26 ways to improve your prose

Last month saw the publication of Twenty-six ways of looking at a blackberry: How to let writing release the creativity of your brand

One of the things I like most about the book is John Simmons belief that we are all capable of writing in a more compelling and persuasive manner. In this latest addition to the bookshelf he gives us practical tools to help unleash that potential.

I had high hopes for the book from the outset having enjoyed many of John's other books. A particular favourite has been 'We, Me, Them & It'. And in 'Twenty-six ways' he returns to the theme of writing powerfully for business.

Taking a single base text, he returns to it twenty six times through the distorting lenses of, amongst others, Dickens, Greek myth, the graphic novel, Shakespearean sonnets, detective fiction and haiku. What he leaves the reader with is not so much a prescription for better writing, a list of do's and don'ts, but rather a whole series of methods to subvert the commonplace, avoid the formulaic and seek out a more interesting route.

Alas Smith & Milton

Last summer saw the release of Alas! Smith & Milton: How not to run a design company - the story of one design company's 25-year struggle to make sense of a notoriously fickle industry. Co-written by Nick Asbury and Howard Milton (one of the company's founders), the story draws on interviews with friends, associates and employees of the company from over the years - including such design luminaries as Michael Johnson, Mary Lewis, Michael Peters and Richard Seymour.

It has an extra special place on the list because Carolyn Watts, my partner for many years, was the driving force behind it's production and publication. She died shortly before it was published after a long struggle with cancer.

Paper & Packaging

Paperwork: The Potential of Paper in Graphic Design

Nancy Williams (GBP 13.96 at Amazon)

Sleeve notes

Paper and other design materials are one of the most discussed topics in design today. Despite growing importance in issues such as environment, designers and printers remain uncertain of paper's potential. This book examines the role and potential of paper in the area of design.

Photography & photographers

Martin Parr

Val Williams, Martin Parr - Photographer (GBP 17.46 at Amazon)

Sleeve notes

One of the leading British photographers of his, or any, generation, Martin Parr presents a retrospective of his 30-year career, a dynamic entirely appropriate to his wry, equivocal look at nostalgia and tradition. Suburban warrior from Surrey, he was one of the first to drag British photography from the realms of advertising, fashion or hobby to the pretensions of serious "art".

In this major retrospective, the whole of Martin Parr's career has been assessed and includes previously unpublished early work. His startling and original 1974 installation "Home Sweet Home", early black-and-white photographs of the people and places of Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire where he lived and worked in the 1970s, photographs from Ireland and Salford, and of course a selection of the very best images from all his published books including "The Last Resort", "The Cost of Living" and "Signs of the Times". With unlimited access to Parr's archives and quoting from extensive interviews, writer and curator Val Williams charts Parr's life and career, revealing insights into his influences and attitudes and setting him in a new context in assessing his importance as an artist. The book also includes illustrative photographs of Parr and the people and places of his career and a special appendix shows some of his many collections of ephemera from wallpaper to commemorative plates, lapel badges to souvenir models of Lenin and JFK.

Type & Typography

Stop Stealing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works

Erik Spiekermann (GBP11.49 at Amazon)

Sleeve notes

American type designer, Frederic Goudy, once said, "Anyone who would letterspace lower case would steal sheep." Well, in that case I have to admit to a bit of sheep rustling over the years.

Spiekerman and Ginger have distilled decades of typographic experience into a unique and entertaining guidebook which shows type as easy to use, easy to understand, and in the hands of an informed user, a powerful communications tool.

Stop Stealing Sheep is for everyone - good type reaches across all boundaries.

And in it's latest updated version, includes within its scope the web and other forms of on-line communication.




Type and Typography

Phil Baines and Andrew Haslam (GBP16.73 from Amazon)

Sleeve notes

'An interesting and educational book' - 'Not as comprehensive or detailed as I had hoped' - 'The Typographers Bible'. Three reviews and all coming out with a different take on the subject. What's certain is that Phil Baines and Andrew Haslam know their stuff - and as lecturers at St Martin's they should do. Worth a look at least.

REWIND - 40 Years of Design and Advertising

Jeremy Myerson, Graham Vickers, Michael Johnson, Jeremy Bullmore, Alan Fletcher, Richard Seymour, John Webster, Peter York (Amazon, Paperback, 31.50 GBP)



REWIND features on our own bookshelves partly because it chronicles the whole of our working lives in the industry and features all our heroes. It's also included becaue it features a couple of pieces of work drawn from our own archives: The Tate by Tube and Becks Bier advertising for Scottish & Newcastle Breweries.

Sleeve notes
REWIND charts the history of Design and Advertising over the last forty years. Covering a wide range of creative disciplines - including graphic design, TV, Press and poster advertising, packaging, product and environmental design, music videos and interactive media - a narrative essay by Jeremy Myerson and Graham Vickers sets out the historical framework and discusses the main developments in design and advertising since the sixties. Leading practitioners have also each contributed essays to the different decades, providing unique personal insights into the design and advertsising of that era.

The material in the book is drawn from the extensive archives of the London-based organisation, D&AD (British Design & Art Direction). Established in 1962, D&AD is one of the world's leading professional bodies representing the creative industries of design and advertising and its international award scheme is the most comprehensive of its kind in the world.