Unseen Projects #1

In 1980 Peter Grundy and Tilly Northedge set up a studio to explore information design in a fresh, new and imaginative way. Firstly because no one else did and secondly because while at the Royal College of Art two years earlier they had become interested in a design that was more about explaining things than selling things. In the next 26 years as Grundy & Northedge they redefined the area which today is known as infographics. In the 80s they evolved a simple, elegant combo of ideas and illustration to create iconography and info-graphics for most London based publishers and magazines, notably (Desmond Morris’s social exploration into sport, ‘The Soccer Tribe’ and the State of the Nation Atlases for left wing publisher Pluto Press. They worked for the Victoria and Albert museum, Science Museum and Imperial War Museum, designing floor plan guides, exhibitions and most notably the first identity for the Cabinet War Rooms. In the 90s they worked in the USA for the UN, UNICEF and World Bank for who they designed the World Bank Indicators for Five years, while at home designing annual reports and information publicly for numerous Charities including the IPPF as well as public housing signing for the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham. In the 00s they created three generations of visual collateral for Shell Scenarios which bought them world wide acclaim for visualising complex abstract information in away that brought complicated issues to multiple audiences. While on the publishing front they created a weekly graphic on social issues for the G2 newspaper which ran for 40 weekly issues. In 2006, Peter Grundy set up Grundini to concentrate on smaller, creative led projects, partnering with other designers and agencies.