The latest exhibition at the AIGA National Design Center all about type. Century: 100 years of Type in Design does a great job highlighting fun and functional typefaces from the past 100 years. The real strength is the context: it’s not just type samples, but artifacts and ephemera showing these faces in use. You’ll see great work by designers like Lucian Bernhard, Paul Rand, Herb Lubalin, Stefan Sagmeister, and more. It’s great to see these pieces in person–inspiration for anyone interested in design and typography. The exhibition runs through July 31.
Category Archives: design
6 Iconic Logo/Identity Designers
Paul Rand said, “Visual communications of any kind… should be seen as the embodiment of form and function: the integration of the beautiful and the useful.” It’s not only about how it looks, or how it works, but about how it looks and works together. Whether you’re a student or a practicing designer, it’s helpful to occasionally look back at the work of iconic designers like Rand. Read about a few that contributed to the rise of corporate identity design at Logo Design Love.
Seeing Graphic Design
You can find plenty of design inspiration by looking online, but there’s nothing like seeing design works in person to get a true sense of the scale, materials, and details. There are museums, galleries, and special collections that host exhibitions and allow research. Some are open to the public, while others require an appointment. Here are some places to see graphic design up close:
AIGA National Design Center Gallery
164 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
aiga.org
Bauhaus-Archive Museum of Design
Klingelhöferstraße 14
D – 10785 Berlin, Germany
bauhaus.de
Design Exchange
234 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
dx.org
Design Museum
28 Shad Thames
London SE1 2YD
designmuseum.org
Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
2 East 91st Street
New York, NY 10128
cooperhewitt.org
Graphic Design Archive at Rochester Institute of Technology
90 Lomb Memorial Dr.
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY 14623
library.rit.edu/gda
Haas Family Arts Library, Yale University
180 York Street
New Haven, CT 06520
web.library.yale.edu/arts
The Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography
The Cooper Union
41 Cooper Square, Room LL119,
New York, NY
lubalincenter.cooper.edu
Letterform Archive
1001 Mariposa Street #307
San Francisco, CA 94107
LetterformArchive.org
The Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives
380 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10010
glaserarchives.org
Museum Für Gestaltung
Ausstellungsstrasse 60
CH-8005 Zürich Switzerland
museum-gestaltung.ch
Museum of Design Atlanta
1315 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA 30309
museumofdesign.org
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street
New York, NY
moma.org
Museum of the Image (MOTI)
(Formerly Graphic Design Museum)
Boschstraat 22
4811 GH BREDA
Netherlands
motimuseum.nl
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 Third Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
sfmoma.org
San Francisco Public Library
Book Arts & Special Collections
100 Larkin St.
San Francisco, 94102
sfpl.org/bookarts
Walker Art Center
1750 Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403
walkerart.org
Wilanów Poster Museum
10/16 Stanisława Kostki Potockiego Street
02-958 Warsaw, Poland
postermuseum.pl
The Wolfsonian
Florida International University
1001 Washington Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139
wolfsonian.org
10 Crucial Lessons From History’s Greatest Graphic Designers
Simplify, visualize, know your user: the lessons of these design pioneers, from El Lissitzky to Paula Scher, are as relevant as ever. Read my guest post, complete with slideshow, at Fast Company’s Co.Design.
Greatest Living Designer?
Fast Company’s Co.Design is playing with March Madness and launching a competition for the world’s greatest living designer. Architects and interactive and product designers are represented, along with graphic designers. The field has been narrowed to 32 finalists, 8 in each category. Graphic icons Milton Glaser, Michael Bierut, Stefan Sagmeister, and Paula Scher made the cut. Unfortunately, the bracket setup means some tough choices have to be made—you can vote for Milton Glaser OR Michael Bierut, not both. Cast your vote. There are some complaints on twitter, but I think it’s meant as a fun diversion, not serious design journalism. What do you think?
Milton Glaser meets Mad Men
Graphic icon Milton Glaser, who designed the 1966 Dylan poster and the I Love NY logo, has designed some fitting ads to promote the final season of Mad Men. Read all about it at The New York Times.
HOW Magazine
“A great big book of who’s who in the creative world, Graphic Icons: Visionaries Who Shaped Modern Graphic Design is a visual tour de force that features everything from posters to multimedia projects. Striking work from the likes of Paul Rand, Milton Glaser, Paula Scher and other greats provides the imagery that guides readers through the pages.” Thank you, HOW Magazine!
The Attractiveness Of Reality
Graphic Birdwatching is a new platform for women in graphic design. They are featuring an excerpt from Graphic Icons on Cipe Pineles, the first female art director of a major U.S. magazine, and the first female member of the Art Directors Club. There is also a photoset featuring some the women featured in Graphic Icons on Women in Graphic Design, a blog dedicated to exhibiting design work by women.
Design and the Olympics
The 2014 Winter Olympics are now in full swing at Sochi, Russia. While most people are interested in the sporting events, I tend to focus on the design. Two of the most iconic designers for the Olympics are Japan’s Yusaku Kamekura and Germany’s Otl Aicher, and I wrote a blog post about them at Peachpit.
Black History Month
Black Creatives, the premier network for multicultural talent, highlights the accomplishments of Georg Olden, the pioneering African American graphic designer, in an excerpt from Graphic Icons. Read Celebrating Creative Contributions: Graphic Icons.