Penguin by Design: A Cover Story 1935-2005

Abstract

'Penguin by design: a cover story 1935-2005' was commissioned to celebrate the company's 70th birthday. Although certain periods of the company's history have been well-documented in the design press, this is the first comprehensive overview of their cover designs to be published. The book draws heavily on the company's published archive at Rugby; the documentary archives of the company and its founder at the University of Bristol Library Special Collections; and interviews and email correspondence with many of the designers whose work featured in the book. I worked closely with the book's designer David Pearson to choose covers that represented the company's development, changing editorial policies and introduction of new series. Because of the period under discussion, the book also tells the evolving and wider story of the emergence of the discipline of graphic design in Britain from the confines of the printing trades. To more fully inform the discussion of the cover designs and their specific stories, each period is contextualised by a description of company development generally and the external forces which influenced it.

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