Richard Hollis

Richard Hollis Hon. FRSL (born 1934) is a British graphic designer. He has taught at various art schools, written books, and worked as a printer, as a magazine editor and as a print-production manager. Hollis was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2019.

Biography Hollis was born in London and studied art and typography at Chelsea School of Art, Wimbledon School of Art and Central School of Art and Crafts in London, before moving to Paris in the early 1960s.

Back in the UK, he designed the quarterly journal Modern Poetry in Translation, became the art editor of the weekly magazine New Society and later created John Berger's Ways of Seeing. He designed the visual identity and marketing material for the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London. He also co-founded the School of Design at West of England College of Art.

His About Graphic Design was published in 2012, Graphic Design. A Concise History in 2001, and Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style, 1920–1965 in 2006. Hollis's body of work consistently suggests a strong connection between graphic design and the cultural and social conditions that inspire it. The book, which was also designed by Hollis, is a comprehensive selection of writings covering over 40 years of reflection on graphic design history, including interviews, essays, letters, articles, lectures and course outlines.

Hollis's book Henry van de Velde: The Artist as Designer (2019) was the first major study of van de Velde's work in English in 30 years; it was supported by the Flemish government and published by Occasional Papers.

In 2019, Hollis was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was also made an Honorary Fellow of the University of the Arts London in 2019.

Personal life In 1974, Hollis married illustrator and writer Posy Simmonds.