Blueprint is an architecture and design magazine that has been published in the UK on a monthly basis since 1983.
It offers a mix of criticism, news and feature writing on design and architecture, directed at professionals and non-professionals alike.
'Blueprint takes architecture and design as its starting point and brings these thing into sharp focus via context, comment and analysis. Architecture and design do not exist in a vacuum.’ - Johnny Tucker, Blueprint Editor[1]
The magazine takes a parallel approach to the different design disciplines, reflecting a belief that fashion, product, furniture and architectural design can share ideas. Its website is built around a daily-updated discussion blog and monthly editorial newsletter.
The Observer newspaper in December 2006 described Blueprint as a 'design and architecture bible'.[2]
Blueprint was first published in October 1983 by Peter Murray. It was launched and funded by major UK design world figures including Terence Conran, Marcello Minale, Brian Tattersfield, and Richard Rogers.[3]
In 1983, Murray noticed a hole in the market for an inspirational magazine that presented lavish images and a critical analysis of the industry. He enlisted Sunday Times architecture critic Deyan Sudjic as editor, who in turn recruited a team of young, astute writers including Jonathan Glancey, James Woudhuysen, Rowan Moore, Martin Pawley, and Rick Poynor. Sudjic continued to edit Blueprint until 1994.
Blueprint's subsequent contributors have included philosopher Edward Harcourt, novelist JG Ballard, cultural critic James Heartfield and art critic Matthew Collings. It has been edited by Sudjic, (who, since 2006, has been director of the London Design Museum), architect and critic Rowan Moore, Marcus Field and Grant Gibson.
The editor since 2004 has been architecture and design journalist Vicky Richardson, who is on the boards of the Architecture Centre Network and the Campaign for Drawing, and is a member of London Mayor Boris Johnson's Cultural Strategy Group.[4]
In October 2006 the redesign of Blueprint was launched. Patrick Myles and Kieran Gardner were the lead designers behind the relaunch. Tim Abrahams also contributed to the re-design.
Patrick Myles's professional connection with Blueprint stems back to the early Nineties at Wordsearch, a design consultancy run by Peter Murray.