Derek Birdsall, (born 1 August 1934) is an internationally renowned British graphic designer.

Early life

Birdsall was born in

Wakefield, Yorkshire Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

, in 1934 and attended

The King's School, Pontefract The King's School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, located in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of the four oldest schools in Yorkshire, dating from 1139 and was refounded by King Edward VI in 1548. Histor ...

, Wakefield College of Art and

Central School of Arts and Crafts The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cr ...

in London.Myerson, Jeremy, "White space, black hat", Eye 9, Wordsearch Ltd, 1993. "At Central, Birdsall came under the influence of

Anthony Froshaug Anthony Froshaug (1920–1984) was an English typographer, designer and teacher, born in London to a Norwegian father and English mother. Influenced by ideas of European modernism, particularly the work of Jan Tschichold, Froshaug is considered ...

, who – alongside

Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest" ...

and Edward Wright – taught his students the difference between beautiful

lettering Lettering is an umbrella term that covers the art of drawing letters, instead of simply writing them. Lettering is considered an art form, where each letter in a phrase or quote acts as an illustration. Each letter is created with attention to d ...

and

typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), and ...

proper, with its pre-eminent concerns of clarity, directness and, above all, textual legibility

Birdsall failed to earn a diploma, however, and began his career in design in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Career

Birdsall's career and fame were built on a variety of designs and commissions. During his long career—among much other work—Birdsall designed Penguin Books, Penguin book covers and

Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyre ...

calendars; he art-directed several magazines (including ''

Nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

'' and Mobil Oil's ''Pegasus''; and he designed books for the

Yale Center for British Art Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...

, the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

, the V&A and the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

and redesigned the

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

in 2000. Alongside his practice in design, Birdsall also taught design at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

beginning in 1987. Birdsall was the author of ''Notes On Book Design'', published by

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

in 2004.

Personal life

He married in 1954 and has three sons and one daughter, including actor

Jesse Birdsall Jesse Birdsall (born 13 February 1963) is an English actor, known for his roles as Marcus Tandy in the BBC1 soap opera ''Eldorado'', Nick Beckett in the adventure series '' Bugs'' (1995–1999), football manager Roger Webb in ''Footballers' Wive ...

. His daughter Elsa has followed him into the design industry.

References

Books and articles on Birdsall

* Myerson, Jeremy, ''White space, black hat'', '' Eye 9'', Wordsearch Ltd, 1993. * Thompson, Philip, ''Derek Birdsall – Typographer'', '' Baseline 28'', Bradbourne Publishing, 1999. * Birdsall, Derek, ''Notes on Book Design'',

, 2004. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Birdsall, Derek 1934 births British graphic designers Design writers Living people People from Pontefract People educated at The King's School, Pontefract Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design Royal Designers for Industry