Journal
Page 1: Great Expectations
![Page1 designed by Fitzroy and Finn Page1 designed by Fitzroy and Finn](https://www.fitzroyandfinn.co.uk/files/styles/full_width_phone_x2_/public/GDTalk.jpg?itok=Bl0JWn02×tamp=1436346952)
Paul was delighted to be invited to talk at the Design Museum for the launch of GraphicDesign&'s fantastic project Page 1; Great Expectations. GraphicDesign& asked 70 graphic designers/typographers varying in age, background and experience, to layout the text of page 1 of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. The launch event saw 18 of the contributors present 7 images in 2 minutes of how their final page 1 layout was developed/designed. It was followed by informal discussions about the designs with the audience/guests. Here are the 7 images that Paul showed, with a brief rationale for each image.
IMAGE 01
![St James' Church, Cooling Kent St James' Church, Cooling Kent](https://www.fitzroyandfinn.co.uk/files/styles/full_width_tablet_uncropped/public/GDTalk1-2000x1236.jpg?itok=bgstdBiI×tamp=1436272984)
St James' Church, Cooling Kent
This is a photograph of St James' Church Cemetery in Cooling, Kent. Which inspired Dickens opening paragraph about Pips parents grave and the five little stone lozenges which were arranged in a neat row in memory of his little brothers…
IMAGE 02
![Normandy American Cemetery Normandy American Cemetery](https://www.fitzroyandfinn.co.uk/files/styles/full_width_tablet_uncropped/public/GDTalk2-2000x1236.jpg?itok=TiGGtCU8×tamp=1436273999)
Normandy American Cemetery
This brought to mind the American Military Cemetery in Normandy, France I visited a couple of years ago. It is truly vast and contains the remains of 10,000 American military dead. It is a sombre experience, the shear scale reduces the tombstones to a pattern.
IMAGE 03
![Tom Phillips — One On Either Side / Einer Auf Jeder Seite Tom Phillips — One On Either Side / Einer Auf Jeder Seite](https://www.fitzroyandfinn.co.uk/files/styles/full_width_tablet_uncropped/public/GDTalk3-2000x1236.jpg?itok=-xZCGPUD×tamp=1436274008)
Tom Phillips — One On Either Side / Einer Auf Jeder Seite
I recalled Tom Phillips double-sided tombstone; a monument to two soldiers from opposing sides, who happened to share the same surname, week and place of death, May 1941 during the WW2 campaign in Crete.
IMAGE 04
![Dulwich College War Memorial Dulwich College War Memorial](https://www.fitzroyandfinn.co.uk/files/styles/full_width_tablet_uncropped/public/images/GDTalk4-2000x1236.jpg?itok=RGOKp7XH×tamp=1436273545)
Dulwich College War Memorial
Many war monuments list alphabetically all the names of the deceased. These are often called a 'Roll Of Honour', they reduce a life once lived to an inscribed surname. Life is reduced to a collection of letters.
IMAGE 05
![Eric Gill's Grandfathers Grave Eric Gill's Grandfathers Grave](https://www.fitzroyandfinn.co.uk/files/styles/full_width_tablet_uncropped/public/images/GDTalk5-2000x1236.jpg?itok=pZjaVBug×tamp=1436273712)
Eric Gill's Grandfathers Gravestone
This is Eric Gill's grandfathers tombstone which I found in my copy of the 1959 Penrose Annual, I was intrigued to find out that his grandfather was a Reverend in Burnley, a town very near to where I grew up. I presume Eric Gill designed it…
IMAGE 06
![Anthony H Wilson's Grave Anthony H Wilson's Grave](https://www.fitzroyandfinn.co.uk/files/styles/full_width_tablet_uncropped/public/images/GDTalk6-2000x1236.jpg?itok=G450GL4k×tamp=1436273781)
Anthony H Wilson's headstone
This is Anthony H Wilson's tombstone designed by Peter Saville with Ben Kelly, Paul Barnes and Matt Robertson. I like it's simplicity and elegance. Apparently the tombstone is the same proportions of the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
IMAGE 07
![2001: A Space Odyssey 2001: A Space Odyssey](https://www.fitzroyandfinn.co.uk/files/styles/full_width_tablet_uncropped/public/images/GDTalk7-2000x1236.jpg?itok=-0eWlRXy×tamp=1436273881)
2001: A Space Odyssey
This still is from the opening scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey called The Dawn of Man in which the monolith first appears to early humans. I now read the symbolism of the monolith as the monument to all life and all death…
IMAGE CREDITS
Image 01: St James' Church, Cooling Kent
Image 02: Normandy American Cemetery Image credit: American Battle Monuments Commission
Image 03: Tom Phillips — One On Either Side / Einer Auf Jeder Seite
Image 04: Dulwich College War Memorial Image credit: Banana Rublev
Image 05: Eric Gill's Grandfathers Grave — The Penrose Annual Vol.53, Lund Humphries, 1959.
Image 06: Anthony H Wilson's headstone Photographs: Jan Chlebik
Image 07: 2001: A Space Odyssey