John David Ruari McLean CBE, DSC (10 June 1917 – 27 March 2006) was a leading British typographic designer.
Early life and apprenticeship
Ruari McLean was born in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
on 10 June 1917, in
Newton Stewart
Newton Stewart ( Gd: ''Baile Ùr nan Stiùbhartach'') is a former burgh town in the historical county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland.
The town is on the River Cree with most of the town to the west of the river, and ...
,
Galloway
Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway.
A native or ...
. He was educated at the
Dragon School
("Reach for the Sun")
, established = 1877
, closed =
, type = Preparatory day and boarding school and Pre-Prep school
, religion = Church of England
, president =
, head_label = Head
, head = Emma Goldsm ...
and
Eastbourne College
Eastbourne College is a co-educational independent school in the British public school tradition, for day and boarding pupils aged 13–18, in the town of Eastbourne on the south coast of England. The College's headmaster is Tom Lawson.
Ove ...
.
He was apprenticed in the printing trade at the Shakespeare Head Press,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, where he worked on limited edition fine books. He went on to train in Germany and at the Edinburgh School of Printing, and worked at
Waterlow and Sons
Waterlow and Sons Limited was a major worldwide engraver of currency, postage stamps, stocks and bond certificates based in London, Watford and Dunstable in England. The company was founded as a family business in 1810. It was acquired in 1961 ...
Printing in
Dunstable
Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is t ...
, Bedfordshire and at ''The Studio'' magazine. In 1938 he joined the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, later moving to Lund Humphries printing in
Bradford
Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
, Yorkshire.
McLean was profoundly influenced by the work of
Jan Tschichold
Jan Tschichold (born Johannes Tzschichhold, also known as Iwan Tschichold, or Ivan Tschichold; 2 April 1902 – 11 August 1974) was a German calligrapher, typographer and book designer. He played a significant role in the development of gra ...
, the German
typographer
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), a ...
, and he visited him at his home in
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.
Wartime service
During the war, he served in the
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a c ...
, acting as the British Liaison Officer in the Free French mine-laying submarine, '' Rubis'', where he was in charge of the code books and, after each patrol, had to secretly report to the Admiralty on the morale of the French crew. From 1943 he was attached to Combined Operations Pilotage Parties, involved in daring explorations on enemy beaches in small craft in northern France. He served for more than a year in the Far East, his role being to reconnoitre Japanese beaches in
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
and other potential targets in
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
. In 1943 he was awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries.
*Distinguished Service Cross (Australia)
*Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)
*Distinguished Service Cross (U ...
, having been a recipient of the
Croix de Guerre
The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...
in 1942, and was three times mentioned in dispatches.
Ruari McLean married Antonia Maxwell Carlisle in January 1945.
Early career
McLean joined
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Puffin
Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...
range, bringing Tschichold to advise on design. From 1949 he taught 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 ...
, and at the same time became involved with Rev. Marcus Morris in the planning the layout of the new boys' comic, the ''
Eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
''.
In 1951 he entered into partnership with
George Rainbird
George Meadus Rainbird (22 May 1905 – 20 August 1986) was a British publisher, and the founder of the eponymous publishing house George Rainbird Ltd.
Early life
He was born on 22 May 1905,https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZ9-QLDM ...
to found the publishing company Rainbird, McLean, designing and contributing to high-quality reproductions of bird and flower books, as well as the ''
About Britain
About Britain is a series of 13 books published by Collins for the Festival of Britain in 1951 under the general editorship of Geoffrey Grigson who also wrote the first two volumes in the series.Victorian books and became an expert and well-known author of works on the subject. His ''Victorian Book Design and Colour Printing'' was published in 1963, with a second edition in 1972. This was followed by books on ''Victorian Bookbindings in Cloth and Leather'' (1973) and on those in paper (1983). He translated some of Tschichold's books and wrote about him in ''Jan Tschichold: Typographer'' (1975) and ''Jan Tschichold: A Life in Typography'' (1997). He later wrote his “typographical autobiography”, ''True to Type'' (2000), and ''Half Seas Under'', a record of his naval career (2003).
His best-known work is ''Magazine Design'', published in 1969. McLean was of the opinion that the design and layout of magazines was of crucial importance and significance in the pre-television era, and this work became known as a practitioner's manual for those in the profession. He wrote the
Thames & Hudson
Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...
''Manual of Typography'', published in 1980, which drew on his unusually wide experience of the subject, as did his historical survey ''How Typography Happens'', published by the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...
in 2000.
McLean was author of numerous other works, including ''Modern Book Design'' (1958), and many of these have become standard reference works.
Later work
McLean continued as a practising typographer, and was called upon by well-known British journals and magazines, such as ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
's'' weekend review, ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'', ''
New Scientist
''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...
'' and ''The Twentieth Century''.
In 1973 he moved with his wife and family and his business partner, Fianach Jardine, to the relative seclusion of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, Scotland.
After moving to Scotland, he continued to be involved in major national projects, including the design of the ''Concise Scots Dictionary'' and the ''New Testament in Scots'', with which he collaborated with Jardine.
Ruari McLean was Typographic Adviser to
HMSO
The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the Un ...
1966–90, and much involved in assessing graphic design courses at art colleges all over Britain. From 1981 he also became a trustee of the
National Library of Scotland
The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in t ...
. He gave the Sanders Lectures in Bibliography at
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...