MIFFY
miffy goes to
the book festival
Dick Bruna
It's not just children who go for MIFFY, Snuffy and Poppy Pig in a big way. Adults can't stop themselves either. Meet DICK BRUNA, the 73-year-old jovial Dutchman who created a classic design icon - 45 years ago. Words: Gabe Stewart
MIFFY'S JUST A CUTE CARTOON CHARACTER, right? Wrong. She's a perfect pictogram whose classically clean lines still influence design today. Ask any graphic artist and they’ll tell you that. for a whole raft of reasons — psychological. design. artistic — Dick Bruna is the man.
Bruna created Miffy 45 years ago and is still hard at it. with over 90 books published in 33 languages. selling 80 million copies world wide. Bruna’s at the Book Festival this week talking about what inspires him and discussing his approach to design and colour.
Artistically. you can see how Bruna's work has an affinity with the de Stijl group of early 20th century Netherlands painters. formed by Mondrian. They broke with three- dimensional representation. used exclusively primary colours of yellow. red. and blue. contrasted with black and white and totally did away with perspective.
Bruna certainly has a limited palette: he goes for red. blue. yellow. white and green. never purple and very rarely orange. but unlike the De Stijl school. Bruna didn't turn his back on nature. Indeed. he spends endless hours trying to find just the right grey or brown for a particular elephant or bear . . .
Miffy may look simple. but simplicity is damned hard work. Each book contains only twelve pages. yet Bruna makes several hundred sketches for each one. Sweating blood to simplify ideas is a familiar concept to art director Paul Moran from the Leith Agency. ‘The more you take out. the more the audience takes in.’ he says. ‘In advertising. consumers have two seconds to take in an ad. so the fewer elements in there. the more chance you have of getting your message across.
Bruna has more than two seconds. but his minimalist representations of people. animals and objects is crucial to his
success with young readers. Dolph Kohnstamm.
professor of development and psychology at Leiden University in Holland points out how Bruna's art works at
12 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 17—24 Aug 2000
a psychological level. His flattened heads. too large in relation to his bodies. are an exaggeration of appealing infant traits. All the characters look the reader straight in the eye. even when it's
patently dangerous to do so. for example. while they are riding a bicycle. ‘Magazine covers on which a face. pictured large. looks straight at the passing customer are easier to sell.~ Kohnstamm says. ‘They attract attention and create the illusion of person-to-person contact.‘
Bruna himself said some years ago that he had often tried to draw a face from the side. Apart from anything else. he said. it
would be fun to have a nose. ‘But I always gave tip the idea. For my book covers I always try to have eyes that look directly at you. It always comes down to directness. producing as direct an effect as possible.’
Multi-award-winning Jim Downie.
creative partner at Faulds Advertising. is considered a graphic design guru in
Scotland. His kids grew up with Miffy and he still remembers when he first came across her 30 years ago. ‘My kids wanted something simple. not romantic or wishy washy. Bruna's colour really stood out then.
Especially the way he uses flat colour in such a simple way.’
He reckons Bruna influenced today's trend towards simpler illustrations. 'The Simpsons' cartoon characters use very flat colour. they're two-dimensional. not three-dimensional like Disney and Looney Toons. Mr Men stole a lot from Dick Bruna. He definitely led the way forward in children's books towards a revolutionary look. You
could almost frame each
page it's so simple.’
He adds: 'Twenty years ago Miffy was at her most popular. Then there was a great lull. It's time for a
revival.‘
Meet Dick Bruna:
Creator Of Miffy
(Book) Charlotte Square Gardens, 624 5050, 18 Aug, 7.30pm, £3.50.
Miffy's Birthday Party With Dick Bruna (Book) Charlotte Square Gardens, 624 5050, 19 Aug, 1.30pm, £3.50.