henrion_

Every now and then you get given a picture of a great leap of progress; there was a time before say, Picasso or hot metal, and then there is everything that came after it. Listening to Adrian Shaughnessy’s talk on FHK Henrion (St Bride Printing Library, 15 January) he pitches him as a pioneer of many things but I was particularly drawn to him leading the way in system based design. I was trying to imagine “the time before” but in this instance I couldn’t. I am not sure we can call it design if it is not system based.

The phrase itself not only encompasses grid systems, type systems, graphic systems, and content management but code. These are most of the units we use to manage communication on screen and in print over any kind of scale. Whilst I can see what a design world before Emile Ruder looked like I can’t do that before systems design. Obviously there has already been a history of systems otherwise Gutenberg would of been able to do anything and what’s the Bauhaus without geometry? But for modernist “commercial artists” (love that phrase), Henrion seems to sit – secretly – near the start.

On top of all that Ken Garland was in the crowd and was asked to tell an impromptu anecdote about Henrion. Everybody loved him. I was reminded of a quote I had read by him regarding studying at the swiss school:

“When I spent a month in Switzerland in 1960, my enthusiasms were there, but some of my suspicions were confirmed; that these designers were using there subject matter as there toy, they got off on it. Their formalism overrode the caution they should of showed to the material they were working with.”

When we do a job we must make it clear to ourselves who we are serving. If we don’t it’s like life before system based design – it’s not design. That doesn’t stop it being charming, engaging or even enjoyable to do. It just makes ensure that the act of making things is actually designing things.

I see a lot of knee-jerk solutions built on “this is what’s hip – right now!”, “this is how we did it last time”, “This is what the other guys do” and “this has to innovate”. All of those are totally fine – if the product demands it.

What I love about both Henrion and Garland is their abilities to design things that that are both charming and functional. At the same time they never lost touch with “The material they were working with”. That is hip.