This week Brad and I went to a talk at the Wellcome Collection titled “Christ to Coke - How Image Becomes Icon” given by Martin Kemp, the Emeritus Research Professor in the History of Art at Oxford University.

The talk focused on Martin Kemp’s book of the same name - Christ to Coke - and he discussed some of the icons which made it to the book. My sketchnote of the event is below… 

If you are interested in hearing the lecture, Martin Kemp is speaking at the National Portrait Gallery about Iconography on the 22nd March. Tickets cost £5 / £4.

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending the Symbol talk, by Angus Hyland (of Pentagram) at the Design Museum. Angus is a fantastic presenter and I really enjoyed the talk, although did get a little carried away doing my own versions of the logo in my sketchnote. The talk was in conjunction with Angus’s book, also called Symbol, which has just been released. Looks absolutely amazing and am very tempted to get a copy!

I’m a big fan of Rosenfeld Media. Their UX books are brilliant and their webinars aren’t too shabby either. They offer a release notification service for their upcoming titles and this week they let me know that “Design is the Problem” by Nathan Shedroff was now available for download or purchase. As a sweetener they also offered a 20% discount so I have ordered it. I’ve got the PDF version already but I expect to have the physical copy in a few weeks or so.

Here’s the blurb from their site:

Design makes a tremendous impact on the produced world in terms of usability, resources, understanding, and priorities. What we produce, how we serve customers and other stakeholders, and even how we understand how the world works is all affected by the design of models and solutions. Designers have an unprecedented opportunity to use their skills to make meaningful, sustainable change in the world—if they know how to focus their skills, time, and agendas. In Design is the Problem: The Future of Design Must be Sustainable, Nathan Shedroff examines how the endemic culture of design often creates unsustainable solutions, and shows how designers can bake sustainability into their design processes in order to produce more sustainable solutions.

Once I’ve had a chance to read it, I’ll post a detailed review.