Ah, contemporary graphic design, the raw fuel of our daily lives. We’re faced with an increasingly hysterical deluge of new visual work, cascading into our workspace thanks to a plethora of enthusiastic websites. As a result, it's a delight to sit back with a weighty tome and actually devote time to the images, forms and layouts that inspire us.
Area_2 follows Phaidon's ten by ten format, bringing together 100 contemporary practitioners with plenty of space to showcase their most effective work. Credits and attribution - all too often absent online - are present and correct, as is work by some of our favourite studios, including A Practice for Everyday Life, MadeThought and United Visual Artists.
Variety is the name of the game; pity the modern designer who can’t stretch to any medium, old, new or hitherto undiscovered. A section at the back lists the curators’ ten design classics, while Julia Hasting's understated art direction allows the featured work to shine.
