Ken Garland

In reference to Opus.

Ken Garland was a graphic designer, activist, socialist, writer, teacher and photographer.

He made work for the CND, educational establishments, the Labour Party, wrote books, wrote an important manifesto for graphic designers (First Things First), and did countless talks and lectures. However, he and his associates are perhaps best known for the work they did for Galt Toys in the 1960s and 70s.

I first became aware of Ken Garland & Associates through reading Rick Poynor’s ‘Independent Graphic Design since the Sixties’ in 2004. With music, if the right album or artist reaches you at just the right point in your life, they stay with you and resonate forever. A four inch square photograph of Ken Garland’s studio (pictured below) had the same effect on me.

Who were the mysterious masked designers and where were they now? What was that beautiful work on the wall behind them? They looked like disguised bank robbers who had got away with a huge heist, posing in front of their loot. The photo in the book is printed at a relatively low resolution by today’s standards and the lack of details made it all the more tantalising. Was the ‘Jack the Ripper’ poster in the background really deliberately ripped? It was very exciting.

At the time, I had just started working in my first full time job as a junior in a design studio. I would often find myself working alone, late into the evenings, trying to finish the day’s work. When everybody else had gone home, the small photo of Garland’s studio became a kind of night school for me.

As the years have gone by, much has been written and thankfully published about Garland. Unlike most mysteries, however, the more I’ve learned about him (his activism, his ideals, and his ideas about working as a small studio), the more inspirational he has become.