Alison Forbes was one of if not the first full time independent book designers in Australia. She single-handedly changed Australian publishing through her remarkable career. Whilst designing hundreds of well-known titles, her legacy is on display in Australian homes, schools and libraries (Dominic Hofstede, 2016). Forbes’ journey is quite remarkable and she worked as a book designer for many decades, winning almost every award the publishing industry could bestow.
These awards included a special ‘Award of Honour’ given by the Australian Book Publishers Association. Some milestones Alison Forbes has designed include the first edition of Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at the Hanging Rock and Robin Boyd’s The Australian Ugliness.
In 1955 , Alison Forbes’ design and illustration for Alan Marshall’s I Can Jump Puddles was acknowledged in the Australian Book Publishers Association Books of the Year. It laid the base for many awards to come through her career.
Focusing on the design for this book, we can notice that Forbes didn’t use any sort of signs or added any mystery towards the title, it was clear and visibly defining. I Can Jump Puddles was about looking through life and exploring reality, like and adventure and her design for this title did it justice. The materials used in her designs were modern for her time and represent classical designs that still hold aesthetic value as of today.
She truly did earn her title in the Hall of Fame by working with, over the years, many Australian publishing’s outstanding figures including Frank Eyre, Max Harris (Sun Books) and Andrew Fabinyi (Cheshire) (Pamela Ruskin, 1976). Forbes’ ideas weren’t expressed through colour or form explicitly as much as they expressed through medium and the image as a whole. Another one of her famous designs was The Land that Waited and the illustration through Forbes’ design certainly explained the direction the book was headed.
Through this title, we can see that Forbes didn’t need a variety of colors or certain gimmicks to attract the reader’s eye but the story the image told before the book had opened. In the design for The Land that Waited, her depiction of a fictional world with a mother kangaroo reaching high to nurture her children really did add beauty as well as suspense to the title. In my assessment, even without the modern touch of book designing, this is a title worth reading as the design represents the quality of the content it can hold.
Designing books, Forbes never strayed into commercial graphic design or advertising. Not tempted by the financial rewarding differences or the brighter spotlight that came with it. The result of this singular and directed focus towards her book designs created an everlasting body of work with its unique quality and quantity. This earned her the induction to the Hall of Fame. Forbes was included into the Australian Graphic Design Association’s Hall of Fame in 2016 (Dominic Hofstede, 2016).
Being a part of women of graphic design, Forbes eventually reached global recognition through her designs and sparked more reason and recognition towards the empowerment of women and was a source of motivation for anyone, regardless of gender to add towards the industry of graphic design.
The argument exists that women with talents to become designers today have barriers existing as obstacles towards their career goals will not be faced by similarly talented men. These are crucial in determining the position of women not only in the designing industry but others as well. The first hurdle is getting enrolled for a degree course and completing it; the second is attaining a job which promises growth and the third is to have the opportunity to work towards success in that job. To encourage women to drift away from femininity isn’t the target but to highlight that the world needs female designing as it will contribute just as equally if not more towards the variety of productivity. As long as questions are raised in favor of the development of women in the industry, there will be susceptibility towards positive change.
In another well recognized book, Forbes gained a lot of recognition not only through her artwork but through being linked with the book’s success. Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at the Hanging Rock was widely considered by critics as one of the best Australian novels. Although the events in the novel were entirely fictional , it was framed as a true story depiction.
This highly reviewed novel later on had reached out to becoming a critically acclaimed film. It boasted huge success not only amongst Australians but readers around the globe. Even though Forbes’ art isn’t as modern as the designs today, it holds immense value and represents that even though design has flourished, true art doesn’t lose aesthetic value with time.
Are designers getting more recognition today?
The question that arises is based off the thought that most popular designs trace back to their relevant creations such as Rob Janoff who designed the Apple Co logo and Lindon Leader who designed the famous FedEx logo through Landor Associates which held a hidden image but with certain designs that don’t reach global recognition or have such an impact in the business world for which the designers aren’t highlighted and never given the recognition or opportunity they worked hard for. People tend to admire the art that is at display but the backstory of what influenced it and how the designers reached that conclusive product is left within the shade unless specifically displayed. This can add to the value of design as it is given more importance by others if it stimulates emotions of the viewers.
Like Alison Forbes, there are many individual designers that belong to industries that are less financially dominant which have not been given the recognition they deserve which could highlight their work to a greater extent and spark motivation amongst others who pursue the same passion within those industries.
References:
Alison Forbes photographed by Mark Strizic, 1972 from https://www.agda.com.au/inspiration/hall-of-fame/alison-forbes/
Ruskin, Pamela. The Age. June 1976. Recollection Biographies. https://recollection.com.au/biographies/alison-forbes
Bruce, Margaret. and Lewis, Jenny. April 1990. Women designers — is there a gender trap?
Hofstede,Dominic. 2016. HALL OF FAME /ALISON FORBES. https://www.agda.com.au/inspiration/hall-of-fame/alison-forbes/
Design Research 