70 Years of Penguin Design
13th September > 1st November, 2008

In 2005, Penguin Books celebrated their 70th year of publishing with the exhibition 70 Years of Penguin Design. Created in collaboration with the V&A, the exhibition has toured to The Museum of Reading the Museum Meermanno in Holland and will be hosted by Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum from 13th September to 1st November 2008.

The Great Escape

Drawing on material from the Penguin archives and the University of Bristol, the display will show how Penguin has responded to - and influenced - changing trends in British culture. On view will be classic orange fiction paperbacks, the striking monochrome cover of Ulysses, the menacing design of Anthony Burgess' Clockwork Orange. The display will also include contemporary covers by artists such as Peter Saville and Sara Fanelli (V&A Illustrator of the Year).

Penguin was launched with the pioneering concept of publishing well design, inexpensive paperback editions of distinguished books, just sixpence per title.

Penguin’s distinctive approach to cover design and typography was equally advanced and has become an integral part of publishing and graphic design history.

Since 1935 each Penguin book cover has perfectly captured the culture of its time. The story begins with the simple bands of colour and the classic Gill Sans typeface - a formula that was rigorously applied for some time. A major revolution came in the 60s with creative rule-breaking, such as The Medium is the Massage where a printer's error was incorporated into the title. It comes up to date with the innovative Great Ideas series, short-listed for the Design Museum’s Designer of the Year award, 2005.

Lady Chatterley's Lover

The display is rich in original artwork throughout, and the evidence of hand-drawn roughs, corrected proofs and intriguing in-house notes bring the finished designs to life.

The display will also include a dramatic bank of hundreds of Penguin book covers. The covers will be grouped by their genre: orange for fiction, green for crime, blue for Pelican and mixed for contemporary.