Richard Hollis (born 1934) is a British graphic designer. He has taught at various art schools, written books, and worked as a printer, as a magazine editor and as a print-production manager.

Biography

Hollis was born in

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and studied art and typography at

Chelsea School of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educat ...

Wimbledon School of Art Wimbledon College of Arts, formerly Wimbledon School of Art, is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London specialising in theatre, screen and performance art. It is located in Wimbledon and Merton Park, South West London. ...

and Central School of Art and Crafts in London, before moving to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in the early 1960s. Back in the UK, he designed the quarterly journal ''

Modern Poetry in Translation ''Modern Poetry in Translation'' is a literary magazine and publisher based in the United Kingdom. The magazine was started by Ted Hughes and Daniel Weissbort in 1965. It was relaunched by King's College London in 1992. The College published it ...

'', became the art editor of the weekly magazine ''

New Society ''New Society'' was a weekly magazine of social inquiry and social and cultural comment, published in the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1988. It drew on the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, psychology, human geography, social history and so ...

'' and later created

John Berger John Peter Berger (; 5 November 1926 – 2 January 2017) was an English art critic, novelist, painter and poet. His novel '' G.'' won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism '' Ways of Seeing'', written as an accompaniment to the ...

's ''

Ways of Seeing ''Ways of Seeing'' is a 1972 television series of 30-minute films created chiefly by writer John Berger and producer Mike Dibb. It was broadcast on BBC Two in January 1972 and adapted into a book of the same name. The series was intended as a ...

''. He designed the visual identity and marketing material for the

Whitechapel Art Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the ...

in London. He also co-founded the School of Design at

West of England College of Art The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England. The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...

. His ''About Graphic Design'' was published in 2017, ''Graphic Design. A Concise History'' in 2001, and ''Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style, 1920–1965'' in 2006. Hollis's body of work consistently suggests a strong connection between graphic design and the cultural and social conditions that inspire it. In 2005 he was made one of the two hundred

Royal Designers for Industry Royal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustaine ...

of the

Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

. Hollis's ''About Graphic Design'' was published in 2012 by Occasional Papers. The book, which was also designed by Hollis, is a comprehensive selection of writings covering over 40 years of reflection on graphic design history, including interviews, essays, letters, articles, lectures and course outlines. Hollis's book ''Henry van de Velde: The Artist as Designer'' (2019) was the first major study of van de Velde's work in English in 30 years; it was supported by the Flemish government and published by Occasional Papers.

References

External links

Richard Hollis , Design Works

Richard Hollis Archive

University of Brighton Design Archives The University of Brighton Design Archives centres on British and global design organisations of the twentieth century. It is located within the University of Brighton Grand Parade campus in the heart of Brighton and is an international research r ...

Swiss Graphic Design , A discussion , Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
1934 births Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design British graphic designers British non-fiction writers Designers from London Living people {{graphic-designer-stub