What seems like a very long time ago I sponsored the Lance Wyman Visual Diaries project on Kickstarter. Another amazing and ambitious project from Unit Editions. Yesterday the swag arrived, and boy was it worth the wait. The pack included; a boxed version of Lance Wyman: The Visual Diaries 1973-1982, 3 gorgeous enamel badges (classic Wyman logos), 5 postcards, 5 bookmarks (a must as the book is vast), an awesome T-shirt AND Lance Wyman: The Monograph!
The Visual Diaries are a reproduction of 16 of Lance Wyman's sketchbooks (or diaries) from 1973 to 1982. It's a massive (60mm thick) and incredible graphic design resource, revealing process, obsession and genius. It's yet another beautifully designed publication from Unit Editions, who are quickly becoming my favourite design publisher. Their commitment to the integrity of the projects and the quality of the production and design is going to cost me dearly, but improve my design library no end.
What's amazing looking at both The Monograph and The Visual Diaries are how Lance Wyman's themes and design concepts are so interrelated. Ideas worked through, and played with over and over, with never an idea wasted. Here are some pages from The Visual Diaries.
The Monograph in contrast is another great (again beautifully designed) reference for a variety of his commercial projects. It also includes some great articles and essays. But what I love most about it is how it highlights Wyman's amazing skills at creating Design Language Systems and then pushing them to the limits. Check these page spreads:
I love the amount of crossover his work has into physical spaces. The scale and dimensionality of many of the idents and logos is awe inspiring.
On top of all this visual system design is a sense of fun and humour that permeates everything. Something else that is pure gold in the book are the typefaces created for the various brand identities and systems.
Here are a selection of his incredible display faces (sorry the distortion is my fault - page curve).
And last of all here's this brilliant piece from the Mexico 68 work - love the guy looking intro the camera.
