WW1 Razzle Dazzle ship camouflage
"Most camouflage is based on the idea of concealment and blending in with its surroundings. However another school of thought has argued for making the item in question appear to be a mashup of unrelated components. Naval camoufleurs found this theory particularly appealing. Blending didn’t work because ships operated in two different and constantly changing color environments - sea and sky. Any camo that concealed in one environment was usually spectacularly conspicuous in others.
Norman Wilkinson, a British naval officer and painter, suggested a scheme that came to be known as Dazzle or Razzle Dazzle painting. Wilkinson believed that breaking up a ship’s silhouette with brightly contrasting geometric designs would make it harder for U-boat captains to determine the ship’s course."
(FoundNYC Inc, 4 April 2009)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
London Underground Victoria Line ceramic tiles
The Victoria Line that opened between 1968 and 1971 "provided the opportunity to produce a new and consistent look across the whole line, from the trains themselves to the stations and platforms. All aspects of design were overseen by Misha Black, the Design Consultant for London Transport (1964-1968), who previously had a similar role with British Rail. He employed the talents of the The Design Research Unit (DRU) - a collective of designers, artists and architects who designed all aspects of the VIctoria Line.
Each platform was designed with a very muted colour scheme, described by some of the press at the time as the 'late lavatorial style' (1, P58). The tiled designs in each seat recess provided much needed colour and decoration, and gave each stop its own visual identity. The results were a mixture of direct inspiration from the station name and references to historical details of the local area."
(Ian Moore, Design Assembly, 3 May 2010)
Fig.1 Stockwell by Abram Games - a semi-abstract swan, representing the nearby pub of the same name.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
