Recommended Sites
In 1930, Beatrice Warde gave a speech entitled “Printing Should Be Invisible.” Later printed under the name “The Crystal Goblet,” she explores concepts that graphic designers will invariably encounter at some point during their careers. Warde begins by asking whether you would rather be served your favorite vino in a solid gold vessel or a crystal clear goblet. Your answer, she says, will reveal you to be a connoisseur of wine ...or not.
The crystal goblet is preferable for one with an interest in the wine itself, “because everything about it is calculated to reveal rather than to hide the beautiful thing which it was meant to contain.”
Graphic design frames, shapes and informs many of our experiences and yet often goes unnoticed by the casual observer. Rarely, it will leap into the public spotlight, most often out of dislike. The London Olympics logo, The Gap’s new (and later retracted) logo, and the University of California’s new (also later retracted) identity system all come to mind. Comic sans is regularly joked about by designers and non-designers alike, but how many of us can name not only “bad” but also “good” fonts? Great design is the crystal goblet: we hardly notice it, because it accomplishes what it was intended to do with little fuss.