Ken Garland

Ken Garland (1929-2021) was a British graphic designer, photographer, writer, and educator, known for his writing on design and the prolific work of his studio Ken Garland & Associates but also for his political activity, especially as a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (of which he redesigned the logo that is still known today as the symbol of peace).

Garland taught throughout his career at the Central School of Art and Design, University of Reading, Royal College of Art and University of Brighton, among other institutions and was a prolific writer. His work has been published in Baseline, Blueprint, Creative Review and Eye magazine. He is the author of five books on design, including Graphics Handbook (1966), Illustrated Graphics Glossary (1980), Mr Beck’s Underground map (1994) and A word in your eye (1996).

Garland’s most famous piece of writing about the ethics of graphic design is the First Things First manifesto, published in 1964. This text argued for a return to humanist design, positioned against mainstream advertising: “in favour of the more useful and more lasting forms of communication”.

Since the end of the 1960s, he designed some games that have since remained as references both in the field of graphics and in game design.

Architoys has the honor and the pleasure of reissuing its games which, after almost half a century, are still fun, of the highest graphic quality and of great artistic modernity.