I Wonder

Quirky, poignant, astute, funny – a colourful collection of observations on visual culture and design, written and illuminated by Marian Bantjes

Marian Bantjes’s highly ornamental, craftsman-like word-pictures have earned her professional acclaim and a cult following around the world. There is, however, another side to Bantjes’s visual work: her thoughtful treatises on art, design, beauty and popular culture that belie the decorative nature of her best-known work. These reflections, which range in subject from the cult of Santa, roadside advertising, photography and memory, and heraldry to the alphabet’s letterforms and stars, are superbly showcased in this beautiful book, which is now available in an updated paperback edition.

Intended to inspire creatives of any persuasion, this is more than a collection of ideas; it is an illustrated manuscript for the digital age.

'An eccentric mix of musings, personal anecdotes and what she, herself, calls ‘harebrained ideas … rich, playful and often funny'
Wallpaper*

'Lovingly typeset, illustrated, laid out and produced in a manner that resists a quick glance, a skim read or any easy generalization or summary … informed, witty and movingly personal'
Eye

Contents List

Foreword by Stefan Sagmeister • Introduction • Wonder • The Sun, the Moon, the Stars The Politics of Ornament • Ye Olde Graphic Designer • Honour • Cemeteries • 1 Sign 4 All • Secrets • The Alphabet: A Critique • Assembling Two ikea Bookshelves • Memory 1: Photography • Santa™ • Memory 2: Notes on a Life • Sources • Notes on the Production

About the Author

Marian Bantjes started working as a book typesetter in Canada in the mid-1980s, later opening her own successful firm. In 2003, working in her studio on a small island off the coast of Vancouver, she began to develop her own style of typography. Since then, her work has developed an international cult following. She is the author/creator of Pretty Pictures and Certificates for Everyday Things, both published by Thames & Hudson.