#not modernist still a delight — Page 2 of 2

Panning across a parkade, Toronto, 1996

David Cronenberg filmed this shot specifically for me.

Modernist album art, 2025

I don’t like the music of Antony Szmierek enough to own his albums in duplicate, but how could I refuse with gorgeous album art like that? This one’s going right in my Forton Services shrine. Nosy greyhound notwithstanding.

A black dog sniffs two vinyl records on a table. Both records are by Antony Szmierek, featuring snow globe artwork with futuristic buildings and colored spheres inside. The left record is numbered 067. A patterned cushion and gray blanket are in the background.

On Nokia’s Weird Y2K Designs

Late 90’s/early 00’s technology, design, and marketing were all so weird in a very specific way. It’s a shame we lost that. 404 Media details the release of the Nokia Design Archive. I enjoy this one particularly:

A man on a couch asks a woman, “Can I use your wallet, darling?” The woman looks confused, pointing to a thin, foldable digital screen labeled wallet. Below, the foldable device is shown in various configurations and use cases with descriptive text. — *Tomahawk, presentation, 2000. Nokia Design Archive has been made possible by donations from Microsoft and designers.*

Is everything OK at home, Nokia?

Read full article

On chasing villains

If your film doesn’t have a scene where the protagonists are chased by the villains across a brightly lit bridge set against an otherwise dark background, Scooby-Doo style, what are you even doing?

Silhouettes of two people run along an elevated walkway inside a building with bright yellow lighting. The scene is viewed from outside at night, with a large brick wall and blue-lit window contrasting the yellow interior.

A person in uniform runs across an outdoor walkway, backlit by a yellow wall. The scene is framed by a dark building with brick texture and a window glowing with blue light on the right, contrasting with the warm yellow on the left.

Sign at Manchester Oxford Road station, 2024

This sign at Manchester Oxford Road is a high-vis and screwdriver jobbie for sure.

A yellow-lit sign reading OXFORD ROAD is mounted on a plain grey wall. Metal pipes run vertically and horizontally next to the sign. Modern office buildings with glass and brick facades are visible in the background.

Fencing on Dallas Road, Lancaster, 2024

A small, ivy-covered building with a corrugated metal roof sits in front of larger stone houses. The green gate to the right is weathered, and four black-yellow bollards line the pavement. Bushes and scaffolding are visible behind the building under a cloudy sky.

This was a high risk mission because a few weeks ago I fell on my arse on this slippery tree-lined road with such a thud a couple a street away turned back to check on me, but the barbed fencing on the right made me stop urgently and take a picture.

The Scott Mills Bridge at Fleet Services, 2024

A long, enclosed walkway with green railings and large windows on both sides, showing trees outside. The pathway is empty except for a yellow caution sign in the distance, and the scene has a mixture of green and yellow foliage visible through the glass.

A wide, empty motorway with six lanes in each direction, divided by a grassy median. Cars and a white truck travel in both directions. Tall pine trees line both sides under a cloudy sky. The photo is taken from an overpass above the road.

A brushed metal plaque in a dark wood frame reads The Scott Mills Bridge with Scott Mills signature below. At the bottom, WELCOMEBREAK is printed, with WELCOME in green and BREAK in white uppercase letters.

A national ICON!

On Polish movie posters

A framed poster for the film Powiększenie (Blow-Up) by Michelangelo Antonioni features a portrait made of small black, red, and purple dots. The poster rests against a white wall, above clutter including snacks and papers.

My friend Charlie read this article (The Insane History of Polish Movie Posters) the other day and ended up sending me a print of one of them, because he knew I’d like it, and he was obviously right. I was so excited to display it I whacked it on the nearest available surface, hence why it’s currently hiding behind M&S vouchers. I didn’t clock this initially, I was so taken in by the colours, but from the top of the stairs (and a little bit in this picture too) it looks like a face. It’s great.

A surreal, abstract poster for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee. It depicts distorted, merging human faces with exaggerated features, skeletal elements, and jagged shapes. The text is in Polish, with dramatic, expressive lines and muted colors.

I promise not to turn this into a Polish Poster Blog, but another one of my favourites is the poster for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” by Franciszek Starowieyski. I have a print of it somewhere. I’ll level with you – it’s quite ugly! You’d think one of the keystones of good design is that the item is pleasing to look at, and this is anything but, so how exhilarating that an artist has the freedom to create something which doesn’t conform to that expectation? I think it catches your attention, which makes it very effective nevertheless. For a start, when I saw it on eBay I couldn’t stop thinking about it until I purchased it.

Here’s the article, and I recommend reading it if only to find out the fascinating reason behind why communist Poland had such a vibrant movie poster design culture.

The Insane History of Polish Movie Posters – sabukaru

The Midland Hotel, Manchester, 2024

A large, ornate red-brick building with tall turrets and arched windows stands under a cloudy sky. Steps and railings lead up to a plaza in front, where a person sits alone. Trees line the sidewalk, and streetlights begin to glow as evening falls.

The Midland Hotel was allegedly coveted by Adolf Hitler, who maintained a keen interest in architecture, as a possible Nazi headquarters in Britain. American intelligence speculated that the area of Manchester around the town hall was spared from bombing during the Second World War so as not to damage or destroy the Midland Hotel.
Midland Hotel, Manchester – Wikipedia

If he knew how long it would take them to find a room with working AC he’d change his mind I think.