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Intriguing design anecdotes

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Posted
This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

Hello all,

We are currently gathering research for a compendium of graphic design miscellany. We would greatly appreciate any anecdotes you may know of. The publication will be targeted at designers of all ages as an kind of amusing factual compilation of tales and facts.

Examples include:- John Baskerville insisting on being buried standing upright. In 1820, his body was dug up and used as a sort of local peepshow. The curious could view it for the sum of 6 pence.

We would be extremely grateful for any contributions, the more entertaining the better!

Posted

Edward Johnston always carried a piece of toast in his shirt pocket so he wouldn't waste time when he felt a wee bit peckish.

Francesco Griffo was hanged for the murder of his son-in-law.

Otl Aicher died when a car hit his lawn-mowing tractor because he liked to drive into the road to overshoot his field to make the turns so the lines would be straight.

Ask somebody to tell you about Eric Gill...

hhp

Posted

Be certain to properly cite Typophile in the references section of your paper. A failure to do so would constitute academic plagiarism. APA 6.0 format:

Dean, C. (2013, March 11). Re: Intriguing design anecdotes [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from https://typography.guru/forums/topic/111281-forwarding

You will need to do this for every comment you reference. Better yet, it would be best to use these comments to help direct you to a primary source (book, journal, something published &c) so you can research it more thoroughly and double check the authenticity of the comment(s). It is highly likely that comments are simply inaccurate. If you track down a primary source, you don’t have to cite Typophile. However, on principle, I would make a statement to the effect of “special thanks to the members of Typophile for assisting in our research.”

People can point you in the right direction and save you some Google/library time, but they can’t always be relied upon to provide you with accurate, verifiable information. This is especially relevant to an important final project such as yours. Knowing how to conduct a literature review is a significant portion of being capable to conduct quality research. It is also a significant amount of work. If I had to review a paper, and the bulk of the references were forum comments, I probably wouldn’t mark it as it would be extremely to difficult and time consuming to double check them all. I’d simply pass it back and ask them to provide me with proper references. It’s kind of like passing the buck to other researchers and your professor.

Is this undergraduate or graduate research?

Posted

Depending on the institution, most thesis (including undergrad’s) will be stored in a database that can be accessed by other researchers, so you want to wear your Sunday best, just in case!

Oh, and it’s Lastname, First initial.

Chris Dean = Dean, C.

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