Designers Wore Lab Coats
Creative Review, 2009

Tibor Kalman: Obituary

The Independent, 1999

Tibor Kalman: Maintaining Tiborocity
Print, 2002

Edward Fella: Out There
Frieze, 1992

Elliott Earls: A Designer and a One Man Band
Eye, 2002

Graham Rawle: Paste-up Ladies
Eye, 2005

Stefan Sagmeister: Brilliant, Engaging, But Modest It’s Not
Metropolis, 2008

Reza Abedini: A Man Apart
Creative Review, 2007

Look Inward: Graphic Design in Australia
Eye, 2002

Rick Poynor is a writer, critic, lecturer and curator, specialising in design, media and visual culture. He founded Eye, co-founded Design Observer, and contributes columns to Eye and Print. His latest book is Uncanny: Surrealism and Graphic Design.

Recent Book

Uncanny: Surrealism and Graphic Design
Rick Poynor
Moravian Gallery, 2010
More books by Rick Poynor >>

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