Welcome to a slightly belated winter issue, Baseline 54. The long-running strike on the French side of the channel played a part in the delay. Specially produced paper for Baseline could not be shipped into England in time. Still, the new issue in front of you is again full of informative and unique ‘TypoGraphic’ contents and design.

Features
After the reviews by Ian McLaren and Eric Kindel of two recently published books and our recommended publications list, the features start with David Gentleman’s ethical view and design approach and recollection of how he created the powerful and memorable graphic designs for the 2003 Peace March in London.

Donald Amadeus Garbe, staff writer from the Extension programme of the University of California, Los Angeles, describes how Design Director InJu Sturgeon created the Extension’s successful ‘Masters in Graphic Design’ cover design concept and brought, with the seasonal publications, ‘art to the masses’. Her experience in working over a period of 18 years with masters such as Michael Bierut, Alan Fletcher, April Greiman, Paul Rand and Wolfgang Weingart is illustrated here.

Paul Shaw, graphic design historian and academic, intro­duces the visual qualities of existing and decaying neon signs, with their individual shapes and unique lettering styles, which he observed in the USA.

Steven Heller entertains us with a somewhat funny and thought-provoking article about George W. Bush and his ‘mates of world leaders’ as much acclaimed ‘advertising stars’.

David Jury, senior lecturer at Colchester Institute, England, kept on record his conversation with Kelvyn Smith. An unpre­tentious and sympathetic practising graphic designer, he uses letterpress, with its specific discipline, as inspiration for his computer-generated graphic design work.

Opinion
On the opinion page, Simon Loxley gives us his critical opin­ion on the ampersand. From Tiro’s simple conjunction of vertical and horizontal lines to Herb Lubalin’s well known typographic icon, ‘Mother & Child’.

Education
In the Education Spectrum, Ian McLaren, Joan Schwartz, Richard B. Doubleday and the editor introduce you to a collab­orative book concept project between the School of Fine Arts of Boston University and Suzhou Design and Technology Institute in China.

Finally, I should let you know that we have completed the design for stage one of our new Baseline website. We are thankful for any comments we receive, so please visit us at:
www.baselinemagazine.com