The Dictionary of Visual Language

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Philip Thompson

Peter Davenport

Penguin Books, London, 1982, 1980, English

Nonfiction, Graphic Design

ISBN: 9780140511178

On 2 book lists

Angus Hyland

On Angus Hyland’s Book List

The ultimate sourcebook.

Rick Poynor

On Rick Poynor’s Book List

Seventeen years ago, in Eye magazine, I wrote that this book deserved immediate reissue. It didn’t happen, but I still think the same. As with some other books in this list, I include the dictionary, published in 1980, not because it will be easy to find, but because its originality will more than repay the effort. The book shows graphic design as an endlessly reusable and readaptable system of graphic ideas. So, under P, we find Painting, Palette, Palindrome, Palm Tree, Palmist’s Hand, Paper, Paper Boat, Paper Clip, and so on. Each of these kinds of graphic image is shown as it was used in a real piece of work. A wonderfully stimulating book.

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