Eye Magazine

John Ridpath

Recent articles by John Ridpath

Ethics in the age of data capitalismIssue 99, Autumn 2019
Feature

	Has user-centred design dragged us to the brink of catastrophe? And if so, do we need a First…
Source code for a design revolutionIssue 85, Spring 2013
Review

        
           
                          
                

	

	Processing, an open-source programming language and environment for creating…
      
Free for allIssue 83, Summer 2012
Feature

	In designing the Ubuntu type family, Dalton Maag had to produce faces for print and screen in…
Tangible digital (case studies)Issue 80, Summer 2011
Feature
How can we make the virtual more physical while bringing emotion into the digital domain?
Out of the darkroomIssue 77, Autumn 2010
Feature
Newport’s reputation for cutting-edge photography is based on a solid grounding in film-based…
Two wheels goodIssue 77, Autumn 2010
Feature
Designers have always been attracted to bicycles. A new breed of cycling mags shows just how deep…
In the neighbourhoodIssue 81, Autumn 2011
Feature

	John Ridpath profiles three design practices who work with local clients: Maddison Graphic; Mark…
UndergrowthIssue 78, Winter 2010
Feature
Untangling the internet with IA’s metro ‘snapshot’

Recent blog posts by John Ridpath

To share or not to share …

3 February 2021

Designers are uniquely placed to navigate the ethical issues of our increasingly connected world. John Ridpath speaks to Clever°Franke about a speculative labelling system and Cirque du Data

Engaging the public around the topic of data (and its responsible use) has been a key theme for design agency Clever°Franke over the past few years, writes John Ridpath.

The accidental student

3 January 2018

What happens when you have just minutes to come up with a design? John Ridpath writes about the problem-solving benefits of ‘creative accidents’

‘Look at the photocopied type specimens on the table. Pick a letter “A” that you like. Draw a copy of it anywhere on your sheet of paper, using charcoal. It can be big or small, you can rotate it, you can draw it partially off the page. You have five minutes.’ Rod Judkins has just issued the first brief of ‘100 Design Projects’, a five-day course at Central Saint Martins, writes John Ridpath.

The other end of the spectrum

30 January 2013

Upon Paper 02 sports a Peter Saville cover. John Ridpath talks to editorial director Paul Hetherington about this monster-format ’zine

Upon Paper is a publication made so vast in format that I had to make special travel arrangements to get it home, writes John Ridpath.

Printer wonderland

14 December 2012

‘A Printer’s Tale’, in London next Monday evening, looks at new ways in which the worlds of physical and digital can be plugged together

We’ve known for some time that, despite the unerring rise of digital technologies, print is far from dead, write John Ridpath and Cath Richardson.

Photo finish

20 May 2012

Bike app brings black, cream & red-blooded photo-reportage to the iPad

Following the trend toward towards beautifully designed and illustrated publications for cyclists (see ‘Two wheels good’, my article in Eye 77) comes The Collarbone, a ‘pro-peleton photo-reportage’ journal for the iPad, writes John Ridpath.

Off the map

18 April 2012

It may be a masterpiece but Google Maps is losing ground to its rivals

The graphic thought behind Google Maps is fascinating, and for most internet users it ranks alongside Google Search as an essential tool of everyday life, writes John Ridpath.

In the neighbourhood #3

8 February 2012

Austin-based studio Bigger Than Giants makes another local connection

Working under the moniker Bigger Than Giants, Austin-based designer Ryan Rhodes has developed a distinctively off-kilter, handcrafted aesthetic, writes John Ridpath.

In the neighbourhood #2

1 February 2012

‘Working locally has allowed us to produce a personal body of work’

In Eye 81, for the article ‘In the neighbourhood’, I interviewed three designers who work with local clients, writes John Ridpath.

Greece, 2022

27 January 2012

Athenian designers reflect on how they might shape their country’s future

When I visited Athens in February 2010, the Greek government’s spiralling debt crisis was just beginning, writes John Ridpath.

Wordy shopping ’hood

12 January 2012

Balls, books, a rollercoaster … and tinned fear in Selfridges’ ‘concept store’

If the January sales haven’t lured you to London’s Oxford Street, perhaps a new installation at Selfridges might just reel you in, writes John Ridpath. ‘Words, words,

‘Need a new toolbox.’

9 January 2012

Type Tuesday: Made by Many chat about the challenges of webfonts

Eye has covered webfonts several times, most recently in ‘Andmoreagain’ a blog about the 2011Ampersand conference, and ‘New dawn’,Jack Yan’s excellent article in Eye 79, writes John Ridpath.

Type Tuesday: play on words

8 November 2011

Monotype opens up three typefaces to artists

Creative social enterprise space Mill Co. has collaborated with Monotype for their second annual exhibition, writes John Ridpath.

Ramble on

19 May 2011

Greece’s Design Walk returns with a lecture by Onlab in Athens

Last year’s Design Walk in Athens raised some thorny issues for Greek designers, writes John Ridpath: from coping with financial crisis and poor education, to asking whether there is actually is such a thing as ‘Greek design’ (see ‘Athenian walkways’ and ‘Signs of a city’). I spoke with Michael Ochs of pi6 about how things have changed over the past year (see last year’s interview, part of the Athens snapshots series). ‘pi6 is struggling its way through the Greek jungle and we are doing well’, he said. ‘But as you can imagine, things are not easy here. The economy is ruined, no one is investing and you can be happy if you have work.’

Let’s work together

28 February 2011

The Mill Co. Project and the collaborative work ethic

Mill Co. bills itself as a ‘full service creative agency’ – yet the ‘Co.’ doesn’t stand for company, but for co-operation, writes John Ridpath.

Visual ping-pong

29 March 2010

Designers in London and Berlin have started a creative conversation.

It’s good to talk, and this year’s Art Of Conversation has started up a unique dialogue between graphic designers, writes John Ridpath.