Colin Banks (16 January 1932 – 9 March 2002) was a British designer who co-founded Banks & Miles, designers and typographers, in
London in 1958 with
John Miles. Major clients of the partnership included the
Consumers' Association, the
Post Office,
British Telecom
BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...
and
London Transport, for whom they redesigned
Edward Johnston's famous "Underground Sans" typeface, as
New Johnston
Johnston (or Johnston Sans) is a sans-serif typeface designed by and named after Edward Johnston. The typeface was commissioned in 1913 by Frank Pick, commercial manager of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (also known as ...
.
Early life
Banks was born in
Ruislip,
England, and grew up in
Margate. He went to Rochester and Maidstone schools of art (both became
Kent Institute of Art & Design then eventually the
University for the Creative Arts), and met John Miles at Maidstone.
Career
With John Miles, he was the Production Editor of ''
Which?'', and associated magazines, from 1964 to 1993.
Typography
Banks was an influential designer, and his Telecom (T) identity, created for
British Telecommunications when it was instituted in 1981, spawned many imitators. Its replacement by
Wolff Olins' BT "piper" was received with much derision in 1991. Banks received a prestigious RSA/BBC Design Award in 1990, for the paper-saving redesign of the UK's Phonebook. Miles and Banks designed the
Royal Mail
, kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga
, logo = Royal Mail.svg
, logo_size = 250px
, type = Public limited company
, traded_as =
, foundation =
, founder = Henry VIII
, location = London, England, UK
, key_people = * Keith Williams ...
's and the
UK Post Office's distinctive "double-line" alphabet in 1972 and
New Johnston
Johnston (or Johnston Sans) is a sans-serif typeface designed by and named after Edward Johnston. The typeface was commissioned in 1913 by Frank Pick, commercial manager of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (also known as ...
, a revival of
Edward Johnston's "Underground Sans", for
London Transport. They also designed the logo of
Lancaster University
Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...
.
Banks was President of the
International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD) from 1988 to 1993 and 2000 to 2002.
Publications
His approach is described by David Jury in the book ''About Face'': "For Banks, it was important to respect the spirit of Johnston rather than adhere mechanically to the construction rules which would have made any further development of the design impossible." Banks would later design a limited-edition book for the organisation as a tribute to
Edward Johnston.
Personal life
He was married since 1961 to zoologist Dr Caroline Grigson (daughter of the poet
Geoffrey Grigson and his first wife). They had a daughter, Frances, who was killed in a road accident in 1978, and a son, Joe.
In 2002 Banks died of
cancer in
Blackheath Blackheath may refer to:
Places England
*Blackheath, London, England
** Blackheath railway station
**Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England
*Blackheath, Surrey, England
** Hundred of Blackh ...
, London, aged 70.
[James Alexander]
Colin Banks obituary
''The Guardian'', 4 April 2002.
Notes
References
* Banks's article
for Linotype, co-written with John Miles:
* John Miles
''Design for Desktop Publishing'' Chronicle Books, 1987. .
* Monty Shaw, ''Banks and Miles: Thirty Years of Design Evolution''. London: Lund Humphries (February 1993),
* David Jury, ''About Face, Reviving the Rules of Typography''. Switzerland: Rotovision, Mies (pp. 60–61),
External links
* James Alexander
''The Guardian'', 4 April 2002.
* Jeremy Myerson
"Colin Banks" ''The Independent'', 16 March 2002.
MyFonts* London Transport Museum, archive artworks for New Johnston Typeface desig
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Colin
1932 births
2002 deaths
People from Margate
English typographers and type designers
Royal Mail people
English graphic designers
Alumni of the University for the Creative Arts