…perhaps it sounds as though I have fallen out of sympathy with Dutch graphic design. The disappointment, as I have tried to show, comes from the strength of admiration that preceded it. Dutch graphic design’s astonishing, inspiring achievements showed what could sometimes be possible in visual communication. Its innovations provided unusually exacting benchmarks that could be used to assess graphic design anywhere. I can only suggest that it would be dishonest now — and self-deceiving on the part of Dutch designers – not to apply these benchmarks to the contemporary graphic design scene…
sadly i was too late to get a ticket when design critic ‘rick poynor’ visited amsterdam last week… the debate he was attending on the state of dutch design must have been a lively one and i would (really!) love to hear from anyone who was present… exactly what the debate produced in terms of new ideas or old ones…
the reason he was invited to amsterdam is the critical article poynor wrote on ‘dutch design’ in the recently released edition of ‘the dutch design awards’ yearbook… the complete article has now been placed online (also in the dutch version) have a read… he makes many valid points, but as often is the case, it leaves me wondering whether he might be too limited in his depth of knowledge in terms of the smaller (lesser known) gods, making some very exciting and engaged work right now all over the netherlands… agreed the times have changed and we need to redefine ourselves but that means time to stop looking back, only forward perhaps… all the same we must (i feel) welcome any thinker/writer who is as passionate about our profession as ‘rick poynor’ is
