For me this pamphlet sums up a lot of the themes and ideas driving the DIY culture movement from the early 90s. The main thrust, back then, was getting access to the methods of production and broadcast of media. And for this pamphlet broadcast was…
From Unnatural or at least Graham Harwood and Matthew Fuller. A collection of entries (almost like classifieds) describing contemporary flyposters doing the rounds in the Anticopyright network, circa 1990. This was probably related Matt's book Flyposter Frenzy. There are some real gems in the 187…
I've always been a big Marshall McLuhan fan. As a young graphic design student the books created in collaboration with Quentin Fiore changed my outlook on what a 'serious book' could look like. They helped me understand that the designer is never neutral or passive…
Just received my copy of the spectacular In Loving Memory of Work: A visual record of the UK miners' strike 1984-85 curated by Craig Oldham. It's wonderfully designed by Craig Oldham and Aaron Skipper, and published by A Unified Theory of Everything. The wrap around…
With hindsight, perhaps this campaign may have been a little misguided, after all this is a cheap clothing manufacturer. However it's still a great stance and an important issue (Edit: even if the founder was a horrible person - as it turned out). I particularly…
I held on to this issue of I-D magazine from January 1995 mainly because it featured people I knew back then, but also because my vanity got the better of me (you can see a poster I designed in the background of one of the photographs). I hadn't seen…
Head Magazine I've posted previously about how there was an idea in the early 90s of DIY culture. This manifested in many ways from 'crusty squatters' and indi-networks through to self publishing and a revival of the punk aesthetic and the 'zine. This post is…
Warning: may cause offense Underground was an alternative free paper for London. It was compiled and published in the early 1990's by Graham Harwood and Matthew Fuller amongst huge group of contributors and helpers. It spans the death of Thatcher's legacy (John Major) through to…
Graphic design in the service of opposition, protest or giving a voice to those that don't have one has always been an interest of mine. I've got tonnes of stuff from politically charged individuals who use their talents to disrupt, upset and challenge the status…
Cactus was a great project set up and run by Tony Credland and Glenn Orton back in 1989. It was essentially a mail art project based around fairly mass collaboration (well in pre-digital terms) . The idea was simple and elegant. Cactus sends out a…
Back in the days when we had other stuff to worry about. This was just after the DIY culture movement of the early 90s and was in relation to the growing environmentalist movements