READING: F— Tibor

I’ve been trying to read up on what the dialogue is around the work I’ve been referring to. What did people say about First Things First at the time? What do they say now?

What about Tibor? What about other designers who do work that can be labelled as activism?

One of our critics, Dmitri Siegel, has written about just these issues.  I was recently referred to his Fuck Tibor essay posted on Typotheque and originally published in ante magazine in 2002.

I really appreciate that there are so many books on Kalman’s work for reference for those of us who didn’t get to know him. They are a way we can know him now. But I think Siegel is so right to point out that worship is the wrong response. Instead of asking ourselves What Would Tibor Do with the specific forms in a design, we should consider the spirit with which Tibor approached his work. Then we should use the forms and voice that are our own. No one will copy him well. But we can try to match him in spirit and effort.

Thanks, Dmitri.