Mute Magazine: Graphic Design - Softcover

Simon Worthington; Damian Jaques; Pauline Van Mourik Broekman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0955432227 ISBN 13: 9780955432224

Publisher: 8 Books, 2008

Synopsis

In the early 1990s, long before the Internet became an integral part of life, a handful of pioneering magazines took it upon themselves to imagine the Internet into existence. Using fiction, interviews, speculative theory and experimental graphic design, these titles helped create a lexicon and iconography every bit as powerful as the architecture of the World Wide Web. London-based Mute occupied a central position here, wielding an influence vastly disproportionate to its scale. The product of a period of intense creative ferment, Mute engaged boldly with all comers. The magazine offered a platform to authors Bruce Sterling, Arthur Kroker, Mark Dery, Geert Lovink, Hari Kunzru, James Flint and Lev Manovich, just as it did to artists Keith Tyson, VNS Matrix and the Bureau of Inverse Technology. As new technologies forced a collapse of disciplinary boundaries and the intermingling of communities, Mute became part of a dynamic London scene, featuring many of the artists, writers and photographers that came to epitomise Londons status as a creative hotbed, the capital of cool. The resulting collection of magazines defines an era, telling the fascinating tale of one publisher's relationship with the digital revolution the nineties very own Big Bang. This book presents a full overview of the magazine over a decade, showing its entire output covers, spreads and designs. Using timelines, generous illustrations and in-depth captions, it details recurrent graphic themes and places Mute's evolution in perspective.

About this title

Review

Tracing the roots and evolving design of cult magazine Mute, it tells you everything you need to know about current trends in graphic design. Given that award-winning British writers like Hari Kunzru and James Flint cut their teeth on the magazine and it's influenced many others since, it's worth knowing having a look. -- BBC Radio 6, George Lamb show, Alex Hemminsley, May 2008

Occasionally, though, a book comes along and it has to be described as a must-have. And here is one book that sounds like it'll be exactly that: `Mute Magazine Graphic Design', a visual history of Mute. -- MagCulture.com, Jeremy Leslie, March 2008

About the Author

Adrian Shaughnessy is a graphic designer, writer and editor. He runs ShaughnessyWorks, a consultancy combining design and editorial direction, and is editor of Varoom. Shaughnessy has written and art directed numerous books on design, including the best-selling How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul (Laurence King, 2005).

Pauline van Mourik Broekman is the co-founder of Mute magazine and has written extensively on media arts.

Simon Worthington is also a co-founder of Mute magazine. Simon studied art at the Slade School of Art, London and CalArts, Valencia, California. He currently heads OpenMute's technology design team, leading a variety of web projects.

Damian Jaques was the designer of Mute from 1998-2006.

About this edition

• Publisher: 8 Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0955432227
• ISBN 13: 9780955432224
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144