Derek Birdsall, (1 August 1934 – 4 May 2024) was a British graphic designer.

Early life

Birdsall was born in

Wakefield, Yorkshire Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

on 1 August 1934, and attended

The King's School, Pontefract The King's School is a Mixed-sex education, coeducational Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive secondary school with Academy (English school), academy status, located in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of the f ...

, Wakefield College of Art and

Central School of Arts and Crafts The Central School of Art and Design was a art school, school of fine arts, fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School ...

in London.Myerson, Jeremy, "White space, black hat", Eye 9, Wordsearch Ltd, 1993. "At Central, Birdsall came under the influence of Anthony Froshaug, who – alongside

Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in '' ...

and Edward Wright – taught his students the difference between beautiful

lettering Lettering or Lettering design is an act or result of artfully drawing letters, instead of writing them simply. Lettering is considered an art form, where each letter in a phrase or quote acts as an illustration. Each letter is created with attent ...

and

typography Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

proper, with its pre-eminent concerns of clarity, directness and, above all, textual legibility." Birdsall failed to earn a diploma, however, and began his career in design in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Career

Birdsall's career and fame were built on a variety of designs and commissions. During his long career—among much other work—Birdsall designed

Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

book covers and

Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is an Italian multinational tyre manufacturer based in the city of Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Borsa Italiana since 1922, is the 5th-largest tyre manufacturer, and is focused on the consumer pro ...

calendars; he art-directed several magazines (including ''

Nova A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...

'' and Mobil Oil's ''Pegasus''; and he designed books for the

Yale Center for British Art The Yale Center for British Art at Yale University in central New Haven, Connecticut, houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of British art outside the United Kingdom. The collection of paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, rare ...

, the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

, the V&A and the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

and designed ''Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England'' in 2000. Alongside his practice in design, Birdsall also taught design at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

beginning in 1987. Birdsall was the author of ''Notes On Book Design'', published by

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

in 2004.

Personal life and death

Birdsall married in 1954 and had three sons and one daughter, including actor

Jesse Birdsall Jesse Birdsall (born 13 February 1963) is an English actor, known for his roles as Marcus Tandy in the BBC1 soap opera '' Eldorado'' (1992–1993), Nick Beckett in the adventure series '' Bugs'' (1995–1999), football manager Roger Webb in ''Fo ...

. His daughter Elsa has followed him into the design industry. Derek Birdsall died on 4 May 2024, at the age of 89.

References

Books and articles on Birdsall

* Myerson, Jeremy, ''White space, black hat'', '' Eye 9'', Wordsearch Ltd, 1993. * Thompson, Philip, ''Derek Birdsall – Typographer'', '' Baseline 28'', Bradbourne Publishing, 1999. * Birdsall, Derek, ''Notes on Book Design'',

, 2004. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Birdsall, Derek 1934 births 2024 deaths British graphic designers Design writers People from Pontefract People educated at The King's School, Pontefract Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design Royal Designers for Industry