icographic 09
1975 Icographic
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Introduction
2 Edugraphology—the myths of design and the design of myths Victor Papanek
Design philosophy and the designer's self-image have been victim to a series of shocks. Some twenty years ago designers saw themselves primarily as artists, able to close the gap between technology and market ing through their concern with form, function, colour, texture, harmony and proportion. For an industrial designer or architect, a further concern was with cost, convenience and "taste." Within ten years the designer's role had broadened into a systems approach, showing greater interest in production, distribution, market-testing and sales. This opened the door to team-design, although with the team largely made up of the technocrats, sales specialists and modish 'persuaders.'
4 The myth of the 26 letter Roman alphabet Patrick Wallis Burke
The alphabet is the last, the most highly developed, the most convenient and the most easily adaptable system of writing. Alphabetic writing is now universally employed by civilized peoples; its use is acquired in childhood with ease. There is an enormous advantage, obviously, in the use of letters which represent single sounds rather than ideas or syllables. No sinologist knows all the 80,000 or so Chinese symbols, but it is also far from easy to master the 9,000 or so symbols actually employed by Chinese scholars. How far easier it is to use the 22 or 24 or 26 signs only! —David Diringer, The alphabet
9 Kingsley Read—a pioneer of an English phonetic alphabet Patrick Wallis Burke
Whilst this issue of icographic was being prepared, my dear friend Kingsley Read died. For almost a year now, he and I had worked on the refining of his last project-Sound-Spell, which is described on pages 10-13. When I looked through the many letters that had passed between us, and thought of the many times that we had spoken on the telephone, it seemed almost impossible that our association lasted only one year. It will always feel as though he occupied a much larger part of my life. My family, and many of my friends, through seeing the work we were doing, talked as though they knew him too. —Patrick Wallis Burke
10 The Sound-Spell, an alphabet and a policy Kingsley Read
Educationists uninterested in reforming English spelling are show ing interest in the use of 'initial teaching media' which enable children sooner to read fluently, not only in spelling more often true to speech, but sooner and better in normal orthodox spelling. The first and best attested of such media is i.t.a., the Initial Teaching Alphabet.
14 Soundspel—an American approach to a phonetic alphabet
In view of the fact that we are publishing the first announcement of the late Kingsley Read's 'Sound=Spell,' it was thought that readers might like the chance to compare it with an American approach to the same problem. In spite of their similar names, the two systems represent radically different solutions.
15 World language without words Rudolf Modley
An historian and designer of graphic symbols attempts to bring some order out of the chaos of our varied systems of communication through symbols.
20 Two approaches to book cover design Helmut Schmid
The 'paperback' symbolizes the Instant accessibility of our traditional Western literary culture. It is cheap, compact, standardized and expendable, not an exhibition piece for the bookshelf.
22 The book in a TV-age Erik Ellegard Frederiksen
The book is no longer what it used to be. This is not the grumble of some Jeremiah dolefully finding new proof of degeneration, but an admission that the book will change more and more because man's conditions and situation have altered. Originally, books were intended for the educated few prepared for slow, careful reading.
23 Note to contributors