Subverting the norm

The Ford Transit van, a staple of British roads, launched in 1965 and was a revelation for its time. It offered a wide body, a spacious cargo area, and a more car-like performance than its competitors. All good stuff if you know about vans.

This combination of qualities, however, led to its subversion. In the 1970s, a Scotland Yard spokesman famously stated that the Ford Transit was being used in 95% of bank robberies in the UK. This notoriety earned it the nickname of “Britain’s most wanted van”.

The reason for its popularity with criminals was simple. It had the speed and handling of a car, making it an effective getaway vehicle, but with the loading space of a van, allowing a gang to carry a large amount of loot and personnel. For a brief period, the Transit became a symbol of both commercial productivity and audacious crime.

A truly versatile vehicle – perfect for both getting to work and making a swift exit from it.

See the history of the Transit

The history of the high jump is a story of continuous evolution, with each generation of athletes finding a new way to clear the bar. In the early days, jumpers relied on simple techniques which generally involved using a straight run-up and kicking one leg over the bar at a time, keeping the body upright and largely vertical.

Everything changed with Dick Fosbury. At the 1968 Olympics, he introduced a completely new approach: later named the Fosbury Flop. Instead of a straight run-up, he used a curved one, launching himself off his outside leg and going over the bar headfirst, on his back. It was a move so bizarre and counterintuitive that it was initially met with ridicule from the sporting world.

But it worked. Fosbury’s new technique was better because it allowed the jumper’s centre of gravity to remain below the bar even as their body cleared it. This offered a significant mechanical advantage over previous techniques. His method, born from a combination of engineering knowledge and what his body was doing naturally, became so effective that it has been the standard in the sport ever since.

It just goes to show you, while the world laughed, he was going over their heads.

See how The Fosbury Flop came to be

The world of album cover design has always been led by familiar conventions. Album covers are seen as the visual gateway to the music, designed to captivate with bold imagery, intriguing photos of the band, or dramatic illustrations. A simple goal to create a powerful visual identity that stands out on a record store shelf to entice a potential buyer.

It was this very norm that the design studio Hipgnosis set out to subvert. Renowned for their surreal and unconventional designs for bands like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, Hipgnosis redefined what an album cover could be. They leaned towards conceptual art, creating covers that were often as much of a conversation starter as the music itself.

Their design for XTC’s 1978 album, Go 2, is a pinnacle of this philosophy. Instead of a photograph or an illustration, the front cover is composed entirely of typewritten text. The text itself serves as the design, with a commentary on the purpose of a record cover – to sell the record and attract buyers. The cover directly addresses the “victim” (the consumer) and encourages them to stop reading if they have a free mind, turning a simple piece of packaging into a commentary on the art of marketing itself.

It was definitely a bold rebellion – hoping people would actually read the instructions.

Here’s the trailer for the Hipgnosis doc ‘Squaring the Circle’