Top designers select world-class posters

There was something magical about the archive staff getting the posters out of the drawers and people’s initial reactions to seeing them – I could be there for weeks!
Ian Wright

There is ‘something’ about the Archive – it has a confidence in its tone of voice and how it communicates.
Will Hudson

Conceived by Professor Lawrence Zeegan, Dean of Design at London College of Communication and realised by Tara Hanrahan, this project brings together some of Britain’s best contemporary designers and one of the most significant concentrations of graphic design history in the world – the Icograda Archive at the University of Brighton Design Archives.

Having just finished an extensive cataloguing and conservation project which makes the poster collection fully accessible for the first time, the Design Archives team was delighted to share their work and expertise. Across two days, 15 leading creatives took one hour each to digitally view 2,000 posters and make their shortlist of five. The 75 short-listed posters were extracted from their cabinets and deliberated over for 45 minutes by all. There was one photographer to capture the events, two curators to keep everyone to task and 45 posters selected for exhibiting.

As Catherine Moriarty, Curatorial Director of the Design Archives observes:

“The poster has a particular status in the graphic designer’s oeuvre. More than a calling card, it represents the designer in all kinds of ways and acts as a statement of intent, as a demonstration of technical ability and as a display of creative energy.

Designers love the posters created by other designers and it is this recognition of their value in design education, in professional identity formation and as an object of cultural diplomacy that underpins the collection of posters that form part of the archive of the International Council of Communication Design (Icograda).”

The posters included in the exhibition are designed by

Atelier Hablützel & Jaquet / Bern / Zygmunt Bobrowski / Ben Bos / Silvio Coppola / Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes / Wim Crouwel / Dan Fern / Derek Forsyth Partnership / Josef Flejsar / A.G. Fronzoni / Zacco Giambattista / Wiktor Górka / Grafis / Peter Haas / Roger Hargreaves / Hijikata Hirokatsu / Finn Hjernøe / Lund Humphries / Alexej Jaroš / Hisami Kunitake / Marget Larsen / Kurt Lohrum / Lech Majewski / Reinhart Morsher / Martti Mykkänen / Julian Palka / Cestmir Pechr / Andre Perry / A. Sganzerla / Miroslav Šimorda / Jaroslav Sura / Miyazawa Takashi / Henryk Tomaszewski / Trickett & Webb / Typostudio Oy / Ladislav Vcélar / Manuel Viguri / Ian S. Ward / Wendt / Tadanori Yokoo

Selected by

Andy Altmann of Why Not Associates / Noma Bar / Nick Bell of Nick Bell Design / Anthony Burrill / Sarah Douglas of Wallpaper* / George Hardie / Will Hudson of It’s Nice That / Chrissie Macdonald from Peepshow Collective / Roderick Mills / Fraser Muggeridge of Fraser Muggeridge Studio / Matt Rice of Sennep / Kate Sclater of Hyperkit / Emma Thomas of a Practice for Everday Life / Lucy Vigrass from Peepshow collective / Ian Wright

Posters Selected from the Icograda Archive at the London College of Communication, 31 August - 13 September 2013.

Curation – Tara Hanrahan and Professor Lawrence Zeegen
Design – think/do
Archive – Sue Breakell, Debbie Hickmott, Sirpa Kutilainen and Dr Catherine Moriarty
Photography – Barbara Taylor
Printing and fabrication – London College of Communication
Project assistance – Alice Clark