The Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design

On my birthday this year, I was strolling through a bookstore looking for something to buy since I was flush with “fun money” from relatives.  I happened upon a display shelf item that completely confused me. 

A box. 

It wasn’t a corrugated, moving box full of books or a slipcover box with a book inside as one usually sees in small books shops.  It was just a box situated and designed with confidence.  Standing over a foot tall and 10 inches wide, this behemoth dwarfed all the hardback art books surrounding it and commanded my attention.  The marbled exterior with a top flap suggested a smoky newspaper office in the 1960s or a hunt for crucial evidence in a Philip Marlowe detective story.  A simple label repeated on four sides declared that this was “The Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design” in a simple sans serif typeface (“graphic design” in olive green to match the box accents).  To create even further contrast with the other merchandise was the complex network of seat belt straps wrapping around the box creating a handle at the top. 

This was serious business and I HAD to have it. 

Upon further inspection, a small description sheet was contained in the shrink-wrap on the back showing small examples of what was inside.   Quickly scanning the short description on the back lead me to believe that the inside housed some massive design books.  I took the 25+ pound item to the register and even had people in line question what I had and where they could find more.  Mistakenly I still called this a “book” when people inquired. 

When I got home, I gently removed the plastic wrapping and opened the box.  Inside I found two large, shrink-wrapped reams of paper, unbound.  I was a little disappointed at first, but the more I opened the more I realized that this box was a treasure chest.  A modest set of directions located on the inside flap of the flap was the thesis for this project.  Inside more than 500 pages and 3000 images of design from the past 700 years were nesting.  SEVEN HUNDRED YEARS.

Since this initial revelation, I continue to wonder why more art books are not organized in a similar fashion.  Each page lovingly shows the design ID number in the collection, title of the piece, name of designer, date of creation, client it was created for and category it belongs to.  The exhibit high resolution imagery without words on one side and other visual examples an a succinct description of the work on the back.  Phaidon even gives the collector the opportunity to archive/curate the work in several different ways…random, alphabetical or by category.  This is done with simple, two-sided barrier sheets.  On one side, there is a letter or range of letters to help with organizing by the name of the designer or object designed.  The other side has a category from the 15 provided (examples being Money, Advertising, Typefaces, Book Covers, Magazines, Symbols, etc).

Western civilization isn't in a hurry to admit that commercial design holds the historical gravitas of its more mature older brother, fine art, but opinions seems to be shifting.  I have a box in my studio to prove it.

Buy a box here:
http://www.phaidon.com/store/design/the-phaidon-archive-of-graphic-design-9780714865591/

...or cheaper on Amazon.