History of Graphic Design: Paula Scher

Paula Scher is a very successful graphic designer and illustrator. For over thirty years she has been working in the graphic design world, creating album covers, logos and many more types of works. Some of her most successful work has been the logos she created for large companies. She has created the logo for Citibank, Windows 8, The New York City Ballet, the Museum of Modern Art and many others. She was the first female principal at Pentagram and lives in New York City and Connecticut. 

Massimo Vignelli

Massimo Vignelli is an Italian architect and graphic designer who has over the years design the identities of many large corporations, founded Vignelli Associates with his wife Lella, and designed the building Vignelli Center For Design Studies at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY.  His identity designs are always very simplistic, but also memorable and unique.  A most recognizable identity would be that of American Airlines.  The logo is a red A and blue A side by side with a blue eagle in between the two vertexes of the As.  This red white and blue identity is one that can be recognized worldwide.  It is important to understand that sometimes the best and most memorable identities are simple, but powerful.

 

“We like design to be visually powerful, intellectually elegant, and above all timeless”

-Massimo Vignelli

 

For more images go to http://www.vignelli.com/

History of graphic design

Yokoo Tadanori

(http://www.tadanoriyokoo.com/info/index_e.html)

Yokoo Tadanori is a Japanese designer, illustrator, printmaker and painter.  What i didn’t know about him that i found very interesting was the fact that through his travels in india he became intrested in making his work center around mysticism and psychedelia.  He was becoming known as the “Japanese Andy Warhol” but through analyzing his work people could tell this was not true.  Tadanori’s work was multi-layered, autobiographical, and original.

History of Graphic Design

 

“If the point of contect between the product and the people becomes a point of friction, then the industrial designer has failed. If, on the other hand, people are made safer, more comfortable, more eager to purchase, more efficient – or just plain happier – the designer has succeeded.” Henry Dreyfuss.

Henry Dreyfuss was an American industrial designer. He improved more than dozens of consumer product, such as telephone, vacuum cleaner, “Big Ben” alarm clock, etc. He is the first President of the Industrial Cociety of America(IDSA).

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dreyfuss-henry-thermostat-design.ogg

The above link is a video which discusses Henry Dreyfuss’s design, and his drawing used to study human usebilty.

 

History of Graphic Design

Lou Dorfsman was a design giant. as the lead designer of the Columbia broadcasting system (CBS) in the 1960’s he single-handedly designed every aspect of the Columbia broadcasting system, but probably his most memorable design is the typographic wall in the CBS cafeteria.

one day Lou proposed to Frank Stanton (head of CBS) that the cafeteria wall was very bland and needed something. he proposed that he use a “california job case” to use for a typographic wall full of different foods and words of food like “sandwich” and “lobster.” the idea was incredibly perceptive for its time and was a huge success. the wall is even considered a cornerstone in the typographic world. Lou Dorfsman was a typographic pioneer and is regarded and a legend in the design world.

History of Graphic Design: Tibor Kalman

Tibor Kalman was an influential American graphic designer of Hungarian origin.He was well-known for his work as editor-in-chief of Colors Magazine. Through the 30 years of his life being a graphic designer, Kalman brought all of his personality into  every piece of graphic art that he worked on.  He works for all different types of things, such as album covers, books and magazines. His design was so successful because he incorporated visual elements that no other graphic designer could master. He used his work to promote his radical politics. The influence of his experiments in typography and images can be seen everywhere, from music videos to the design of magazines such as Wired and Ray Gun.

more information about Klaman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYIAMsXvSTw

The History of Graphic Design: Chip Kidd

Chip Kidd is 39 year old and has already design over 1500 book covers. He was born and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania and studied at Pen State university. He was originally insulted by a professor of his who point out in from of the class the design was probably not a good career choice for Chip. He ignored the comments and continued to study design and create new peaces in his unique style of work.

He later got a job as junior assistant at Kropf and later rose to the position of  associate art director. Chip Kidd is also a supervisor of graphic novels at Pantheon Books. He comes out with about 75 book covers a year and has gotten to work with some of the biggest book companies around today such as, Grove  Press, Penguin/Putnum, Columbia University Press, and Scribner. He’s created many book covers for graphic novels such as, Batman, and for classics such as, the Peanuts. But Chip Kidd’s most famous book cover design would have to be for Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. Chip’s simple yet dynamic design of the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton was so impacting that it was pasted on to the media when the film was made and put on the movie cover as well as ever Jurassic Park film that followed.

“I’m very much against the idea that the cover will sell the book. Marketing departments of publishing houses tend to latch onto this concept and they can’t let go. But it’s about whether the book itself really connects with the public, and the cover is only a small part of that.” Chip Kidd has done so many book covers that it makes it very difficult to choose just one to talk about but one thing in certain, he is a very talent, modest and well-deserving person who work will continue to be appreciated world wide.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2003-09-02-chip-kidd_x.htm

http://bookcoverarchive.com/Chip_Kidd

 

Woody Pirtle: Pirtle Design

Woody Pirtle has created several posters and meaningful designs that has sparked thought throughout the world.  He has established his own design business as well. Pirtle Design was established in 1978 by Woody Pirtle.  The firm still exists today and is located in Dallas, Texas.  The firm has created materials for Baylor University Medical Center, The Dallas Museum of Art, TGI Friday’s, Dallas Opera, Diamond Shamrock Corporation, National Gypsum, Centex Homes, Gerald D. Hines Interests, and Simpson Paper Company.  It produces original marks, identity, print, books and publications, packaging, and posters.  Woody Pirtle and his co-workers have created award-winning works of art that have left many people with unforgettable messages.  Here are some of Woody Pirtle’s most famous, award-winning designs:

Paula Scher

Paula Scher has been breaking the mold of design for 35 years. When she worked at CBS and Atlantic records in the 1970’s designing album covers she had to teach herself typography. “At that time it was really just Helvetica and the grid, and I rebelled against that” Scher has stated, and it’s very true; Scher searched for more expressive typefaces and was very interested in being bold, she “started to recognize characters and type in relation to a period.”

Scher’s style mimics her life in New York City, where she has worked for most of her career. This can be seen in her New York City Ballet works. She uses black-and-white photos and crops them for a more dramatic look, while manipulating layers and transparency to evoke a look that resembles the city’s skyline.

Paula Scher has a very wide range of capabilities,  not only has she designed album covers and posters, but she has also gotten into the world of logos. One of her most famous logo designs is for Citibank. Scher sketched the logo on a napkin “in a second” but it is a very powerful design. The logo represents the merge of Citibank and Travelers. The Travelers logo was an umbrella, and Scher incorporated that with the connection of the two i’s above the t, and enlarging the font of the t. This instantly recognizable design shows how versatile Scher can really be.

Seymour Chwast

Seymour Chwast is said to be one of the most influential graphic artists of his time. He is a co-founder of the Push Pin Graphic, a bi-monthly art magazine. Chwast’s nickname is the left-handed designer. During his time as a graphic artist, he has produced countless packages, illustrations, posters, and magazine covers. Chwast has also designed numerous fonts over the years. Chwast has a very distinct and unique style. Even today, he finds a way to keep his illustrations contemporary with some humor subtly placed. Even though Chwast was born in 1931, it is said that he “has more sparks of inspiration and longer fires of brilliance than most younger colleagues”(American Institute of Graphic Arts). Chwast’s ability to constantly stay fresh and inventive has made him the legendary graphic designer that he is known for today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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