Category Archives: design

Century: 100 Years of Type

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Century_collage

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.

6 Iconic Logo/Identity Designers

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GI_Logo_IntroA

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

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Museum of Modern Art; Herb Lubalin Study Center

Museum of Modern Art; Herb Lubalin Study Center

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

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GI_FC

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?

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GreatestLiving

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?

HOW Magazine

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How page1_c-l

“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

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CHARM page 174 September 1957 Cipe Pineles, art director.

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.