title: Multiple Signatures: On Designers, Authors, Readers and Users
author: Michael Rock
description: "..a fascinating new exploration of graphic design today, courtesy of Michael Rock, co-founder of the famous 2 x 4 agency, known for their creative work for giant brands such as Chanel, Harvard, MoMA, Nike, Prada...Arguably aimed at serious design students and professionals rather than the casual design fan, MULTIPLE SIGNATURES is actually a collection of essays grouped into logical thematic batches. The essays investigate important design concepts, such authorship, as well as a wide spectrum of 2 x 4 design projects, and even examines common cliches in modern design. This logically leads into a look at design from the perspective of the end-user, and the ways that they play a role in design too." ~<i>Typo-Graphical.com<br /><br /></i>"Top 10 books of the summer. In this book full of data visualization, glitch art, and critical dialogues, 2x4's Michael Rock and a star-studded rose of collaborators consider the multifaceted functions of design. With coverage ranging from the art of storytelling to typographic analysis, it's a though-provoker for professionals and aficionados alike.<i> ~Surface Magazine<br /><br /></i>Rock buoyantly practices what he preaches in the thinking and the making of this book. <i>Multiple Signatures</i> contains multitudes; this is no straightforward text thats nicely laid out in precise alignment. Instead, the principal of global design consultancy 2x4 offers plenty of food for thought in four stylized sections and couples provocative ideas--those of multiple contributors as much as his own, thats the idea--with intriguing eye candyWith this book, Rock explores the act of collaboration and its role in authorship, projects, criticism, and readership--clumps that Rock feels are some of the foremost challenges facing those working in graphic design today. Questions are asked, and answers are given in the form of essays, dialogues, collages, glitch art, case studies, cliches, sketches and, of course, more questions. From cover to cover, its a heady read that offers guidance and insights as much as good-old entertainment of a kind not usually found in industry titles.<i>~ Fast Company / Co. Design </i><br /><br />"Michael Rock's <i>Multiple Signatures</i> belongs to a new breed of monograph that showcases the work of a designer or studio through a diverse collage of documents rather than through lavish reproductions. <i>Multiple Signatures</i> attempts to perform the work rather than merely represent it. Some projects appear in tiny reference shots inserted into a discursive text, while others enter the stage as large-scale images that are not so much reproduced as re-enacted. 2x4, the design consultancy co-founded by Rock in 1994, emerges as the books primary subject; the book situates the studios influential practice within a larger discussion about design authorship and the techniques and clichs of visual form-making." ~<i>DesignersandBooks.com<br /><br /></i>This collection of thought-provoking essays from the colleagues and principles of 2x4the powerhouse creative firm behind design work for Nike, Parada, Moma and Harvard Universitysurprises and delights in both format and content while candidly investigating the evolution and significance of those very subjects. <i>~Communication Arts</i>
zlib_text:  
  Signata
  Annales des sémiotiques / Annals of Semiotics 
  9 | 2018
  Signatures - (Essais en) Sémiotique de l’écriture
  Pragmatical Paradox of Signature
  Michaela Fišerová
  Electronic version
  URL: http://journals.openedition.org/signata/1599
  ISSN: 2565-7097
  Publisher
  Presses universitaires de Liège (PULg)
  Printed version
  Date of publication: 31 December 2018
  Number of pages: 485-504
  ISBN: 978-2-87562-165-8
  ISSN: 2032-9806
   
  Electronic reference
  Michaela Fišerová, « Pragmatical Paradox of Signature », Signata [Online], 9 | 2018, Online since 17
  December 2018, connection on 19 December 2018. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/
  signata/1599 
  Signata - PULg
  
  Pragmatical Paradox of Signature 1
  Michaela Fišerová
  Charles University Prague & Metropolitan University Prague
  1. Introduction: What is signature? 
  What is a handwritten signature? Is it a reliable and recognizable trace of civil 
  identity? Is it an authentic and singular work of art? As I’ll try to demonstrate, 
  surprisingly, answers to