PA U LA SC HE R
Paula Scher graduated from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 1970. After graduation she moved to New York City in search of her new job. She found a job as a designer for inside covers of children’s books. In 1972 she joined CBS Records where she worked in the advertising and promotion department. She wasn’t doing the work she really wanted to, which was album cover design, so she went to work at Atlantic Records (CBS’s rival) after one year at CBS.
Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia CBS Records Logo (1962) Atlantic Records Logo (1966 - 2005)
While at Atlantic Records, Scher designed her first album covers. After she got the experience she needed to move up, she moved back to CBS Records, this time as the Art Director of the album cover department. She was 25 years old. About 150 album covers a year were produced under her direction there. Scher would hire photographers and artists to Illustrate her designs like the ones on the right. One of her most famous album covers is the one for Boston’s debut album “Still Life”.
Rolling Stones - Still Life (1981) Eddie Harris - Bad Luck is All I Have (1975) Leonard Bernstein - Stravinsky (1976)
Dan Hartman - Instant Replay (1978) Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick (1977) Rolling Stones - Still Life (1981)
In 1982, Paula Scher left CBS Records. In the mean time she took a job of teaching at the School of Visual Arts. In ‘84 she co-founded Koppel & Scher. She and Terry Koppel worked six years under this business. To promote their firm they designed a book containing paragraphs from famous novels typed in that time’s style. All the while, Scher designed identities, packaging, book jackets, and advertising designs. Paula Scher and Koppel went their separate ways after the business took a hit from the recession in 1991. Koppel went to work at Esquire while Scher began as a partner with Pentagram.
Swatch Advertisment Poster (Right) based off of the Swiss poster by Herbert Matter (Left)
Package and logo design by Scher from the branding project for Swiss Candy Store renamed by Scher as Oola.
Below are pages from the promotional booklet created by Koppel & Scher.
Paula Scher’s approach to design starts by taking a populist viewpoint. Most of Scher’s work is influenced by Russian Constructivism and is labled as Post Modernist. Her typography takes on the dynamic properties of that style. Post Modernism is difficult to explain because there isn’t one definition. So, here is a video that helps you better understand the general idea... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKomOqYU4Mw
Best of Jazz Poster (1979)
Trust Elvis (1981)
In 1994 Paula Scher started on a project for the Public Theater in New York City. She was commissioned to design a logo. Soon after, she designed posters to advertise for the theater. Her designs use dynamic typography which celebrated the loudness and culture of the street with a graffitti-like influence.
Him (1994)
Simpatico (1994)
Bring in ‘Da Noise’ Bring in ‘Da Funk’ (1995)
Some People (1994)
The influence of this poster series was so great that New York City started to claim the Public Theater’s Identity as their own. Scher has since revised the brand of the theater but the posters haven’t been as influential as her first designs. A Collection from The Public Theater Poster Series from 1994—2008
Shakespeare Fesitval Poster (2008)
Fucking A (2002)
The Diva is Dismissed (1994)
The Public Theater Logo (1994)
Through her position at Pentagram, Paula Scher has produced numerous logos and corporate identities as well as improved the identities of existing brands. Logos Citibank CNN Windows 8 Tiffany & Co. Weight Watchers Jazz at Lincoln Center Many more‌ Branding & Identity The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) The Metropolitan Opera New York City Ballet Many more‌
Environmental Design The New Jersey Performing Arts Center was in need of improvement. To make the currently outdated exterior more modern, Scher was commissioned to design a typographic “wallpaper” of sorts. She didn’t stop with the outside. Typography is all over the floors inside as well to guide people around the building. Other interiors Scher has improved are the 42nd St. Studios, Achievment First Endeavor Middle School, the parking garage at 13-17 East 54th Street in New York, and more. Inside the 42nd St. Studios
Achievment First Endeavor Middle School
New Jersey Performing Arts Ceter Before and After
East 54th St. Parking Garage, NYC
New Jersey Performing Arts Ceter Interior
In the 1990’s Scher began painting a series of maps for her own leisure. She would paint all of the names of the cities included in the area she was painting. Her largest paintings are 12 ft! Handwritten typography takes over the entire painting. The cities are not necessarily placed accurately on the painting. Scher herself said that the placement of the cities is sometimes “opinionated�.
South Pole
United States of America
Detail of East Coast
Queen’s Metropolitan High School Interior
United States of America Red, White, and Blue
Awards and Honors 1998 - Art Directors Club Hall of Fame 2000 - Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design 2001 - AIGA Medal 2006 - Type Directors Club Medal 2012 - Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Design Collab Award 2013 - National Design Award for Communication Design She has served on the AIGA’s national board and was president of the New York Capter from 1998-2000. In 2006, she was named to the Design Commission of New York. She was also elected the president of the Alliance Graphique Internale (AGI) in 2009.
Paula Scher’s work has been exhibited all over the world in museums such as the MoMA, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Victoria and Alburt Museum in London, the Museum fur Gestaltung Zurich, and the Bibliotheque nationale de France and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. She remains one of the most widely known graphic designers around the world today.
Paula Scher Works Cited. http://new.pentagram.com/2008/06/new-work-the-public-theater-1/ http://www.aiga.org/medalist-paulascher/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Scher#Branding_.26_Identities_Systems Palacio, Bryony, and Armin Vit. <i>Graphic Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic Design</i>. Beverly, Mass.: Rockport, 2009. 162. Print.