In 1989, Donald Moffett and Marlene McCarty founded Bureau, a “trans-disciplinary design studio” whose mandate was to produce art, film titles, political work, and brand identities. Bureau was a multidisciplinary design studio and collaboration between principals Donald Moffett and Marlene McCarty, with Claudia Brandenburg, Kiers Alexandra, Mary Day, Lucy Hitchcock, and Gabriel Feliciano, who viewed their unique design studio as a service provider and, more significantly, as an author of social messages.

Interview, Ellen Lupton with Donald Moffett and Marlene McCarty (Bureau), June 27, 1994. An edited version of this interview appears in the book Mixing Messages: Graphic Design in Contemporary Culture. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996.

Although Canada was one of the first to join the FontShop International with a Toronto based office in 1989, it wasn’t much known for its typographical identity. With the exponential growth in the use of desktop computers and the Internet, borders can be crossed more easily, and the desire for local design cultures is stimulated.

HF/Tribe proudly presents an independent type foundry, which now occupies a well deserved place in The Republic of Type. Max Kisman interviewed Montreal-based designer Denis Dulude, the founder and spokesman of 2Rebels.

Few designers or design firms manage to create a collecting frenzy over the things they design. The posters created by Aesthetic Apparatus become things of value, joy, longing and inspiration. From the coldest confines of the Midwest, Dan Ibarra and Michael Byzewski bring us some of the freshest/baddest posters of our time. And find the time to chat with us.

Interview with Under Consideration’s Speak Up.

Tomato… A house hold name in our industry. This multi-disciplinary collective tackles almost anything creative. Among the mediums most noted would include; typography, graphic design, architecture, filmmaking, and the music of Underworld. We caught up with Graham Wood, Steve Baker, and Jason Kedgely and were able to get these kind gentlemen to ‘speak up’.
Interview with Under Consideration’s Speak Up.

‘I first met Daniel van der Velden in Brno, Czech Republic, in 2008. Among a group of outstanding designers presenting at an International Biennial of Graphic Design, I was struck by the content of Metahaven’s work — politics, borders, immigration, social networks and economic theory. Metahaven is a partnership of Daniel van der Velden and Vinca Kruk (whom I recently met in Amsterdam). I have also written about a recent Metahaven project, proposals for a new graphic identity for WikiLeaks.

My fellow Design Observer OBlog critic, Rick Poynor, has described them thus: “Metahaven is one of the most theoretically informed, strategically adept and articulate groups of thinkers operating in graphic design…” — high praise from a writer who has challenged the current state of Dutch graphic design.

Daniel and I started this interview months ago when Uncorporate Identity was being published, and it dragged on as we attempted a sustained conversation by email, while we were both traveling over many months. While I share Rick Poynor’s respect for the larger Metahaven project, I went into the interview troubled by some of their actual design work, as well as by the language that defines and surrounds their practice. If this interview seemed awkward and testy at times, it is probably because of these biases — which I brought into this dialogue, despite our many mutual interests and shared concerns. I have let the conversation stand as it happened, edited by both parties only for sense and clarity.’ – William Drenttel. A conversation with Design Observer.