The craft of the graphic artist,
Bob Noorda and his genius of order.
Like its predecessor, the acclaimed John Alcorn book, Moleskine
Publishing offers an insider’s look at the creative process of a
fascinating artistic profession. Conceived and laid out by Bob
Noorda (July 15, 1927 – January 11, 2010), Bob Noorda Design is
his last graphics work and contains drawings and writings. One of
the most important designers of the twentieth century, he was
among the first to promote the idea of a coordinated brand image,
visual guidelines, and an integrated graphic systems.
Bob Noorda was a Dutch designer and architect who became a
naturalized Italian citizen and primarily worked in Milan, Italy,
one of the design capitals of the world. Beginning in the 1960s,
he came to the forefront of the Italian graphic art renewal. In
1964, he designed the signage and visual features of Milan’s
subway system which won him his first of four “Compasso
d’Oro” awards. In 1965, he and designer Massimo Vignelli, set up
Unimark International, a graphic design agency famous for its
modernist approach to design; working for international clients
such as IBM, Pirelli, Olivetti, la Rinascente and the New York
subway system. The latter of which resulted in an entire redesign
of the subway’s communications system.
The craft of the graphic artist, Bob Noorda and his genius of order.
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The anthology, Bob Noorda Design, traces the long professional
history of the Dutch designer. Noorda’s work from the 1950s to
the 2000s is published here in complete form for the first time,
thanks to the support of his family and 24 ORE Cultura.
The volume is edited by Mario Piazza. Expanding on Noorda's
original project, Piazza adds a biographical segment, numerous
critical notes and useful information. The book follows Noorda’s
activity during the second half of last century, retracing his formal
approaches and methodology developed throughout his extensive
graphic design career.
In keeping with the sophistication associated with his work,
Noorda's designs are elegantly introduced by brief texts by
Giovanni Baule. Baule points out the extreme importance and
innovation of the work in giving graphic arts its current
communicative role across every sector.
Alongside the story of Bob Noorda, this volume contains many
other parallel stories. Together they retrace the birth and
evolution of the concept of the corporate image as a company's
visual and identifying principle, the importance and significance of
good graphics to define a company’s direction and the value that a
brand and a logo possess as icons of the collective imagery.
Page after page of this volume contains the many famous brands
we owe to this master, revealing their simple yet absolute
geometric approach. Many of these – from Pirelli, Agip, Eni and
Enel to publishers like Feltrinelli, Mondadori and Garzanti – form
a fundamental part of the history of Italian industry and, as a
result, are also part of our own personal history. The book further
reconstructs the events surrounding the signage for the subway
systems in Milan, New York and São Paulo.
Since 2009 Moleskine has been documenting the creative process
with books like this one. Bob Noorda Design joins an extensive
editorial collection: The Hand of the Architect, The Hand of the
Designer, The Hand of the Graphic Designer, and anthologies of
design, drawing and sketches by hundreds of professionals
worldwide; Inspiration and Process in Architecture, architects
who opened their studios and archives to share their conceptual
and design processes (Kengo Kuma, Wiel Arets, Studio Mumbai,
Cino Zucchi, Alberto Kalach and many others); Detour, a collection
of over 250 notebooks created by artists, designers,
photographers, fashion designers and musicians, also a travelling
exhibition in London, New York, Paris, Berlin, Shanghai, Tokyo,
Venice, Milan and Beijing; Fashion Unfolds, an insider’s view of the
work of great fashion designers, from the first sketch to the final
reveal, plus inspirations, beginnings and achievements.
Contains hundreds of images, unpublished interviews and
essays by the industry's leading journalists. The three thus far
are dedicated to: Vivienne Westwood, Salvatore Ferragamo and
Antonio Marras.
The craft of the graphic artist, Bob Noorda and his genius of order.
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BOB NOORDA DESIGN
170 240 mm - 6½ x 9½ inches
384 pages, full colour printed on matte paper 170 gsm
300 pictures
Hardcover with Dustjacket
Language: English
Release date: Summer 2015
£29,00 - €35,00 (IT) - $39,00
Bob Noorda Design is available on the Moleskine Store
online
and at Moleskine Stores worldwide for €35.00/$39.00.
Download full media kit here.
Please include this link in your story: moleskine.com/en/news/bob-noorda
(goes live 28.10.15)
For further information:
Katia Nicita | Europe | [email protected] | T +39 0200680509
Jenny Chang | Americas | [email protected] | T +1 212.627.8098
Consuelo Romeo | Asia+Australia | [email protected] | T +852 39752408
The craft of the graphic artist, Bob Noorda and his genius of order.
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