The Design of Otl Aicher

A new monograph is coming out this month from Phaidon about the life and work of German designer Otl Aicher. You can read my interview with the book's author, Markus Rathgeb, on Metropolismag.com.

About This Blog

An image of the Archimedes Palimpsest, in the collection of the Walters Art Museum. It shows the layers of text.

Before the invention of the printing press, writers imprinted their texts on reusable parchment. The paper would be scraped to "erase" the prior content and make way for new writings. This is known as a palimpsest. The previous layers could often be seen rising beneath the new words, a delicate reminder that we cannot ignore what came before, that we are constantly building on the past. This is a blog written by Baltimore-based journalist Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson about the built environment and the layers of place and culture that exist in cities. Read more here.