Reading #5

THE DIGITAL ERA

Apple Inc. launched the Macintosh personal computer in 1984. It was more user-friendly than other PCs and with its desktop publishing software, graphical user interface, and mouse, the Mac was uniquely geared to designers. Using a computer didn’t automatically make designers better at their craft. Instead, the new technology gave them more control and sped up their exploration process. Emerging digital technology also changed typography, exploding the number of typefaces available and giving designers the tools to create and distribute their own fonts. Also during this time, design education programs expanded and became more rigorous. 

1.       April Greiman

a.       Pioneered computer technology as a design tool

b.      Established New Wave design in the United States

2.       Rudy Vanderlans and Zuzana Licko

a.       Founded experimental design journal

b.      Designed groundbreaking digital typefaces

c.       Embraced new design tools

3.       Edward Fella

a.       Created handmade lettering and design

b.      Taught design for 25 years

c.       Embraced American vernacular in his work

4.       Muriel Cooper

a.       Pioneered design for the screen

b.      Blended graphic design and computer science

c.       Designed important books and the design profession and its practioners

5.       Steven Heller

a.       Wrote hundreds of books and articles about design

b.      Co-founded innovative educational programs

c.       Art directed The New York Times book review

6.       Stephen Doyle

a.       Experiments with typography

b.      Harnesses color’s power to connect and communicate

c.       Balances art and commerce

7.       Paula Scher

a.       Illustrates with typography

b.      Designs distinctive identities for cultural institutions and corporations

8.       Michael Bierut

a.       Designs bold identities

b.      Co-founded online forum for design

9.       John Maeda

a.       Combines design and technology

b.      Advocates computer knowledge for designers

c.       Leads well-known design collage

10.   Stefan Sagmeister

a.       Designed innovative CD packaging

b.      Takes sabbaticals to experiment

c.       Pushes and provokes with his work

Reading #4

GRAPHIC ICONS

The 1960s was a period of major social, political, and cultural upheaval around the world. People rebelled against restrictive norms. This emphasis toward action and activism filtered into graphic design. Developments in printing technology gave designers more control over their work. Popular culture mixed with fine art to create pop art, a less serious movement. It was led by artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. Even as the late modernists continued pushing the ideas of the movement, a new generation of designers began exploring different ways to communicate visually.

1.       Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar

a.       Design iconic logos and brand identities

b.      Introduced abstract design in corporate identity in the US

c.       Design noteworthy exhibitions for major art and cultural institutions

2.       Yusaku Kamekura

a.       Combined European modernism with traditional Japanese aesthetics

b.      Designed the first Olympics posters to use photography

c.       Led and organized the Japanese graphic design profession

3.       Herb Lubalin

a.       Mastered expressive typography and type as image

b.      Rejected rational modernisms

c.       Established an influential type foundry

4.       Seymour Chwast

a.       Combines illustration and design

b.      Incorporates historic styles

c.       Co-founded Push Pin Studios

5.       Milton Glaser

a.       Blended historic styles to move past modernism

b.      Designs iconic logos, posters, magazines, and resaurants

c.       Influences others through writing and teaching

6.       George Lois

a.       Designed iconic and controversial magazine covers

b.      Developed advertising campaigns for top brands

7.       Wim Crouwell

a.       Designed radical typeface for computer use

b.      Co-founded influential multidisciplinary design studio

c.       Developed grid system for museum communications

8.       Walter Landor

a.       Pioneered design based on consumer research

b.      Built one of the world’s largest brand design agencies

9.       Otl Aicher

a.       Designed grid-based pictograms

b.      Co-founded influential design school

10.   Michael Vanderbyl

a.       Expanded graphic design into multiple disciplines

b.      Helped establish San Francisco as a design hub

11.   Peter Saville

a.       Designed influential album covers

b.      Focused on conceptual imagery to make an emotional connection between bands and their fans

Reading #3

GRAPHIC ICONS

1.       Ladislav Sutnar

a.       Pioneered what we now call information design

b.      Wrote books laying out important guidelines for design systems

c.       Designed catalogs, books, exhibits, toys, and more

2.       Alvin Lustig

a.       Worked in multiple design desciplines

b.      Took an intellectual approach to solving problems

c.       Designed groundbreaking book covers

3.       Cipe Pineles

a.       Became the first female art director of a mass-market American magazine

b.      Inducted into the NYADC and elected to its Hall of Fam as the first woman

c.       Hired fine artists to illustrate mainstream magazines

4.       Bradbury Thompson

a.       Recycled vintage elements in modern design

b.      Designed and art directed 30-plus magazines

c.       Developed new concept for the alphabet

5.       Erik Nitsche

a.       Understood that design could shape a company’s public image

b.      Designed iconic scientific posters

c.       Elevated the standard for nonfiction book design

6.       Josef Muller-Brockmann

a.       Advocated the use of the grid, sans serif type, and objective photography

b.      Founded Neue Grafik to promote Swiss style

c.       Wrote the first comprehensive history of graphic design

7.       Paul Rand

a.       Mastered corporate identity, advertising, and editorial design

b.      Developed strong identity programs for major corporations

c.       Influenced others through writing and teaching

8.       Saul Bass

a.       Pioneered the art of film title design

b.      Developed comprehensive ad campaigns for movies

c.       Designed many well-known corporate identity programs

9.       Georg Olden

a.       Pioneered on-air television graphics

b.      Became the first notable African-American graphic designer

10.   Will Burtin

a.       Made complex information understandable through design

b.      Advanced the understanding of science

c.       Organized multidisciplinary conferences on communication