The design of Tintin

As a kid, my dad would bring me back a new Tintin album each time he went away on a business trip. I loved Tintin then, and I still do today, and now, as a professional designer, I have an even  greater respect for the creator, Hergé (Georges Remi). Not only were the Tintin stories thrilling and transporting, but the covers alone (before I even opened the books) got my heart racing. That title type (probably hand lettered) was the epitome of ‘adventure type’ for me. Just looking at it, I knew this was going to be a good episode. “The Adventures of Tintin” – what could be more exciting? Then of course were the huge, lushly detailed visuals featuring the central image from each story, whether they be giant red rockets, or submarine-shaped sharks – they were/are all thrilling.

Inside, while lapping up the colourful pages, I was (we all were) exposed to the designed objects of the day, and the obsessive attention to detail Hergé and his artists paid to these designs, whether they be rockets, boats, planes, trains or cars.  The amazing site Les autos de Tintin by François de Dardel, loving celebrates Hergé’s attention to car design. Amazingly, de Dardel actually identifies all of the vehicles (153 of them apparently) in each and every Tintin album/episode (see below).

And, because life sometimes elegantly connects the dots around us, featured there is an image of Tintin riding in a vintage London taxi cab (see below with dark frame around it). That taxi is from exactly the same era as an Austin London taxi in a documentary film I am working on called Alfred & Jakobine. If you’d like to know more about the film, please visit the official website http://www.alfredandjakobine-movie.com