Designers
Alberto Allessi
Born: Italy, 1946
Occupation: Managing Director of Allessi Spa
Industry: Product Design (household goods)
Founded: 1921 Website: alessi.com
Design Philosophy: Combining mass production with good
design, creativity and craftsmanship. Allessi is not a great
designer but he encourages and supports those who are.
“Allessi’s role is to mediate between the the interesting
expressions of creativity of our times, and the dreams of the
consumer. We like to lead where others follow. Some of our
products are so extraordinary that no other manufacturer
would considere making them … The possibilities of
creativity are immense and we haveno limit on what we can
do.”
Alberto Allessi
Robert Sabuda
Born: Pinckney, in southeastern Michigan
Occupation: Paper Engineer
Industry: Publishing
Website: www.robertsabuda.com
Design Philosophy: Both adults and children enjoy
mechanical books, and reading together is fun.
Sabuda’s pop-up books use clever paper engineering for the
enjoyment of children and adults.
Robert Sabuda
Wally Olins
Occupation: Brand consultant
Industry: Graphic Design
Design Philosophy: Presenting the idea of a company as a
whole, through it’s products, environment and behaviour
rather than just through advertising.
Co-Founder of advertising agency Wolff Olins, which has
become a major influence on developing corporate image.
Wally Olins’s approach to branding is to include an
organisations brands, values and relationship with the
public.
Wally Olins
Margaret Calvert
Jock Kinnear
Occupation: Calvert – Illustrator
Kinneir – Graphic Designer
Design Philosophy: Developing clear and easy to read, when
driving fast (road graphics/signage).
First they developed a new Typeface that was easy to read
when driving fast, called ‘Transport’. The letters were sans
serif and slightly curved.
They then developed a system of pictograms instead of
word, and based the designs around their own
backgrounds. The pictograms are clear and easy to
understand when travelling at speed.
Margaret Calvert
Jock Kinnear
Harry Beck
AKA Henry C. Beck
Born: 4-Jun-1903 to 18-Sep-1974
Occupation: Designer
Nationality: England
Executive summary: Designed the London Underground map
Designed a stylized map of the London Underground, known for its
diagrammatic representation of the various train lines and lack of
correspondence to the physical locations of stations. Beck began
work on the design in 1933, and continued to work on it until his
death in 1974, though he would not receive official recognition of
his accomplishment until the 90s.
Harry Beck