Royalty, imperialism and racism are part of the same process of history — They say death and taxes are inevitable. While Queen Elizabeth II did better than many on the latter, she could not eventually avoid the former. The media circus — a lot of genuine and a lot of performative grief around her death — was wholly expected. …

A requiem for Paula Rego —one of the most distinctive and acclaimed artists of our time. — It is often recommended to a student of drawing to study the work of a master in order to decode the basic principles of composition and utilisation of value. In my case, I chose to study Paula Rego. The reason I chose Paula Rego (after her retrospective at the Tate…

On the use of line in American cartooning — One of the most well known lineages of American cartooning is traceable from the seminal artist, Bernard Krigstein to Daniel Clowes, and then to the “Wonder Boy of Comics” Adriane Tomine (at the time of writing, a middle-aged dad). Today, Bernard Krigstein’s most referenced work is Master Race. Master Race…

Paul Renner’s quest for “sachlich” created a typeface that is as technically astute as it is elegant — Futura was born alongside a rash of German grotesque typefaces that were created in the late 1920s. These typefaces had their roots in the progressive, modernist zeitgeist of the period. At one point, after some initial resistance, Futura was co-opted to serve Nazi propaganda. Its huge popularity with American printers…

The ghost in the machine of “corporate vanilla” — As an archetypical jock with a military dad, Andy Roddick possessed the background, work ethic, and attitude of a champion. In 2003, Roddick won his first US Open trophy. It was widely expected that he would have a record-breaking career and would dominate tennis in the tradition of American greats…

Bhakti as typography — As the 1930s got into their full swing, a new demand for display and logo typefaces was seen across Europe. The expanding scale of industrial production meant that the global economy was orienting increasingly towards an ever-growing market of consumer goods and services. Large typeface design corporations like Monotype quickly…

The Hong Kong inquest into the death of superstar Bruce Lee in 1973 required a professor of medicine to be flown in from London. This is the story of that man. — I. A Saturday evening in 1960’s Middlesex, UK. A young man, of about mid-twenty in age, is discovered brutally injured from fight injuries in a side-lane. He is barely alive and does not survive thirty hours in hospital. In their murder investigation, the police struggle to find evidence that will…

Edward Johnston’s diamond-shaped “tittle” and the origins of a classic typeface design — In London’s central Piccadilly Circus shopping and entertainment district, giant electronic hoardings encircle a statue of Eros that treads one-footed upon a fountain. An ever-flowing river of pedestrians, spilling out of shops and restaurants, circumambulates the fountain’s platform. The fountain is raised by a hexagonal rise of steps. Tourists and…

Hitler pretended he was a great intellectual but his mental calibre never progressed beyond genre young adult cowboy novels — The Allies recovered approximately 16,300 books from the Berlin Reich Chancellery and Hitler’s country home on the Obersalzberg at Berchtesgaden. It is said that the Russians too gained possession of another huge store of books but the details of these collections remains sketchy.