2 October 2018

7.00pm – 9.00pm

Mark Holt and Hamish Muir will discuss Octavo and its relationship to 8vo’s commissioned work. The talk will focus on the synergies and tensions between the studio’s two areas of activity in the context of 8vo’s continuing programme of exploration in typographically-based approaches to graphic design. The talk will be followed by a panel discussion chaired by Adrian Shaughnessy, with Mark Holt and Hamish Muir and special guests to be confirmed shortly.

Mark and Hamish will also be signing copies of Unit Editions’ ‘Octavo Redux’ which will be on sale at the event. (Cost: £75.00 with 10% of all sales donated to St Bride Library.)

For more information about the book please visit: https://uniteditions.com/products/octavo-redux-1-1-a-record-of-octavo-journal-of-typography-1986-1992

8vo, 1985–2001

‘Octavo’, journal of typography, 1986–92

Mark Holt and Hamish Muir were co-founders, with Simon Johnston, of the influential London-based design studio 8vo. The shared objective was to use type as the central component of the studio's output, eschewing big ideas and all things British. By the late eighties, the studio’s work for clients in the UK, Europe and the US was highly acclaimed internationally for its innovative approach to typographically-based visual communication. The studio’s reputation was heightened by ‘Octavo’, journal of typography, in a designed to self-destruct series of eight issues, self-published between 1986 and 1992.

Since 8vo’s closure in 2001, Mark Holt has helped steer Nokia's global brand harmonisation (2003–5), co-founded ‘better thinking’, a sustainabilty consultancy trying to convince brands to become ‘good guys’ (2005–10), and since 2016 has been working on a book about the visual output of Otl Aicher’s Munich ’72 design team (Dept. XI), which he hopes to self-publish in 2019.

In 2009, Hamish Muir co-founded MuirMcNeil Design Systems with Paul McNeil. MuirMcNeil’s work focusses on exploring parametric and algorithmic approaches to typographic form and visual systems – in the generation of typeface designs and their subsequent application in visual communication projects, both in self-initiated work and in professional commissions.

Holt and Muir have joined forces on the writing, editing and design of two books about 8vo/Octavo: ‘8vo: On the Outside’, published by Lars Müller (2005) and more recently they collaborated with Unit Editions to produce ‘Octavo Redux 1:1. A record of Octavo, international journal of typography, 1986–1992’ (2017).

Book Online HERE