From the signage of HMS Victory and Tate Britain, to the graphic identities of galleries and biennials, his designs can be found across contemporary British culture.
At John Morgan’s funeral in September the vicar told a story about a book very close to his heart, the book of Common Worship. It had been redesigned by Morgan and the anecdote was about a panel of commissioners who passed a mock-up of the book between them and, rather than looking at its design, competed with each other to see how much damage they could do; trying to tear, drop, hold up by a single leaf, scuff, shake and, ultimately, throw it across the room. Morgan, meanwhile, looked on mortified, his meticulous work being brutalised. At the end of the meeting the churchmen seemed satisfied that the book could withstand abuse, gave their assent and left without any further comment.
“Morgan later made a film about the incident, Blank Dummy.”
It is easy to imagine Morgan, a thoughtful, humble but also confident designer feeling stunned, because almost no one I know loved books more than him. Not books in the way writers and academics do, but books as objects, as things.
One of his final books was Usylessly, an exact replica of the first 1922 edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses but stripped of its text. Instead, among the mostly blank pages were essays about the book, about the journeys, idiosyncrasies and fates of the original editions.
John Morgan was a British designer, typographer and publisher who founded John Morgan studio in London in 2000. Over the ensuing decades he produced an extensive and widely celebrated body of typographic work, including collaborations with prominent cultural institutions and architectural practices.
His influence extended through long-standing roles such as the graphic identity for major institutions and events, and through teaching and the establishment of a type foundry, reflecting his commitment to design as both practice and pedagogy.
John Morgan’s career was marked by a thoughtful, generous approach to design, a focus on making typography serve content and context, and a willingness to engage with complex cultural projects while remaining deeply personal in method and outcome.
Авторское резюме: Джон Морган — влиятельный британский типограф и дизайнер, чья практика сочетала пристальное внимание к объекту книги и массовым визуальным коммуникациям, оставившая значимый след в музейных и архитектурных идентиках и образовательной среде.