Customer Reviews

Robert Brownjohn: Sex and Typography

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A freind of mine bought me this book for a gift and I did not put it down from the time I received it to the time I finished. Robert Brownjohn was a shortlived genius in the world of graphics and film. For any young designer it is an inspiration, for any experienced designer it is a reminder of how things used to work before clients became politically paranoid and obsessed with being different from the competition. It is a reminder to us all that design is what it is and can be anything you want it to be as long as the will is there. It leaves you with a sense of confidence to make you want to do better work and treat not only projects but also situations in life with kid gloves and just enjoy it. It is amazing what can happen if one does.

It begins with a detailed history of his life from interviews taken from the likes of Alan Fletcher, Bob Gill and Ken Garland and many more influential names in the 60 and 70s. It then covers a few of his most famous and not so famous projects. Each as exciting as the other and approached in the same spontanious mannor that is Robert Brownjohn.

Some people, and they can be in any profession, shine so brightly that they obscure almost everyone around. Perhaps after shining so brightly it comes as little surprise that they often leave us early. Robert Brownjohn, Bj created designs for products, for posters, and most famously the titles for the James Bond movie 'Goldfinger' that were projected onto the body of a female model.

This book is done in an interesting manner, I'd say a unique manner because I've never seen it done this way before, but there've been a lot of books I've not seen before.

Originated by Bj's daughter Eliza, this book consists of quotations, paragraphs really, from thirty five people who knew him, worked with him or was otherwise connected with his life. These paragraphs are arranged in a more or less chronological order and intermix stories of his personal life with his education and work.

Bj designs, as shown in the book, are still as fresh and original as when they were created. He died of a heart attack at the age of 45.

Robert Brownjohn is one of the masters of typography. So I definitely recommend this book for any graphic designer. Happy Reading

If you like the history of graphic design, the people, the culture etc.- this book
covers a lot of them, but it is mostly about BJ's work and his life.