Neville Brody, Margaret Calvert headline Prince Philip Designers Prize 2010 nominees

People|Digital Arts| 2010-09-15 12:58:37

The contenders for this year's Prince Philip Designers Prize includes two highly feted graphics designers, as well as luminaries from the worlds of interaction design, fashion, architecture and engineering.

One possibly unusual nominee is Neville Brody, who often presents himself as in opposition to the traditions of design--despite creating work for clients including Dom Perignon, the BBC and The Times.

He's still best known as the art director of The Face magazine in the 1980s though (below)--and he's the director of this year's Anti-Design Festival, which is running later this month as a "response to the commerciality" of the London Design Festival.

Margaret Calvert's graphic design work and typography are some of the most viewed in the country, without often being seen as design. She created the signage system for UK motorways in the late 1950s and then for the rest of the road network.

Alongside providing directions, she also designed the pictograms for road signs that are masterpieces of easy-to-understand information – including the signs for 'men at work' (a man digging), 'farm animals' (a cow), and 'schoolchildren nearby' (a girl leading a boy by the hand).

Margaret's also designed signage systems used by hospitals and airports.

Other nominees include Dame Vivienne Westwood RDI; Christopher Bailey MBE, chief creative director of Burberry; architects Zaha Hadid CBE and Eva Jiricna CBE RA; furniture designer John Makepeace OBE; Formula 1 engineering designer Adrian Newey, and Bill Moggridge RDI. The winner of the Prize,will be announced by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh at a ceremony at the Design Council on Tuesday November 9.

The Prince Philip Designers Prize, which last year celebrated its 50th anniversary, has been in existence since the early days of the Design Council. It was created by HRH as a response to post-war austerity, and aimed to stimulate and reward elegant solutions to design problems. Last year it was won by folding bike pioneer, andrew ritchie of Brompton, with other former winners including Pentagram founder Kenneth Grange (2001), inventor Sir James Dyson (1997), Lord Foster of Thamesbank (aka Norman Foster-2004); and Habitat founder Sir Terence Conran (2003).

K and T

K and T