Unjustified texts
Hyphen Press /
A book of writings from twenty-five years of engagement on the peripheries of both journalism and academic life, and drawn largely from small-circulation and now hard-to-access publications. Persistent themes include: editorial typography, the emergence of graphic design in Britain, emigré designers, Dutch typography, the work of critical modernist designers.
Models & Constructs: margin notes to a design culture
Hyphen Press /
The author was a ‘maker’ – in words as well as in materials – and, now that he is dead, this book must be his testament. It is an account of his life and work, assembling particular events and their material outcomes within a large vision of life. It is the work of a believer in material and existential presence, in form, in continuity, in change.
Frampton, Potter, Martens – and exemplification
Hyphen Press / 2019.06.25
The latest issue of Oase, the journal of architecture, is worth getting hold of. It is devoted to a discussion Kenneth Frampton’s theory of ‘critical regionalism’, which he published first in an essay of 1983. In this special issue of Oase, the original article is reprinted in facsimile, with Dutch translation added; there is a retrospective interview with Frampton, and discussions of the critical regionalism theory by other, younger practitioner-historian-critics: the combined role that Frampton has himself exemplified in his now long career.
‘Subterranean modernism’
Hyphen Press / 2010.07.01
Idea magazine is pleasantly print-fixed: none of the words it publishes are put online, so anyone wanting a taste of it simply has to go out and find a copy. The current issue, no. 341, has an article that refers to Hyphen Press and its efforts. This essay, ‘Subterranean modernism’ by Randy Nakamura and Ian Lynam, is perhaps the first published piece by unconnected observers to address ideas that we’ve been busy with for now 30 years.
Desmond Jeffery the printer
Hyphen Press / 2009.10.27
An exhibition of the work of the English printer Desmond Jeffery opens at the St Bride Library in London tonight. This is the first chance for the public to see something of his production.
Students read Potter
Hyphen Press / 2002.06.10
This spring What is a designer has been used as a reading text in a class on design at the University of Connecticut.
‘What is a designer’ out of print
Hyphen Press / 1998.07.25
Norman Potter, the book’s author, died in November 1995, aged 72. Although the third edition of What is a designer went out of print last year, his book lives on. Spanish and Danish publishers are now embarking on translations. This has meant a revision and updating of the English text: a fourth English-language edition is under consideration.