Brody, Saville, even Bubbles ­— All British designers whose work pushed established norms and helped define graphic movements in the late 70’s and early 80’s. At least within the pages of history, they each became synonymous with a certain look or style — Bubbles is to Punk what Brody is to New Wave Typography. Perhaps their status is a result of the genres in which they helped define.

There is another Brit, though, that possessed a certain fashion, but designed the power of message in a way that eclipsed trend — Dave King. The name may be unfamiliar, but as art direct of the London Sunday Times Magazine, his Constructivist-inspired solutions were certainly recognizable. And, thanks to Rick Poynor’s monograph, “David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian,” (2020) this graphic design genius may finally be getting the recognition he deserves.

Let there be no doubt, King was a well-respected and award-winning designer during his practice. As he shifted his focus to collecting artifacts from the Russian Revolution and authoring books, he became less relevant in the rampant discussion about design authorship during the age of computer-generated design. In hindsight, this is unfortunate. His work as an activist should have been at the center of any such deliberation.

While his approach to design was certainly influence by the Russian Constructivists, and therefore could be interpreted as “post-modern,” they were also done with purpose. For example, “Demonstrate!” a poster King designs for the Anti-Apartheid Movement in 1978, clearly made reference to Rodchenko (and, to a lesser extent, Lissitsky) in order to deliver a powerful, politically-driven rally cry, in a similar way that design was harnessed for the Russian Revolution. King was not interested in design for the sake of design.

Primarily, history relegates the importance of this time period to advances in the medium, rather than the message, focusing on style and graphic surface, rather than substance and content. While it is somewhat expected, given the extreme graphic break that the computer allowed, it unfortunately left the important work of King to be an afterthought in dialogue and most publications.

That is, hopefully, until now.  In an interview with Steven Heller, Poynor proudly says of King, “He is one of Britain’s finest designers.”