The Creative Studio at the V&A “dazzled” Pentagram in a commissioned project inspired by a type of experimental camouflage used during the First World War.
Image credits: Andy Stagg
LDF 2018 – Pentagram
"Dazzle" is a type of camouflage painted on to the surface of ships, pioneered by British artist Norman Wilkinson. Drawing on avant- garde artistic movements such as Cubism and Vorticism, as well as animal camouflage, the shapes and angles were designed to confuse the enemy as they struggled to make out the dazzle ships against shifting waves and clouds. Examples can still be seen around the southbank area.
Pentagram’s approach was to re-interpret the construction of Dazzle camouflage from a purely graphic origin into a typographic exploration. Using the Wilfrid Wilson Gibson poem “Suspense” as its source, Pentagram’s design abstracts the letterforms and words into an immersive experience by placing the visitor inside the Dazzle room.
