{"id":1137,"date":"2012-09-23T14:35:44","date_gmt":"2012-09-23T14:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wemakemags.com\/?p=1137"},"modified":"2012-09-23T14:35:44","modified_gmt":"2012-09-23T14:35:44","slug":"back-to-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wemakemags.co.uk\/cmyk\/back-to-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to the future"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>\n

I often wish I could tell my younger self something that would have helped me on my way in life \u2013 but it’s rare when you come across a message from the past to your older self.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That’s what happened when I came across a whole cache of diaries, address books and sketch pads in the attic recently. They dated from 1980-1988 (the year I left school to the year I left college). Some of those diaries were pretty boring I have to say \u2013 however, I did learn that I managed to see 70 live bands in 1980, I earned \u00a336 a week working shifts at the Pied Bull pub in Streatham (c. 1985), that a student’s shopping for the week came to around \u00a34.50 and a pint of beer cost 86p.<\/p>\n

The main thing that caught my eye though, was the name of a book that got me through my course at the London College of Printing in those austere times. Scribbled in biro at the back of an old address book: “Penguin Dictionary of Visual Language \u2013 buy it!”<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

The memories of that book flooded back instantly. I had it checked out of the library almost constantly, not being able to afford the \u00a312.95 to own it. A huge source of inspiration, it contained hundreds of visual cliches that sparked a young student into action and saved many of my projects. Now out of print, I managed to track down a copy on Amazon<\/a> (for a lot less than the \u00a3100 that is being asked currently!).<\/p>\n

Although it looks dated now (it is even printed in black and white throughout), the images still hold resonance and I would urge anyone, student or professional, to seek it out for their design bookshelf.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

The idea is simple really \u2013 the book works just like a dictionary, but pulls together some of the best images with reference to the word\/letter. A is for abacus, B is for building etc. The images date from the twenties to 1980 (when the book was published), and often draw on illustration or magazine covers for inspiration. There is a whole section devoted to women with moustaches bizarrely \u2013 but the authors manage to find enough examples to fill a spread. With examples from such giants of design as Tom Eckersley, Paul Rand, Jan Tschichold, George Lois and Saul Bass \u2013 this really is a feast for the eyes.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n\"\"<\/a>\n\"\"<\/a>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

 <\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n\"\"<\/a>\n\"\"<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I often wish I could tell my younger self something that would have helped me on my way in life \u2013 but it’s rare when you come across a message from the past to your older self.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,10,11],"tags":[89,192],"class_list":["post-1137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-archives","category-reading","category-stuff-we-like","tag-design-2","tag-magazine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wemakemags.co.uk\/cmyk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wemakemags.co.uk\/cmyk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wemakemags.co.uk\/cmyk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wemakemags.co.uk\/cmyk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wemakemags.co.uk\/cmyk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wemakemags.co.uk\/cmyk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wemakemags.co.uk\/cmyk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wemakemags.co.uk\/cmyk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wemakemags.co.uk\/cmyk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}