Print in paradise

The design of the printed ephemera contents of the book are very typical of socialist countries who couldn't afford (for ideological and financial reasons) to be part of global trade in past decades. Trading just with other state run countries meant that design creativity was generally of poor quality. The same look of food packing, for example, was very similar in North Vietnam, Albania, China or the Soviet Union. Perhaps an exception was Cuba which always had a lively print design culture before the 1953 revolution.

The author's collection of DPRK print is of interest though because of its broad range, illustrated are cigarette packs, sweet wrappers and boxes, tickets, can labels (lots of these) postcards, stamps, beer labels, wrapping paper, packaging, comics, badges and more. There is an intriguing set of stamps issued in 1982 to celebrate the birth of Prince William showing Lady Diana holding the baby. All the material has a simple, bland look and as the author says none of it is designed, in the western sense, for a hard sell. The contents also look dated because they were collected up to 2005, I don't know but I assume since then print is designed on the pc even in this people's paradise.

The eight chapters all start on a spread, each with an interesting essay about various aspects of North Korean life, especially as it's lived in Pyongyang, as the city is stuffed full of bureaucrats perhaps it's not very representative of living in the DPRK.

I found it an interesting book and Phaidon have added their bit by printing it on fairly course paper like most of the examples shown throughout the pages.