#v23

A few Dabi edits I have from vol.23

idea 275: typography-ex [pt.2]

What Reid Miles was to Blue Note Records and Peter Saville was to Factory Records, Vaughan Oliver (1957-2019) was to 4AD. In the 80s and 90s, Oliver created a design language for 4AD that was so idiosyncratic that it was possible to walk into a record store and spot their albums from across the room. Throwing Muses, Pixies, Cocteau Twins, The Breeders, Lush, The Birthday Party, Dead Can Dance, and many many more were all united by Oliver’s design sensibility. Even when those bands sounded nothing alike or were completely unknown, one could always infer certain things about them because they were with 4AD and from the packaging design. This book, created as a catalog for an exhibit of his work held at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles in 1994, covers Oliver’s middle period between 1988 and 1994. If I’m being honest, the 4AD look isn’t dating as well as the other two designers I mentioned at the start. It looks a little too 90s Ray Gun-y to me now, if you know what I mean (which is ironic, since that was an idea he probably helped inspire). But, regardless, with its typographical audacity, experimentation, and inventiveness, what Oliver’s work loses in clarity is more than made up for in identity and sheer bravura style.

V23 Central St Martins fashion show invitation 2004

This Mortal Coil ‎– "Blood", 4AD promotional poster 1991, Design Vaughan Oliver v23