Ian Mackenzie-Kerr (18 November 1929 – 27 May 2005) was a British book designer. He worked for Thames & Hudson for almost fifty years, where he was instrumental in transforming the appearance of their books.Alan Powers
Ian Mackenzie-Kerr: Thames & Hudson book designer
Obituary, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 6 June 2005.Brian Morley
Obituary – Ian Mackenzie-Kerr: Designer who transformed the appearance of Thames & Hudson books
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 27 July 2005.

Life and work

Ian Mackenzie-Kerr was born and died in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and was the son of a hotel manager. He was educated at

Bryanston School Bryanston School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located next to the village of Bryanston, and near the town of Blandford Forum, in Dorset in South West England. It was founded in 1928. ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, where he developed his interest in art and drama under the leadership of the headmaster, Thorold Coade. He undertook

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

as an intelligence officer monitoring

Arabic language Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

broadcasts. In 1950, he started four years at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, and was inspired enough to attend the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

on the South Bank twice in 1951. He then moved to 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 o ...

(1954–57), where he was taught about illustration by Edward Ardizzone and

Edward Bawden Edward Bawden, (10 March 1903 – 21 November 1989) was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had be ...

. Early on in his publishing career, with his theatrical background, he was offered

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...

's role in Beyond the Fringe on the tour of Australia. When Mackenzie-Kerr joined Thames & Hudson in 1957, the art department was almost non-existent. Previously, illustrations in T&H books had been badly implemented, with poor colour reproduction. Mackenzie-Kerr transformed the situation for the company. In 1962,

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

persuaded Mackenzie-Kerr to become designer and joint editor of the Victorian Society Annual with Ian Sutton, a colleague at Thames & Hudson. He produced the drawings for ''Strong Points'' by

Roy Strong Sir Roy Colin Strong, (born 23 August 1935) is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer. He has served as director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. ...

. Mackenzie-Kerr has featured in books about book design, being very adaptable as the technology of book design changed during his career.Rosemary Sassoon,
Computers and Typography 2
', Volume 2. Intellect Books, 2002.
Ian Mackenzie-Kerr – Book design: before and after
page 69.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackenzie-Kerr, Ian 1929 births 2005 deaths Artists from London People educated at Bryanston School Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of the Royal College of Art English designers English book publishers (people) 20th-century English businesspeople