12x12 F12 by Kelly Murdoch-Kitt

12x12

12x12 ta l e s o f 12 d e s i g n e r s ( i n 4 c at e g o r i e s ) to l d by 12 d e s i g n st u d e n ts Kelly Murdoch-Kitt, editor university of san francisco department of art

architecture

essays and illustrations by

Han Bai Noah Broffman Veronica Cabanayan Alexa Ferrer Ali Hampton Victoria House Jean Karnow Rosanna Pitarresi Brian Riley Matt Shea Danica Swenson Phoebe Tillem

design program

F2012

12 x 12:

tales of twelve designers told by twelve design students

copyright ÂŠ 2012 Kelly Murdoch-Kitt (editor). All texts and images are copyright ÂŠ 2012 the authors. Disclaimer: Please note that, while students made an effort to research and provide accurate factual information in these essays, part of the assignment was to express their own impressions of the designers and their work. The views contained in these opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of University of San Francisco; the opinions and commentary contained in this book are solely those of the authors. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form (beyond copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the United States Copyright Law, and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the editor. Copies of this book are available through lulu.com.

contents foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 identity design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

peter

christophe

massimo

behrens by Veronica Cabanayan

szpajdel by Matthew Shea

vignelli by Phoebe Tillem

cross-cultural response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

editorial design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

bradbury

cipe

chip

thompson by Ali Hampton

pineles by Han Bai

kidd

by Jean Karnow

cross-cultural response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 poster design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2

wild

lissitzky by Victoria House

plakken by Alexa Ferrer

100 f.h.k.

henrion by Brian Riley

cross-cultural response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 wayfinding design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 2

120

126

132

elaine lustig

per

otl

cohen

by Danica Swenson

mollerup by Noah Broffman

aicher

by Rosanne Pitarresi

cross-cultural response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

foreword December 2012

A collaborative book seems like a natural conclusion for a print-oriented design course—in this case, it encapsulates several projects into a neat package that becomes greater than the sum of its parts: At the beginning of the semester, each student randomly selected the names of three designers from a large pool of names. After researching the three designers, each student presented findings to the class and chose one of the three to research in more detail. Each student continued his/her research and wrote a biographical opinion piece about her designer. designer bio

Using Adobe Illustrator, the class crated “illustrations” of their selected designers’ names in ways that reflected a connotative meaning. project i

p r o j e c t i i Following additional discussions on semiotics, students illustrated three “signifiers” of their selected designers: images, objects, or ideas that paint a bigger picture of the designer’s life, personality, or work. p r o j e c t i i i Working in small groups, students created researched and wrote a paper together about their selected design category (the area of design in which their selected designers primarily work(ed)). Independently, they also shot and manipulated photos representing that design category as they observed it in San Francisco. Each group presented their paper and individual photo essays together to the class. There was also a cross-cultural curveball at this point, as the students met and exchanged photos with design student penpals studying at Zayed University in Dubai. The students took turns interpreting each others’ images.

Using their photography and at least 50 words of descriptive text derived from Project 3, each member of the group created a 13 x 19” poster/panel. The panels are designed to be able to stand alone, but teammates also had to coordinate so that the series of posters could also function as a cohesive group. The final poster series was exhibited in the Art + Architecture department at University of San Francisco. project iv

Finally, each student combined his/her illustrated elements and essay into a chapter layout, and each group worked together to combine their poster designs with their group essay about each individual design category. Each student also Those layouts came together as this book. I provided some basic constraints, but also let them have some free reign in terms of how they used color, additional typefaces for titles and pull-quotes, and how they chose to incorporate their illustrations. project v

This book is a great achievement for a lively class of beginning design students. I hope you will enjoy their work in 12 x 12 F12 (though this book is only 8.5 x 8.5 inches). —Kelly M. Murdoch-Kitt a d j u n c t p r o f e s s o r , d e pa rt m e n t o f a rt

architecture, university of san francisco

12â&#x20AC;&#x2026;xâ&#x20AC;&#x2026;12 F12 is dedicated to those who get out there and experience design in the world.

i de nt ity des ign

id en t it y d e s i g n. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

peter

c h r i s to p h e

massimo

behrens

by Vero ni ca C ab anayan

szpajdel by Matth ew S h e a

vignelli by Ph oe be Tille m

c ro ss - c u l t ural re s p o ns e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

IDE NTI TY DESIGN

exists for companies, awareness campaigns, and even commonplace items.

IDENTITY & BRANDING By Matt Shea, Veronica Cabanayan, & Phoebe Tillem

identity design

| cabanayan , shea , tillem

dentity design describes branding of any sort. Although it usually refers to corporate identity, or branding for a company, identities can also be created for concepts, as seen when raising awareness for issues, or commonplace items, such as the branding for cotton or milk. No one is quite sure which designer or company created the first brand identity, but logos began cropping up around the time of industrial design. In order to compete with better-known local companies, companies began branding their mass-produced products. This way, they could familiarize their consumers with the products and convince them that the products were just as reliable as the local ones. Branding and advertising resurged during the Great Depression, as companies sought to convince consumers to spend the little money they had on their products. However, the biggest identity boom occurred in the 1950s. The television brought greater accessibility to homes and families than ever before, and companies scrambled to create advertisements and logo designs that would look attractive not only in print, but onscreen as well. Today, identity design is used for literally every product that exists. Some designs are so recognizable, that often other smaller companies seek to emulate the designs for their products in order to gain the same credibility.

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The process involved in branding and identity design requires both consistency and flexibility. An identity designer must create an image that viewers will automatically recognize and associate with whatever it represents. In order for this to happen, the image must maintain a certain degree of consistency from one version of the design to the next. Take the Nike swoosh as an example: when we see it we instantly associate it with Nike, because the design is consistent and uniform in each instance it appears. If Nike varied the logoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thickness, curvature, etc. every time it was printed, it would not be as easy to recognize and would not represent the brand as strongly. Therefore, identity designers must ensure that the image is faithfully reproduced at all stages of the design process. On the other hand, identity design also requires a great deal of flexibility in the design process. This is because designs in this category, more so than other types of design, need to work with a huge variety of media. A brand logo has to look good in print and on the computer screen, compatible with CMYK, RGB, and black and white color schemes. In addition, it must work in any size from a business card to a billboard, all while maintaining the consistency that is so crucial to branding. Identity designers have to keep this in mind during the design process, and create an image with this kind of flexibility from the start. Both consistency and flexibility are important aspects of the design process for branding and identity design.

During the process of branding and identity design, the designer must keep in mind consistency, recognizability, and flexibility.

identity design

| cabanayan , shea , tillem

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Oksana Divina created this eye-catching and hand stamped logo on sustainable packaging, appealing directly to the Bay Area coffee culture.

12â&#x20AC;&#x2026;xâ&#x20AC;&#x2026;12 | F12 | 16

LOCAL IDENTITY Blue Bottle Coffee is an example of successful identity branding within the bay area. Whenever we walk into a cafĂŠ and see the brown coffee bags with a bright blue bottle printed across them, we know we will get a really good cup of coffee from a sustainable company. The design, by Oksana Divina, is simple, appears hand drawn, and stands out against the brown paper packaging. It is flexible, for it works well on cups, bags, books, merchandise, etc. Blue Bottle has branded themselves as tasteful, high quality, local, and environmentally friendly, appealing directly and successfully to the Bay Area coffee culture. Commercially, identity design is incredibly important for a brand. The design helps to inform and persuade consumers of the personality of a brand. Through consistent use of a branded identity, a company can personify their product and create a relationship with the consumer public. Reconsider the Nike Swoosh: it represents speed, agility, and strength. Nike is now synonymous with exercise and fitness; people instantly recognize and trust products with their logo splashed across it. This also helps to increase purchases of Nike products. If a consumer sees an athlete, or just a stranger in the gym, wearing Nike, this will likely persuade that consumer to purchase Nike products in the future. Without identity design, a company cannot brand itself.

identity design

| cabanayan , shea , tillem

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12 9

3 6

“ Design is not about decorating functional forms—it is about creating forms that accord with the character of the object and that show new technologies to advantage.” —Peter Behrens

Essay and images by Veronica Cabanayan

The young Peter Behrens was formally trained in architecture and design at Gewerbeschule, a school in Hamburg, from 1886 to 1888. He then decided that he wanted to learn to paint, so he went to school in Karsruhe from 1888 to 1891 learning to do so. He began his art career doing artisanal work, such as woodcuts and paintings.

cabanayan

In fact, one of his better-known pieces, “The Kiss,” is a woodcut that he created in 1898. According to Iain Boyd White, a professor of architectural history at the University of Edinburgh, this particular piece is a perfect example of the Jugendstil or Art Nouveau movement. The Czech artist Alphonse Mucha

| veronica

However, a Wikipedia page cannot even begin to cover the immense influence that Behrens continues to have today. He was one of the world’s first industrial designers and created the first corporate image. Without Behrens, the world of

corporate design would undoubtedly be a very different place.

peter behrens

quick look at Peter Behrens’ Wikipedia page will tell you a number of things about him. For example, it will tell you he was born on 14 April 1868 in Hamburg, Germany and died at the age of 71 on 27 February 1940. It will also mention that he was important for the modernist movement, and will then go on to say that he studied painting in Hamburg and that he had something to do with an electricity company, and he may or may not have been a Nazi.

heavily influenced Jugendstil, or youth style. Many artists emulated elements of Mucha’s style after him, including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Gustav Klimt, and of course, Peter Behrens. This influence is clear in the soft curves, bold lines, and heavy contrast of “The Kiss.” Shortly afterwards in 1893, he helped found the Munich Secession, a modernist art group that separated from official, academic art. He then apparently decided that wasn’t avant-garde enough and branched off to create another, more progressive group called Freie Vereinigung Münchner Künstler (roughly translates to “Free Association of Munich Artists”). In 1898, Behrens became interested in graphic design and began working for various glass, porcelain, jewelry and furniture companies. This likely influenced his later work in the field of design. However, the biggest turning point in his life is considered to be his work in the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony. From 1899 to approximately 1901, Behrens produced architectural designs and buildings, even going so far as to build his own house and everything in it. Most critics maintain that it is in these designs that we can see the move from Munich’s progressive designs to more austere, Prussian classic-inspired design. It was in 1907 that Behrens began designing in earnest. Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft, or AEG, a German general electricity company, hired Behrens as what they officially titled “artistic 20

consultant.” It is important to note that small domestic electrical devices were still pretty new at this time—the two-blade electric fan and the electric safety iron were both invented in 1882, and Nikola Tesla continued to make discoveries within the field of electricity until 1889. Designers such as Behrens had a lot of freedom in terms of how items should look. Even more importantly, the field of industrial and identity design was fairly new and unexplored in Behrens’ time, giving him immense room for experimentation. Interestingly, he not only designed the products, but also the corporate image, the company’s fonts, the buildings and factories used by AEG, and various posters and calendars put out by the company. Behrens was influenced by the philosophy of Friedriech Nietzsche that had gained popularity at the end of the 19th century. As a result, Behrens sought to unify art and life. Of course, seeing as how art is completely subjective, it is debatable whether or not he achieved this. However, the fact that Behrens created so many beautiful and utilitarian objects does not detract from this idea in the slightest. One need only briefly examine the numerous lamps, clocks, fans, and kettles that he designed to see this influence. Let us take, for example, the Jugendstil-influenced table lamp that Behrens created in 1902. The lamp is beautifully crafted out of bronze and glass and uses curved lines and organic forms to create movement. However, the piece also never forgets its useful purpose, and is also fully functioning as a lamp.

peter behrens

[Behrens] not only designed [AEGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s] products, but also the corporate image, the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fonts, the buildings and factories used by AEG, and various posters and calendars...

| veronica cabanayan

| 21

From the lines of many dots on his posters to the honeycomb-esque logo Behrens created for AEG, Behrensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work shows his clear understanding and use of [Gestalt principles].

Nietzsche’s idea of blurring the lines between life and art is definitely present here, and in many others of Behrens’ creations. It is also important to remember when looking at Behrens’ work that many philosophical, psychological and artistic theories emerged at this time. Among the most prominent were Gestalt principles. These principles were initially created in the early 20th century as a psychological theory. This theory states that humans perceive images first as a whole, then as individual parts. Whether Behrens was using these principles actively or subconsciously, they are certainly present in his work. From the lines of many dots on his posters to the honeycomb-esque logo Behrens created for AEG, Behrens’ work shows his clear understanding and use of these principles.

peter behrens

Peter Behrens continues to have an incredible influence on the world of design today. Without him, it is likely that companies would not consider identity design to be as important as it is today. Because of Behrens, we are able to truly appreciate the work of talented identity designers, the world of industrial design, and the idea that products can be both useful and beautiful.

| veronica cabanayan

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The Dark Lord of Logos From heavy metal band logos to nature and wildlife conservation, Christophe Szpajdel is a man of many and varied passions. Essay and Images by Matt Shea

| matt shea

Szpajdel had a knack for art from a very young age. When he was only three years old, he drew a picture of a praying mantis, and this was the spark that first ignited his creativity. As a child he was also interested in nature and wildlife, which was often the subject matter of his very early drawings. In 1977, when he was

christophe szpajdel

hristophe Szpajdel is a Belgian graphic designer born on September 29th, 1970. He is most famous for his involvement in the world of underground heavy metal, designing band logos and supporting up-and-coming metal groups. He has a unique signature style present in each of his works that distinguishes it as a Szpajdel design. Many of his designs combine elegant simplicity and incredible intricacy; they’re symmetrical on the “big picture” scale but extremely complex and detailed up close. Oftentimes he contorts the shapes of letters to make them conform to the symmetry of his composition, resulting in beautifully-designed but illegible text. This is intentional though, since one of the common distinguishing characteristics of black metal logos is their illegibility. His compositions also contain unity by proximity, with the individual letters interlocking to form an overall shape. Much of his work is inspired by art nouveau, which itself draws inspiration from nature and ties into Szpajdel’s passion for ecology and wildlife.

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seven years old, he saw the music video for KISS’s “I Was Made For Loving You.” This video got him started in the realms of both heavy music and graphic design. He immediately fell in love with the music, but he was also inspired by the famous KISS logo. He began listening to the classic heavy metal bands of the 70s and 80s, such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath, and eventually moved on to even heavier and lesser-known bands. He started to design band logos in his spare time around 1985, and as the extreme metal scene grew larger in the 80s and 90s, he began to make a name for himself. His first big break came in 1994, when the black metal band Emperor released their debut album, “In The Nightside Eclipse,” with its cover featuring one of his logos. Of all the logos I’ve seen by Szpajdel,

the design that draw the viewer to the center of the composition, where there is a little object that looks like a human eye. I think this is an amazingly well-composed design and one of Szpajdel’s best logos. Even before I started researching Szpajdel, manipulation of lettering was one of the areas of design that most intrigued me, and seeing the way he manipulates band names is fascinating to me. Another design of his that exemplifies his style is the logo he designed for the band Enthroned. This one is like the Emperor logo in that it makes use of sharp angles and flowing lines, but the Enthroned logo is much more complex and more difficult to read. I doubt I would be able to tell what it says without knowing the band name, but now that I do, I absolutely love the design. The image viewed as a whole reminds me of some sort of crab or spider

The [Emperor] logo utilizes smooth, sweeping curves combined with sharp angles and intricate flourishes. this one is probably my personal favorite and it was the inspiration for the style I used in my illustrated name project. The logo utilizes smooth, sweeping curves combined with sharp angles and intricate flourishes. The first and last letter are extremely stylized to allow them to mirror each other almost perfectly while still being recognizable as an “E” and an “R”. Similarly, the shaped formed by the “O” and the left side of the last “R” is symmetrical with the “m.” There is also continuation in the lines of 26

advancing towards the viewer, about to attack. It definitely has a dark, almost scary heavy metal vibe to it. The “E” at the beginning and the “D” at the end are stylized to create symmetry between them, which helps to unify this otherwise complex and chaotic logo. Szpajdel has a signature style that dominates many of his designs, but there are several that break away from this mold. For example, his logo for Of Agony

| matt shea

Another of his designs I don’t particularly care for is the logo for Chronocide. Here the most obvious contrast with his usual style is the relatively plain lettering. The lettering is hardly stylized at all, using thick straight

christophe szpajdel

And Death, while still retaining Szpajdel’s characteristic intricacy and detail, stands out from his other designs in several ways. Most noticeable is that it’s not symmetrical at all. Each word is on a straight line, begins with a capital letter, and all other letters are lower case. The words aren’t even aligned to one another but instead are substantially offset. Personally I don’t like this logo, mainly because it looks unbalanced to me. The short words (“of” and “and”) are pushed to the left while the longer words (“agony” and “death”) are off to the right, making the composition appear heavier on the right side. Normally Szpajdel would manipulate the symmetry of the letters to create balance in a case like this, but for whatever reason he didn’t do it for this design.

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lines which make the word perfectly legible and almost boring by Szpajdelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s standards. Also, the imagery surrounding the word is not his usual art-nouveau-inspired flowing lines and complex flourishes, but rather a very geometric and stifflooking fan of rectangular shapes.

any stage in the design process. For me that makes what he does even more impressive. Szpajdel says the whole process of designing just one band logo can take anywhere from two to six weeks, which reveals the amount of time and hard work that goes into meticulously sketching, designing and refining.

Overall though, I really like Szpajdelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s style and the way he composes logos into images rather than just settling for plain typography like most band logos. I was also amazed to find out that all of his logos are completely hand-drawn. No computer is involved at

Besides his design career, he also just seems like a really interesting person. He constantly travels around the world, following small bands and running their merchandise booths. He is fluent in eight different languages, but his first language

It’s like there are two different sides of him, which he has described as a sort of yin-yang or an equilibrium balancing his life. is French. His main job is a forestry engineer; he studied agronomy in school and has a great passion for nature, wildlife conservation, and being in touch with the natural world. On the other hand, he associates with the dark, morbid culture and imagery of extreme metal. It’s like there are two different sides of him, which he has described as a sort of yin-yang or an equilibrium balancing his life. Also, judging by the interviews I’ve read, he seems to have a very eclectic personality. He believes in ghosts and thinks dreams predict the future, and will often completely ignore the question he is asked and instead digress into somewhat nonsensical rambling about things like the metamorphosis of the soul.

christophe szpajdel

I enjoyed having the opportunity to research and learn about Christophe Szpajdel’s life and design work. I’m a musician who listens to a lot of heavy music (although not quite as heavy as Szpajdel) and this made it even more interesting for me. I look forward to continue learning about him.

| matt shea

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Vignelli 30

A modernist to his core, Vignelli creates contemporary designs meant to last forever. Images and Essay by Phoebe Tillem

massimo vignelli

raphic design is a process that requires constant innovation, yet also relies heavily on historical knowledge and emulation. Italian designer Massimo Vignelli has spent his highly successful career treading cleverly between the past and the future by taking what has stood the test of time and reworking it for the modern era. In his retrospective book, Vignelli: From A to Z, Vignelli quoted Viennese architect, Adolf Loos, as saying “an architect should be able to design everything from the spoon to the city.” Vignelli, who is now famous for saying, “if you can design one thing, you can design everything,” clearly applied Loos’ philosophy to his own life. Meaning that one should use one’s skills in as many areas as possible, all the while maintaining one’s aesthetic. This passion towards design, architecture, and excellence seems to have fueled Vignelli’s highly lucrative career. From packaging, to furniture, to the New York City subway map, Vignelli’s clean, modernist aesthetic and high standard for the quality of his work has consistently proven him to be an exceptional designer.

| phoebe tillem

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Passion towards design, architecture, and excellence. Massimo Vignelli was born in Milan, Italy in 1931. Vignelli said his interest in architecture began in his early teens. At the time, he was living in postWorld War II Milan, where architects were busy actively rebuilding the beautiful city. Italian culture as a whole saw a rebirth, after a 20-year depression period under fascist regime. Vignelli felt there was a “tremendous energy in the air,” which exposed him to new design and architecture and forever captivated him. It seems Vignelli has never been dedicated to just one field of design. While studying architecture at the Politecnico di Milano, he was also designing light fixtures, newspapers, books, and packaging. The speed with which he could watch his designs come to life made him realize he did not want to do primarily architecture, and that graphic design was his true calling.

Not long after their move to the US, the dynamic duo that is Lella and Massimo established Vignelli Associates. Vignelli Associates has been highly successful and is still around today. Vignelli, describing what they do, remarked that, “we work in the whole spectrum of design, from subway signage, to airplane signage, to wine packaging and so on. Always with this desire to bring a certain intellectual elegance to the masses, to the public.” This reiterates their combined passion for good, strong design and highlights their sense of superiority over mass-design. While Vignelli often comes off as overly superior, he deserves fair credit for the work he has done.

| phoebe tillem

Certain fonts, shapes, and colors are now so deeply engrained in our visual rhetoric that we hardly recognize their prominence. It is designers like Vignelli who insist on the importance of these elements and continue to use them. Vignelli consistently uses classic, well-known fonts, such as Helvetica, Garamond, and Bodoni, but plays with their size and weight to attract attention. Ever outspoken and self-assured, he does not believe there is a need for more than 12 fonts. Vignelli also prefers primary colors and geometric shapes to anything else. These choices truly define his work and tastes. Vignelli explained the prevalence of geometric shapes in his work at the opening of the Rochester Institute of Technology, Vignelli Center for Design Studies, “Good designs last longer, bad

massimo vignelli

In the early 1960s, Vignelli continued to work in Milan with wife and fellow designer, Lella Vignelli. This was just the beginning of their long career together. In 1966 they left Milan, feeling that “the ceiling was too low.” To his delight, Vignelli found that in New York, the “ceiling…doesn’t exist.” In New York, he felt that the design culture was more open to innovation and modernism. In that,

Vignelli found his niche and began building his highly successful career.

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“ Desire to bring a certain intellectual elegance to the masses” design is very ephemeral…From my experience, geometric shapes last for thousands of years. While instead personal shapes have a very short life. And I am not interested in ephemeral design.” “Ephemeral” simply could not be used to describe his body of work. There are many examples of Vignelli’s selfdescribed “everlasting” work that live up to his high standards. In 1967, Vignelli created the simple red, white, and blue logo for American Airlines, which is still in use today. In 1972, he designed the logotype and packaging for Bloomingdale’s, which is also still very popular today. His “Big Brown Bag” is not only printed on their shopping bags, but also on canvas bags and other merchandise. He is best known by most New Yorkers for designing the New York Subway map in 1972 and updating and rereleasing it in 2008. Adapted from Harry Beck’s map of the London Underground, Vignelli simplified the map to only include the subway routes, and used clean, colorful lines with circle motifs to signify stops. Though many felt it was an oversimplification at the time, it is now widely copied, the original hanging in the New York Museum of Modern Art. Upon researching Vignelli, I was immediately drawn to his work and philosophy of design. I think his genius lies in his clean, seemingly simple 34

designs. While I think “everlasting” is incredibly difficult to achieve, if not impossible, I do think that many of his designs have stood the test of time. I think many companies would benefit from the simpler logo and well-designed packaging that Vignelli is now synonymous with. His architectural projects, such as his office space, are the definition of modern: very austere and striking. His personal manifesto, Vignelli: From A to Z, is, quite simply, a beautiful book. It is perfectly laid out from cover to cover with nice fonts and clear pictures. That said, I do not love everything within his little book of self-praise. I think that in some cases his attempt to create something modern and timeless appears goofy and dated. His furniture designs and brief foray into clothing are less successful than most of his work. Although Vignelli would certainly disagree with me, I think it is possible for something to be too modern. Vignelli’s love affair with modernity can, at times, oversimplify things. In an interview with Eye Magazine earlier this year Vignelli said, “We [Vignneli Associates] are systematic, logical and objective – not trendy. Trends kill the soul of design. Modernism took out all the junk, and postmodernism put it all back in.” Particularly in an age where planned obsolescence and fleeting trends are the norm, I appreciate a designer so

dedicated to his work and creating lasting designs. I agree that too often projects are executed without any forethought, for example, in fashion and architecture. While I value his aesthetic and his extreme self-confidence, I find that he often makes very sweeping statements that oversimplify the difference between “bad” and “good” design. I do not think that modernism is the end-all be-all of good design, and I also think there is room for more than 12 fonts in the world.

tillem

“ If you do it right, it will last forever.”

| phoebe

Vignelli’s use of primary colors, clean lines, and classic fonts create designs that are consistently beautiful and become classic in their own right. If I could sum up Vignelli in just one of his many quotes, it would be,

massimo vignelli

Although now 81 years old and looking back on a career of over five decades, Vignelli has adapted well to the shift towards digital in today’s design world. Vignelli hardly sounds sentimental, for although he described the book as a dead object, with its static fonts and images, he thinks that there is a need for graphic designers now more than ever. The past 50 years of graphic design have paved the way for designers today to take full advantage of the computer and escalate their designs to the next level; Vignelli Associates plans on being a part of this movement. Vignelli approaches his designs like a craftsman, with the intent to create something that will last, all the while giving it a modern twist.

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Cultural Identity Essay by Veronica Cabanayan

| veronica cabanayan

This project has been one of the most interesting and enlightening experiences that I’ve ever taken part in. I loved being able to communicate and share my world with Mariam while learning more about hers. Maybe someday I’ll be able to visit Dubai myself and eat at the restaurants that Mariam took photos of. For now, I hope to continue to keep in touch with a new friend.

exchange

We marveled at each other’s photo narratives. While my photos outlined a shopping trip to Union Square, hers described a dinner at an Emirati restaurant. The juxtaposition seen in her photos between the

Westerners often view the Middle East as a world apart from our own, but we’re a lot more similar than many people would perhaps like to admit. It’s true that the UAE has an official religion (in fact, when I first e-mailed Mariam, she was on break for the end of Ramadan) and is a fairly young country, but is this really so much different from the United States? After all, don’t we also give our students Christmas and Easter break and celebrate our own 236 years of independence? Between my narrative and Mariam’s, the only difference was our choice of location and the language on our signs.

| dubai

Her first e-mail was one of kindness and excitement. Although it was fifteen days early and we had only just met, she sent me a birthday message, saying, “Just remember someday that I am the first one to tell you ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’!” She was, indeed, the very first to wish me a happy birthday. It was one of the sweetest things anyone’s ever said to me upon introduction.

waiters’ traditional dress and American-produced food was comical at first, but I think it’s really telling of Emirati and Dubai culture on a whole.

identity design

hen I first emailed my design partner, I didn’t know much about Dubai. I knew basic information—things like what country it was in (the United Arab Emirates) and how expensive it is to live there (very). Most of what I knew was based on what I had seen in Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol, which, clearly, isn’t a particularly good source of information. I wasn’t sure what kind of photos she was going to send me. A glittering cityscape? A gaping desert? Pictures of herself and her school?

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DUBAI PHOTO EXCHANGE by Matt Shea

O 38

ver the course of this last semester, I have been corresponding with Maitha, a design student in Dubai. I have enjoyed talking to her over email and learning about the culture in Dubai. In addition to exchanging photos to use in our design projects, we also shared stories about life in our respective cultures. I told her about what it was like living in San Francisco, and she told me about life in Dubai.

Likewise, many of the brands showcased in Maitha’s photos are famous brands in the United States as well, such as LG, Blackberry, and Tiffany & Co. However, there were also some important differences. For example, Maitha didn’t recognize my photo of a Best Buy store, because they don’t have Best Buy in Dubai. Similarly, there was a brand of chocolate candy in one of her photos that I didn’t recognize because we don’t have it in the U.S.

It was interesting learning about the differences in branding and identity design between our two countries. We found out several of the famous brands in my photographs are also well known in Dubai, such as McDonald’s, Subway, and Kodak.

Overall I really enjoyed corresponding with Maitha this semester. It was interesting to learn about branding and identity design from the perspective of someone who comes from another culture.

identity design

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| matt shea

Local Narratives Inspired by local design, a student from San Francisco and a student from Dubai tell two very different visual stories. IMAG ES A N D ES SAY BY PHOE B E TIL L E M A N D MA RYAM A BDU L L RA HMA N

ven in my brief correspondence with Maryam, her kind and welcoming personality came through. She described Rochester, Minnesota as “the most wonderful place to visit” and invited me to her upcoming wedding. I wish I could have spoken with her more and seen her projects, but she was understandably busy. We are both 22 years old and interested in design, but otherwise seemingly worlds apart. Culturally, we are in very different places. Her marriage being a perfect example, as that is not something I plan on doing for quite some time.

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| phoebe

I have not yet seen Maryam’s visual narrative from either her images or mine. I hope she sends them to me at some point, for I would be very interested in seeing them. I would also be interested to hear what she thought of mine. If she were to contact me in the future, I would love to learn more about her and her culture.

identity design

I am not exactly sure what Maryam’s design category was. She took pictures in a market in Dubai of items that appear to have more cultural significance than I think I understood from just looking at them (bottom row). I think it was meant to show me traditional designs that are a big part of Dubai’s visual rhetoric. I really enjoyed seeing her images; I got a sense of the bustling environment and vivid colors these marketplaces are known for. It was a bit awkward trying to create a visual narrative with her images. I felt like I did not know enough about them or Dubai culture to create one, but I did my best.

tillem

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editorial design

editorial design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

bradbury

cipe

chip

thompson by Ali Hampton

pineles by Han Bai

kidd

by Jean Karnow

cross-cultural response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Visual elements from typography, visual arts, and page layout are combined in a composition to represent the messages and ideas that the designer is trying to communicate.

Editorial Design Essay and images by Ali Hampton, Han Bai, and Jean Karnow

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Editorial design is made for public viewing and consumption given the nature of publication. In a marketing perspective, editorial design is crucial for any type of publication because it is often what catches the attention of a consumer. A magazine, book, or newspaper may contain the same information, but if one is not graphically appealing

editorial design

ditorial design is a category of graphic design in which a designer conveys a specific message in a publication— magazines, newspapers, books, and sometimes their online counterparts—to an audience through various visual elements. Visual elements from typography, visual arts, and page layout are combined in a composition to represent the messages and ideas that the designer is trying to communicate. One designer described editorial design as “a visual support to the content and subject of [an] article,” or even a book for that matter.

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or successful in conveying its visual message, readers are less likely to purchase it. According to the “Design Is History” website, editorial design is “one of largest employers of graphic designers.” Because of the range of publication subjects and target audiences, designers of various specialties work in the editorial design field. One of biggest differences within the field of editorial design is between book and magazine/newspaper design—while books are often created during a longer time frame, magazines and newspapers need to meet regular press deadlines, which are usually much shorter. Despite the contrast of publication deadlines, all editorial design projects “demand rigorous applications of grid layouts and the establishment of visual hierarchies in order to keep reader entertained” (Editorial Design). According to “Magazine Layout elements principles,” the task of publication designers is using design principles and elements, and combining them with words and imagery to achieve a publication purpose. After authors or contributors finish their writing and editing, publication designers start to work with their words to convey a publication’s goal, such as entertainment or persuasion (Evans 20). To achieve their publication’s purpose, designers manage the design process by creating a variety of visual elements, including page layout, typography, and imagery.

In the past, page layout involved physically arranging elements—such as text and photographs—to create the exact layout of page. Today, designers use different kinds of software to arrange digital files on the computer. Page layout is also called “desktop publishing” today. Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Publisher, and QuarkXpress are all commonly used desktop publishing software. The process of publication design is the process of designing communications with an audience in mind. Jacci Howard Bear, a graphic designer, writer and artist, explains the basic process of designing a page layout. Before starting to put every element on the page, designers might make a plan and do some sketching. Then they might create (or select) the right type of template for their project. For instance, the template for a magazine is different from that of a newspaper. After this, designers place text into their layout document, and begin formatting their text by working with different typefaces, spacing, and styles of type. It is important to use appropriate typography for the project. For example, the typography of the New York Times is different from that of Vogue. The next process is the placement of imagery. Choosing images is essential for publication designs. For example, the choice of images for magazines is different from for that of newspapers. Much of magazine photography is heavily edited, which tends to make magazines look luxurious, while

newspaper uphold photo journalistic standards and show their readers the facts without editing. The placement of text and images together is precise, ordered, and aesthetic. After arranging elements on the page, designers create PDFs to check and revise original arrangements. After the final rounds of revisions, the publication is ready to be printed. Editorial design also plays an important role in both commerce and society. There are many fields created by editorial design, such as book design, newspaper publication, and magazine design. Editorial design is a form of visual storytelling, a visual conversation which effectively communicates the message through text and images. Good editorial design ensures that every word on the page is read. The importance of editorial design appears to the public especially when significant messages need to be delivered. In addition, editorial design can improve people’s interest in reading. Books are still valued in today’s Internet-oriented society; they are the soul of knowledge and are often more reliable than the Internet. However, to compete with the ease and accessibility of the Internet, publication designers aim to make books look special and fascinating. Varying page layouts and inserting photography are key to contemporary book design, in order to keep readers interested in the material. Editorial design also has commercial significance. Magazines and books boast creative covers to catch readers’ attention and encourage them to purchase—and read—them. Magazines also often

Books are still valued in today’s Internet-oriented society; they are the soul of knowledge and are often more reliable than the Internet. 47

try to convince people to buy certain products, too. Editorial designers use shapes, colors, arrangement, and they highlight the advantage of the product. Therefore, editorial design is respected by the public and widely used to reach the commercial target.

Page layout is also called “desktop publishing” today. Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Publisher, and QuarkXpress are commonly used desktop publishing software. The placement of text and pictures is precise, ordered, and aesthetic.

M o n d a y, N o v e m b e r 1 9 , 2 0 1 2

A very famous example of editorial design in San Francisco is Thrasher Magazine. Thrasher is mainly a skateboarding magazine, but it also covers many other topics such as art, travel, and music. Kevin Thatcher, Fausto Vitello and Eric Swenson started Thrasher in 1981. Fausto Vitello passed away in 2006 and now his son, Tony, has taken over his spot heading up Thrasher.

EDITORIAL The task of publication designers is using design principles and elements, and combining them with words and imager y to achieve a publication purpose such us to entertain, to inform, or to persuade.

The process of editorial design

Visual Elements To achieve a publication’s purpose, designers manage the design process by creating visual elements including typography, page layout, illustration and art.

Good editorial design ensures that every word on the page is read. 48

Thrasher is published by High Speed Productions in San Francisco, and based in Hunters Point. Jean Karnow spoke to her friends who work in editorial design, Chelsea Scalan and Claire Armstrong about working for Thrasher Magazine. Scalan is in charge of subscriptions, and Armstrong is a former intern. Armstrong did a lot of work with Photoshop, helping to put together photo spreads for issues and the website. She did mostly realistic photo editing, because at Thrasher they are more concerned with “capturing the action of the photograph than if the skater looks oily or washed out.” Sometimes, though, she would be asked to do airbrushing. She remembers a certain King of the Road skater who she had to work extensively on because of “some intense, gnarly acne.”

During the interview, when Armstrong referenced this Photoshop project, Scalan started laughing really hard, exclaiming, â&#x20AC;&#x153;You had to stay late all week!â&#x20AC;? Armstrong explained that the times photo editing got ethically iffy for her was when she would make a composite image, moving the skater--in midair during a trick-onto a different background, or making it appear that he was higher off the ground. She is quick to note

that this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a common practice, but usually used for the cover of the magazine in order to make it look compositionally sound. She also worked with Illustrator to make text to go with images, and added that into the photos. In conclusion, editorial design is used toward myriad goals. Books, newspapers, magazines, and other publications all reach different audiences with varied design techniques and approaches. editorial design

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From humble beginnings in Topeka, Kansas, American graphic designer

Bradbury Thompson has influenced not only the world of graphic design, but also millions of people through his vast range of work. Thompson is a pioneer in modern graphic design that maintained an appreciation for the past and fundamental design principles. The variety and success of his work is proof that Thompson had â&#x20AC;&#x153;a career

| ali hampton

Essay and Images by Ali Hampton

bradbury thompson

dedicated to the art of communication.â&#x20AC;?

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“Stamps are a visual haiku, distilling a great deal of history, emotion and information.” —Bradbury Thompson First Impressions of Bradbury Thompson The first time I saw Bradbury Thompson’s work, I was captivated by Thompson’s unique style. Although I had only seen a couple of his pieces, I was drawn to his juxtaposition of bold colors, use of repetition, and old-fashioned illustrations. What also left an impression on me was the range of graphic design work he produced—from magazines to stamps to books to typography, it seems there wasn’t anything in the field of design that Thompson didn’t explore. Only after I researched his biography did I realize how influential Thompson was in the design world and how the artists and designers he collaborated with throughout his career influenced his work.

Background and Design Career

In addition to Westvaco Inspirations, Art News, and Art News Annual, the “father of modern magazine design” designed for magazines including: Smithsonian, Harvard Business Review, Progressive Architecture, and Mademoiselle. Working with magazines allowed Thompson to collaborate with publishers, editors, writers, photographers, and artists, who all influenced and inspired his design.

| ali hampton

Through his work at Westvaco Inspirations, Thompson was able to visually display design principles used “to guide the work of the next generation of designers.” He continued his influence on young designers when he began teaching design at Yale in 1956. By the 1960s Thompson was also working at the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, where he collaborated with J. Carter Brown, the Director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Brown considers Thompson to be the “most prolific of American stamp designers” because of his extensive design contributions to the United States Postal Service

bradbury thompson

Born in Topeka in 1911, Bradbury Thompson lived in Kansas throughout his childhood and college career. He studied economics at Washburn College where he graduated in 1934. After graduation, Thompson learned printing production at Capper Publications. By late 1938, Thompson was offered his first commission for Westvaco Inspirations and moved to New York. When Thompson began work at Westvaco, the magazine’s design had an “old-fashioned flavor…but there was nothing old-fashioned about its form and content; under Thompson’s direction it became of the leading

avant-garde publication in the field.” Thompson was able to take major design risks with the new spirit of innovation fostered by the Second World War. For example, the layout of adjacent pages moved from an isolated single-page layout to a unified two-page spread. With this “revolution in printing,” Thompson’s modern style was also seen throughout Art News magazine and Art News Annual, where he worked as the design director.

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of over ninety stamp designs. Thompson believes “stamps are a visual haiku, distilling a great deal of history, emotion, and information.” He also states that with over “twenty million collectors and more than forty billion stamps printed each year [even though] the art is small, the audience and its expectations are large.” Thompson’s stamps are probably the most widespread and popularly seen pieces of work by people outside of the design world. Since “one of his first loves is the design of books,” Thompson was involved with several book designs, including The Tales of Edgar Allen Poe and Thomas Jefferson. He is best known for designing the Washburn College Bible, where he collaborated

with various designers and artists, including Bauhaus painter Josef Albers (whom he later paid tribute to with the stamp Homage to the Square, ten years after Albers’ death). Yale colleague, Alvin Eisenman, stated that the Washburn College Bible “was the climax of a revolution against the tyranny of Gutenberg’s perfect rectangles, which had dominated Western texts since 1455.” This piece of Thompson’s work not only displays his design innovation of a traditional, world-known book, but also his rigorous work ethic. Of Thompson’s many design endeavors, last, but not the least is his work with typography. From 1944 to 1945, Thompson experimented with the Monalphabet, influenced by an early Bauhaus model, which reduced the amount of alphabet symbols from forty-five symbols to twenty-six. Five years later, Thompson revisited the idea of an alphabet with only twenty-six symbols with Alphabet 26. Alphabet 26 is based off of the Baskerville font, with only the letters a, e, m, and n, shown in lowercase, but the same height as the remaining twenty-two letters’ cap height. The remaining twenty-two letters are uppercase. Thompson explored this concept of a “biform” alphabet when he observed that his son had a difficult time reading due to the symbol change from uppercase to lowercase for many of the alphabet’s letters. By only having one symbol to represent each letter of the alphabet, like Alphabet 26, research has shown that children are able to read text easier due to having fewer symbols to recognize.

Thoughts on the Designer and His Work Known as “Brad” by his numerous colleagues, Thompson is described as “quintessentially modest,” a “quiet, self-depreciating individual,” who through “his generosity in sharing his discoveries… make both his teaching and his work as a designer so remarkable.” Eisenman refers to Thompson as a “bold young designer from Topeka” whose passion for design displays Thompson’s natural talent and design “intuition.” Innovative also defines Thompson’s design character—while often working within a limited budget, Thompson made printing choices, like an enlarged halftone screen, to become an element in his work. One of the qualities that made Thompson successful throughout his career was his ability to think critically and create solutions to the design problems he encountered.

| ali hampton

[His] passion for design displays Thompson’s natural talent and design “intuition.”

bradbury thompson

As described before, Thompson’s work in many areas of design influenced both the design world and the general public. Through sending or receiving a letter, one could encounter a Bradbury Thompson stamp. By flipping through a magazine publication, anyone from an architect to a housewife can experience the visual juxtaposition of Thompson’s modern style. What is exceptional about Thompson as a designer was his ability to create designs that are still comprehensible to those who may or may not be literate in design principles, history, and philosophy.

Unlike other modernist graphic designers who shunned past design work when exploring modern design, Thompson is known for understanding the past and using it as not only an inspiration for his work, but also as a design element. Many of Thompson’s pieces consist of basic color blocking with simple shapes, often using translucencies and layers to create more complex shapes and colors. Integrated with the colored shapes are illustrations, either in black and white or an array of colors and shading. What strengthens the visual message that Thompson is trying to communicate is his ability to give each element (colors, shapes, pictures, text, layout) in his work more than one purpose. For example, Thompson’s Westvaco Inspirations for Printers piece, “Liberty,” integrates an engraved illustration of a bell tower with overlapping shapes of the liberty bell. The liberty bell shapes are in different transparent CMYK colors, placed at various angles to create both a second layer of colors where the bells overlap and the illusion that the bell is in a swinging motion. Thompson creates his signature juxtaposition of using an old-fashioned black and white illustration with the simple color blocking of shapes. In addition, Thompson uses type to connect the two-page spread together. On the right page (with the swinging bell) are the letters b, e, t, and y, from the word “liberty,” placed on each corner of the page. The letters seem to anchor the page and fill the

negative space of the corners without taking away from the main graphic image of the bell. Another interesting piece by Thompson is his twopage magazine spread on “The Art of Astronomy.” Similar to “Liberty,” he uses a combination of black and white illustrations with color blocking. Thompson uses those elements, plus the use of only four lines to connect the two pages together, as well as creating a visual cue for the reader to follow from the left to right page. The two sets of two lines also emphasize a visual illusion. One end of the line connects to an object in the foreground, whereas the other end connects to an image in the background. Although the lines look flat independently on the pages, when they connect the two images, they begin to appear three-dimensional. Thompson also creates a sense of playfulness in the way he shifts around the lines of text, instead of keeping them aligned left or right. The lines’ shifting on the horizontal grid seems to mimic the placement of the stars that are shown above the body of text.

Lasting Impressions Bradbury Thompson passed away in 1995, but his work continues to inspire designers today. Through his countless editorial and publication works, Thompson successfully communicated ideas to his various audiences, while maintaining his own unique modern style. Thompson will remain one of graphic design’s most innovative, admired, and influential designers for past, present, and future graphic designers. 56

Thompson is known past and using it as not only an inspiration for

hampton

design element.

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his work, but also as a

bradbury thompson

for understanding the

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Illumination of American Editorial Design Essay and images by Han Bai

bai

Besides her contributions as an art director, Pineles was also a graphic designer, working for Lincoln Center and other clients. She also taught at Parsons School of Design and was also a director of publication design there. Pineles was married to William Golden from 1939 until he died in 1959. Golden was an American graphic designer who

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Through the 1930s to 1950s, Pineles made major contributions to editorial design such as becoming the art director of Glamour, Seventeen, Charm, and Mademoiselle.

Cipe Pineles broke the stronghold of the malegoverned professional design community. She was the first magazine art director to employ fine artists, which brought the best artwork to their readers. Pineles was also the first woman asked to join New York Art Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Club and later its Hall of Fame. cipe pineles

Austrian-born Cipe Pineles illuminated the 1940sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; mass-market American editorial field as a graphic designer and art director. Born in Vienna in 1908, she came to America when she was 13 years and went to high school in Brooklyn. Pineles won a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Scholarship while attending Pratt Institute. She started her graphic design career when she worked as an assistant in the office of M.F. Agha.

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Pineles was born in Vienna in 1908 and came to America when she was 13 years old, then went to high school in Brooklyn. was famous for his identity work, particularly the CBS eye logo. From 1961–1972, Pineles was married to Will Burtin. Burtin was an art director at Fortune and a graphic designer who worked for clients such as Union Carbride, Eastman Kodak, The Smithsonian, and Upjohn. Cipe Pineles’s life was full of special stories. Her father was involved with the avant-garde movement and the Polish Jewish renaissance, which associated with political and philosophical discussion. Although her father died before she became a teenager, her mother, Bertha Pineles, was capable of leading her family. I think that the influence of her mother is one of the reasons that Pineles became a successful woman, because her mother was an independent woman who raised the whole family alone. Pineles lived in a middle-class Jewish family in eastern Europe before World War I. The Bolshevik invasion destroyed their town. Like other immigrants in the early 20th century, her family came to America to search for a better life. After arriving in America, Pineles and her sister attended Bay Ridge High School. Pineles’ artistic talent was evident from an early age, and thanks to supportive 60

teachers at Bay Ridge, her artistic activities received public acclaim: For example, one of her artworks was published in the local newspaper. After graduated from Pratt Institute in 1929, Pineles spent ten years doing still life painting. Then, she became an assistant in the office of M.F. Agha, while she learned to how to become an editorial designer and an art director. During the early 1930s, Condé Nast innovated the field of magazine publication with the introduction of European Modernism in magazine design. Some of the characteristic new design features included simple, clean typography, such as the Futura type family. Compared to the previous standard of headlines that appear at the beginning of the text, Nast’s headlines and text could be anywhere on the page. Photography became more important than fashion illustration and was enlarged on the page, occupying a majority of the page without boundary. In 1947, Pineles became the art director of the three-year-old Seventeen magazine. Pineles saw this position as an opportunity to educate teenage girls, and used the best contemporary artwork available to illustrate fashion. Her innovation of using fine art and modern art in publication was significant. It brought fine art to a young audience and brought artists into the commercial world. In 1950, Pineles started to work for Charm as an art director. The content of Charm not only included illustrated fashion, but also showed that women were involved in the wider world.

cipe pineles

| han bai

Issues of Charm displayed fashion in different contexts and occasions: the office, commuting, lunch-hour and shopping. Pineles arranged for fashion shoots with backdrops of modern architecture and modern industry designs, which showed the idea of women involving in the wider world. In the January 1954 issue, for example, the unification of the parking garage image and a woman in working uniform showed the connection between women and society. As an art director, Cipe Pineles also liked to work with concepts and materials outside of fashion such as food, used objects, and furniture. She devised a fresh approach to potatoes, because she was tired of color food photos. While people thought that potatoes were too ugly to work with, she painted potatoes on a double-page size paper for eighteen hours. This project was inspired by Bill, who was the greatest appreciator of her food art. The project also helped her to win an Art Directors Club gold medal.

One 1949 cover design consists of the title and the simple reflected image of a woman. The combination of the typography and the mirrorimage picture creates a graphic liveliness. On the cover, the woman on the top wears a deep blue dress and has a broad smile. A red striped umbrella sits to her right. The handle of the umbrella is hidden behind her thigh. Her reflection below wears the same dress, but with a chuckle. The umbrella is on the left, and the handle of the umbrella is in front of her thigh. Through the diagonal direction between the umbrella handle and the woman’s hand, it looks like the woman on the top holds the umbrella on the bottom, while the woman on the bottom associates with the umbrella on the top. The dark blue dresses on both women respond

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I am interested in Cipe Pineles because she achieved several “firsts” as a woman: the first

female art director in the New York publication and first one who started to use fine art to illustrate publications. Her works show her talent and ability to create and manage. Her designs are simple but have many subtle details. The typography on the cover of Seventeen is Arsis Regular Italic, which was designed by Gerry Powell in 1937. It is a modern, elegant, formal, and feminine typeface.

cipe pineles

Pindeles also taught students at Parsons School of Design. Her student, Melissa Tardiff, art director of Town and Country in the ‘80s, said that Pineles taught her students to think from the content instead of what would look pretty on the page. According to AIGA, “Using students, faculty, and others to supply art and photography, Pineles established a strong, colorful, often amusing and varied visual identity for the school.”

She was the first female art director in the New York publication and first one who started to use fine art to illustrate publications.

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...the delicate features of Pineles’ designs are hidden rewards for those people who take their time to observe her work. to the black color of the magazine’s title. At the same time, the red striped umbrellas, which sit on the left side of the cover, help to achieve harmony. The magazine cover displays the Gestalt theory, which different elements are unified to be read as the whole image. Even though most people don’t study magazines’ covers in great depth, the delicate features of Pineles’ magazines’ covers are hidden rewards for those people who take their time to observe her works.

cipe pineles

Cipe Pineles, one of the greatest female designers of the mid-nineteenth century, showed her talent in both creation and management. She educated American teenagers with the best contemporary artwork in Seventeen. She led women to discover themselves through Charm magazine. She also taught her students to think about works’ content first rather than their appearance. In these various ways, Cipe Pineles illuminated the fields of editorial design since 1908.

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Chip Kidd: Editorial Designer

Images and essay by Jean Karnow

Author Veronique Vienne describes Chip Kidd as â&#x20AC;&#x153;an employee who gets more publicity than his employer,â&#x20AC;? and this is descriptive of his success and celebrity in the graphic design world.

chip kidd

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hip Kidd is an American contemporary designer who draws inspiration from American ephemera and pop culture. He is associate art director at Knopf, where he has worked since 1986 in addition to his freelance projects. In addition to designing book covers, he has published two novels, The Cheese Monkeys and The Learners. The Cheese Monkeys is semi-autobiographical, pulling from his time as an art student at Penn State. The Learners applies the principles of the Milgram experiments to advertising. He also has an alternative rock band called Artbreak. Kidd is a huge Batman fan, has worked on many Batman-related projects, and at New York Comic Con in 2011 he announced plans for a Batman graphic novel.

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After Kidd graduated from Penn State, he went to work in the art department at Knopf. Kidd describes the era as a time “... when books were replacing the covers of record albums as the cool, neat thing for graphic designers.” The jewel case for a CD “is not conducive to a bold, visual style,” explains Kidd, and music videos had begun to replace album covers as visual statements for musicians.

is very simple: a serif font on a white background, but the effect is powerful and attention grabbing. He describes his creative process as “pretty simple, unless it becomes complicated.” First, he reads the book for which he is designing the cover. Sometimes

Chip Kidd’s most controversial cover was for The New Testament by Richmond Lattimore. He uses an Andres Serrano photograph, Murder Victim Number Five in the bottom half of the design. The photograph itself is graphic and violent, but it was Andres Serrano’s reputation from Piss Christ that made religious bookstores refuse to carry the book until the publisher re-released the book with a different, less controversial cover design—one which Chip Kidd did not have any part in designing.

Chip Kidd describes his creative process as “pretty simple, unless it becomes complicated.”

| jean karnow

David Sedaris is one of my favorite authors, and Chip Kidd has designed many of his book jackets. For his book Naked, Kidd uses a photograph of a pair of white boxers on the outside of the cover, and opening the jacket, reveals an x-ray of a pelvis of the same scale. In an interview for Say Hi to Design, Chip Kidd divulged that “Sedaris confided in Chip that his favourite aspect of the design is that when asked for autographs,

chip kidd

Author Veronique Vienne describes Chip Kidd as “an employee who gets more publicity than his employer,” and this is descriptive of his success and celebrity in the graphic design world. Kidd’s book covers often feature large text over a photographic image or an illustration done by Kidd himself. His covers avoid being literal about the content of the books, and often adopt a cheeky attitude. For example, for the cover of Dry by Augusten Burroughs, Kidd designed a cover that appears to be soaked through. The cover

he brings in photographers, illustrators, or other artists—but often he works alone. It can take Kidd anywhere “from 10 minutes to six months” to finalize a design concept: “I read it, I brood, then eventually respond. Along the way, I may or may not involve photographers or illustrators or any amount of ephemeral detritus that washes up on my shores in the pursuit of solving the problem. And that is what it always amounts to: visually solving a problem.” It is a problem—how does one represent an entire book with one image? But Kidd manages to do it again and again.

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he takes off the jacket and draws a penis on the x-ray.” My favorite jacket design is for Nothing If Not Critical by Robert Hughes. It is a collection of essays on art, and rather than simply choosing one painting to put on the cover, Kidd challenges the usual art book recipe. The cover is an image of the back of a painting, with the title and author emblazoned on the back of the canvas, mimicking a common approach artists use to sign and title a work. This cover is clever because Kidd avoids favoring one particular artist in the book, and he also piques the reader’s curiosity to learn what’s on the other side of the canvas.

incredibly smart and witty, and it’s a pleasure to hear about his creative process. In an interview for Batman: Death by Design with Nick Gazin of Vice Magazine, Kidd shows the wide range of influences he pulls from for his designs. He explains how he and the comic artist, Dave Taylor, designed the Joker and “made him into a villain from a German Expressionist silent film,

design. The protagonist Happy is loosely based on Chip Kidd’s actual experience going to school at Penn State, but of course liberties were taken to make the story more interesting and to protect the innocent. Happy is a likeable character—sarcastic, cynical and witty, he guides the reader through the book with his acute observations about college life. The book is divided into chapters named according to the part of the school year or class: Registration, Art 101: Introduction to Drawing, Winter Break, Art 127: Introduction to Commercial Art, The First Critique, etc.

Chip Kidd divulged that “Sedaris confided in Chip that his favourite aspect of the design is that when asked for autographs, he takes off the jacket and draws a penis on the x-ray.”

In interviews with Chip Kidd, his impressive intellect really shines. His TED talk is especially engaging and silly due to his flamboyant and quirky personality. He is 70

which delighted [Chip Kidd].” Kidd often uses art historical references in his designs, adding that extra element of interest to his book covers. I read The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd. It is about a college freshman nicknamed Happy who majors in art, and by the end of the novel finds his calling in

After finding drawing class less than stellar, Happy finds his calling in Introduction to Commercial Art, which Professor Winter Sorbeck prefers to call Introduction to Graphic Design. Winter Sorbeck is a tough critic, and based on an actual professor Chip Kidd had in college— information I gleaned from his

chip kidd

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TED talk. His rough exterior is cracked open at one point when Happy has to take him home from a local bar because he is too drunk to function, and Happy takes the opportunity to photograph his professor naked, while he is passed out cold. Happy then attempts to blackmail Winter with one of these photos, but alas, it blows up in Happy’s face and he is humiliated.

throwing away a gum wrapper in class, Happy is given the strange homework assignment of finding out what designer invented the design for the Doublemint gum wrapper. This was in the days before the internet, so after a long night of phone calls and dead ends, he finally discovers it was none other than Professor Winter

there was a one-page quick tip for graphic design, written in the voice of the character of Professor Winter Sorbeck but lending helpful hints from Chip Kidd’s experience. I especially liked these pages because I kept the tips in mind while doing my assignments for this Visual Communication class!

Professor Sorbeck was creative with assignments, forcing his students to stand by the side of the road in the dead of winter with only a sign they created with a pen and paper to save them from certain death.

Professor Winter Sorbeck ends up being very creative with his assignments, at one point forcing his students to stand by the side of the road in the dead of winter with only a sign they created with a pen and paper to save them from certain death. Some examples of students’ signs read: “I am not armed,” “S.O.S! Sorority Prank!” and “Ask Me Why I’m Here.” One day in class, after nearly having his throat ripped out for 72

Sorbeck himself. This epiphany is meant to somewhat explain Winter’s sad, angry behavior because now we understand him as an underappreciated and failed graphic designer. I thought The Cheese Monkeys was a great book, and it shows that Chip Kidd is not only a talented graphic designer, but also a great writer and storyteller. In between every chapter,

Chip Kidd’s book cover designs are multidimensional and engaging. Kidd is such a successful graphic designer because he has so many diverse interests that he pursues while designing: music, writing, collecting memorabilia and freelancing. His experiences allow him to think of unexpected images that resonate with audiences and transform book jackets into stand-alone art pieces.

chip kidd

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Photo Swap

Photos by Shemma and Han

The partner’s culture exchange is very interesting for me because it is a great opportunity for me to “experience” editorial design category in Dubai. My partner’s name is Shemma, she is a lovely girl who is majoring in visual arts in Zayed University. The favorite quote I‘ve received from her is, “at some point I got a story of someone—probably you—that 74

wants to create or start her own business as a major magazine company,” because I didn’t realize that the designer of my narrative was about myself until she mentioned to me. After our conversations, I tended to think that the designer of my story was myself, which gave me more new ideas about my project. From my partner’s photos, I learned that books are an important part of editorial design, because books were the main factor in her photos. Since her photos involved different kinds of books, I am thinking of using her photos as some of

pleasant conversations. Also, we might visit each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s country in the future. Besides these, I also learned that communication can encourage people to get innovative ideas.

identity design

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ideas that the designer of my story gets from her colleague. My partnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s narrative is about a day in the life of a designer, who is buying books from a bookstore and reading them at home. After I got her photos, the first thought that came to mind was what she intended to describe. Her photos are very clear in terms of the story she is trying to tell. The project and correspondence make me think more about the audience of my project. I think we will continue to keep in touch because I think that she is a girl of many creative ideas, and we had very

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Dubai Partner Exchange

Amna Mohamed and Jean Karnow

When I began my email correspondence with my partner from Dubai, I didn’t know if I would be able to communicate very clearly with her. I learned that it’s fun to share cross-cultural stories with another woman my age. It made the world feel smaller, and broke certain cultural stereotypes. My perception of my partner’s culture changed because I had the opportunity to ask her questions about her life and the choices she makes, rather than simply make assumptions. Creating a narrative from my partner’s photos was easy, and her visual narrative brought up a question regarding representation of the self, which led to my favorite quote from her emails to me.

My partner had a lot of great quotes in her emails to me, but my favorite was when I asked her why she didn’t show her subject’s face in any of her photos. She responded, “here in UAE almost families do not allows their daughters to put their images that shows their faces in the internet because there are lots of company or bad boys can use them in unsuitable way in UAE the girls’ reputation should not be harmed or hurt (we are expensive jewelries) xP” I would be open to keeping in touch with my partner. We lead very different lives, especially in terms of our cultural values, but it’s fascinating for me to hear about her life and I hope she feels the same way about me. identity design

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Not So Different After All Ali Hampton + Vanessa Surour

Through my photographic narrative correspondence with my Dubai partner, Vanessa Surour, I have realized that although we live in very different parts of the world, there are similarities in culture and editorial design. From the pictures Vanessa took at a mall in Dubai, I was able to create a narrative of a person who is shopping at a bookstore to buy their friend a birthday gift. I realized the 78

act of going to the mall to buy a gift is a normal act in both our cultures, as well as the act of gift giving for special events, like birthdays. I was surprised to find from Vanessa’s mall pictures, that their shopping centers are very westernized—she even took most of her photos at Borders bookstore! The only cultural differences I noticed from some of the mall photos were of the women’s clothing. Although many of the people in the mall were dressed in a westernized fashion, there were some women who were completely covered wearing their jihab. I think through American interaction and technology, our cultures have been able to bridge some cultural gaps, which is evident through Vanessa’s photos and the editorial design that was displayed in them.

exchange

Other than that, our e-mail correspondence was interesting and I enjoyed learning not only more about editorial design on her side of the globe, but also how similar our cultures are despite previous assumptions.

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I replied, “I am interested in interior design (that is what I want to pursue for graduate school), photography, food/cooking, and environmental studies.” Towards the end of the semester Vanessa unfortunately stopped

replying to my e-mails. It may partially be my fault since I described how the San Francisco Giants won the World Series in October and how people were jumping on top of public transportation buses around the city. This story must have either confused her or freaked her out…

identity design

Other than our narrative correspondence, I was able to learn more about Vanessa’s personal interests and background. Through a few of our e-mails I found out that we are both part Filipino—she is half Filipino (she spells it “Philippino”) and half Emirati. My favorite quote from one of her e-mails was, “My interests are philosophy, metaphysics, astrology, illustration, arts, psychology and history.” It is my favorite quote because her interests seem so deep compared to mine.

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poster design

poster design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

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lissitzky by Victoria House

plakken by Alexa Ferrer

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henrion by Brian Riley

cross-cultural response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

[Poster] Over time, the typical design of a poster has evolved. From common designs of Henri de ToulouseLautrec to El Lissitzky to Shepard Fairey, poster as we know it has an extensive history. However, the uses for it have very much stayed the same. Posters can represent

advertisements, iconography, & information. 82

Further, designers have utilized specific methods to capture a large audienceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention. Most noticeably methods of

Poster: the art of the public voice

Story and Images by Alexa Ferrer & Victoria House

What is being communicated is entirely up to the creator, however, it is not always certain that the viewer will always understand what is intended.

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For over two hundred years, posters have been displayed in public places all over the world. Visually striking, they have been designed to attract the attention of passers-by, making us aware of a political viewpoint,

poster design

There are many different views on what poster prints entail. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a poster is: “A bill or placard for posting often in a public place; especially : one that is decorative or pictorial.” Posters are used as a way to frequently repeat an idea or impression to a large and diverse group of people. Marketing strategists repeatedly use this print method as a way to advertise products, as well as political groups do with their propaganda, fans with their fandom, and nowadays artists with their art. Most often seen on public walls or street posts, posters allow one to communicate to others through a certain assemblage of images and text. What is being communicated is entirely up to the creator, however, it is not always certain that the viewer will always understand what was intended. Due to the purpose of posters, they are often designed in a way so that viewers are drawn to them and take time to digest what is being said. As described by the dictionary definition: they are “decorative,” and over the years specific methods are utilized to attract as much of an audience as possible. Max Gallo, a French historian active in politics, wrote historically about poster:

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[Process] What once started as a process of something completely hand-drawn has now evolved to sophisticated imaging software, allowing designers to manipulate photos, text and graphics and scan handmade graphics directly to the computer, bringing a flat surface to life. Processes such as chromolithography* and lithography* sped up the process of printing, introducing the option of mass production.

Color

=[C+M+Y+K]

The CMYK color scheme is used as the standard in lithography printing. This standard printing process tells the printer to digitally select which color of ink to use based on the image loaded into the computer. When the poster exits the printer, it is dried by heated cylinders in seconds.

enticing us to attend specific events, or encouraging us to purchase a particular product or service. (Gallo, 2002) As explained by Gallo, they are versatile, and in being so they have various different backgrounds.

Modernly, repetitions of the same design can be seen everywhere, however, posters can also be custom-made. Due to the sudden boom of public art, poster prints are deemed a lot more attainable and the creation varies. Although, lithography is still a method in which one creates posters and art, generally, the modern world uses types of printers like inkjet, laser, and most recently: 3D. The word “poster” typically refers to a print hung up on the wall, however, how it is “printed” and “hung up” is not always uniformed.

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In the 1980s, poster art had much success in widespread usage in most parts of Europe, advertising everything from plays to exhibitions. Advertisement posters became a special type of graphic art in the modern age. Poster art changed magazines for advertising as well as for social and political commentary. However, over in the United States, posters did not evolve to the same artistic level as they had in Europe. Posters in America were typically directed towards basic commercial needs to deliver a written

poster design

Over the years the process in which posters are made and designed has evolved drastically. What once started as a process of something done completely by hand began growing rapidly when innovations in lithography and printing enabled designers to mass-produce their creations. Lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder in 1796. The method is based on the principle that water repels grease. This is done by drawing an image onto an oily substance on a lithographic stone and then transferring the image in ink onto a sheet of paper. “From its early days, lithography was used for the reproduction of works of art as well as for music. The famous Specimens of Polyautography (London, 1803) is an example of the delicacy of this new medium and the inspiration it could give to artists.” Referred by Alec King in his writing of Senefelder’s creation of lithography, “Specimens of Polyautography” is a collection of such prints. The assortment created much buzz and began to be seen as the future of art, especially in terms of print. Shortly, the invention of lithography was followed up by chromolithography, which allowed for mass creations of posters illustrated in vibrant colors to be printed. Because of these sophisticated printing methods, soon cities such as Paris, were being called the “art galleries of the street.” Also, artists such as, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec started the shift

in which posters were seen as a more decorative form than what was previously known. Although he created his posters for the advertising use of the Moulin Rouge, his work commemorates the start of beauty seen in such pieces. (Ash, 1991) Similarly, artists like Frank Newbould, El Lissitzky, Gunter Rambow, and more contemporary ones like Shepard Fairey and Paula Scher all have a place in art history because of their innovations in poster. This art form gives the opportunity to all artists to display work publicly and, therefore, gain notoriety based on communal viewership.

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In the 1980s, poster art had much success in widespread usage in most parts of Europe, advertising everything from plays to exhibitions. message. When travelling circus’ started to become very popular, the United States began taking advantage of the use of artistic posters. But these, too, were very commercially bland, and lacked in creativity. Today, posters are essential for commercial use and advertising. Without them, some people may not know of various events going on such as concerts, plays, art galleries, political happenings and much more. Then over time, as certain posters become older in age, they gain a vintage quality. In turn, they become wanted for its collectible value. An example of work was created for a San Francisco Opera piece entitled “Nixon in China.” This was the poster of the opera that kicked off the San Francisco Summer opera season. Created by one of the country’s leading artists, Michael Schwab, hist poster for Nixon in China “set the tone across the city.”

poster design

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Located North of the San Francisco Bay area in Marin County, Schwab has created a highly known reputation for himself after making numerous memorable posters and logos throughout the years. According to his website, he is recognized for his “use of large, flat, areas of color, dramatic perspectives and bold, graphic images of archetypal of human forms. His work can be described as dramatically simplistic and easily recognizable.” Schwab’s client list ranges from corporations like Apple and Nike to organizations like The Golden Gate National Parks as well as many others. Schwab has won many awards in major graphic design and illustration competitions over the years.

Through it’s history and development, it is no wonder why the poster is such an iconic form of print. With its vast versatility in use, the poster doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. It is a highly accessible form of message for any type of person. From high quality print to hand written on a cardboard box, posters can be seen everywhere in the world. However, with today’s generation of everything being on the internet, will posters soon die down? In my opinion, I don’t think so. I believe that even if posters are not seen as much in the public, there will still be people who will be interested in continuing to collect them.

ferrer

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EELLLILSISSSITITZKZYKY

During his time, EL LISSITZKY was involved in all fronts of contemporary art. As an innovator he saw movements grow, and as an influence he saw styles develop.

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On November 23, 1890, Lissitzky was born in a small Jewish town that was, at the time, part of the Russian Empire. As he grew up he explored many

areas of Europe. He expressed an interest in art at a young age and began studying wherever he could. When he was 13, he took lessons by Yehuda Pen, a Jewish artist who was instrumental in the Vitebsk art movement and the teacher of future Lissitzky collaborator, Marc Chagall. Lissitzky also studied in Darmstadt, Germany from 1909 to 1914 when he was forced to leave due to World War I and his Jewish heritage. He returned to Moscow, where he attended the Polytechnic Institute of Riga, worked for architectural firms, and took up an interest in Jewish culture. He became so invested in Jewish artistic traditions that he illustrated many Yiddish childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s books, which marked the beginning of his pioneering effect on book design.

el lissitzky

azar Markovich Lissitzky, most commonly known as El Lissitzky, was a Russian artist known for his contributions to Bauhaus, Russian avant-garde, constructivism, and suprematism. He was greatly influenced by political movements, Judaism, and other popular artists who were around during his time, such as Kazimir Malevich and Marc Chagall. Lissitzky was also well-traveled. Throughout his youth and career his knowledge of movements crossing all parts of the continent enabled him to experiment and become an original artist.

Essay & Images by Victoria House

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Things became less illustrated and more designed, abstract, and new.” Lissitzky’s famous design for Four Billy Goats in 1922 was highly stylized, clean, and immensely different from the busier work he had made previously. He incorporated various elements that were previously absent from his work such as solid forms, lines, and balance. This design style is seen throughout in his Proun series. Interestingly, the series did not hold any Jewish content.

Lissitzky’s first designs appeared in 1917 where he started to incorporate his Jewish faith with his artistic style through book design. His early Yiddish children book illustrations (One Goat, The Mischievous Boy) are evidently more traditional in that they show great detail and are not as two-dimensional as those later created in his suprematist style—the style in which Lissitzky would become very instrumental. 90

The earlier illustrations were not as structured and or as abstract, and were typical in embellishing a story through images. However, this changed over time when Lissitzky became more involved in finding his own style that was seemingly more organized and geometric, especially when he started his Proun series. As said in a blog post about “El Lissitzky and Modernism,” “In the “Proun” period El Lissitzky shifted gears.

Along with his connection to his faith, Lissitzky’s travels often led him to confront social issues. This furthered his design résumé as he worked with political activists and created propaganda posters for his supported party, the Bolsheviks. His most famous pieces are posters from the early 20th century that showcase Marxist ideas. One of his most significant works is “Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge,” a 1919 lithographic Soviet poster that represents the Bolsheviks and the White Movement. Although Lissitzky

only used simple shapes and colors, it is a powerful piece marking symbolism as a useful method in conveying an opinion. El Lissitzky is also known for his innovation in the Suprematist movement as well as his overall influence on the Russian avant-garde. When Lissitzky was 28 he was invited by Marc Chagall back to Vitebsk, Belarus, where he had lived with his grandparents as a child, to teach at his new People’s Art School. Chagall also invited other Russian artists, most importantly Kazimir Malevich. Malevich had experimented with other art movements but around this time he was just moving towards suprematism. Lissitzky admired both artists, however, they were very different. Chagall was drawn toward more traditional art, and when it came down to it Lissitzky chose Malevich’s suprematism over the classical Jewish art he had previously studied.

Lissitzky became more involved in finding his own style that was seemingly more organized and geometric, especially when he started his Proun series.

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concerned only with form, free from any political or social meaning.” Lissitzky’s repertoire and style are significantly different. In these terms, he contrasts heavily with his emphasis on line and his incorporation of other styles and movements. However, it is surprising that El Lissitzky does not get more credit for his work in the movement. They both looked at the foundation of the movement similarly: ‘the Suprematist Black Square functioned like the zero on the number line, since it marked a turning point between negative and positive. More precisely, it separated the old “painterly culture” (negative) from the new “material culture” (positive).’ This explanation comes from

el lissitzky

Contrary to Malevich’s style, Lissitzky complicated the idea of suprematism. Rather than the twodimensional forms and seemingly random placement Malevich worked with, Lissitzky’s work often had a degree of organization, movement and perspective, especially when looking at the Proun series. This series of paintings took place through ten years of his life and was obvious in its evolution. One of his first works in the series was Proun 30t (1920), which marks the initial way in which the series was constructed; a simple image seems to extend out of the portrait due to Lissitzky’s use of depth. Later works include some three-

dimensional installations, such as Proun Room (1923). In looking at this series it becomes more obvious why Malevich is regarded as the founder of suprematism. This style “stresses the purity of shape, particularly of the square” according to John Milner who wrote about the movement. Further, “Malevich saw it as purely aesthetic and

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Throughout his youth and career his knowledge of movements crossing all parts of the continent enabled him to experiment and become an original artist.

Esther Levinger who noted how Lissitzky saw the movement very mathematically and that it gave an “imaginary space” to something that was two-dimensional and unmoving (232). Although he obviously experimented more with depth and perspective, both artists also have many similarities with color, shape, and balance and it seems to me that Malevich should not be the only name that is synonymous with the movement.

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Upon initially looking at Lissitzky’s work I thought of it as rather simple. Since I do not speak Russian or Hebrew, his art came across as plain and straightforward, and certainly did not seem very meaningful. However, after doing research,

el lissitzky

El Lissitzky died in 1941 at the age of 51, yet his legacy lives on. He traveled after working with Malevich and continued to develop his own style. Milner mentions his later growth: “He formed links with De Stijl in the Netherlands and with the Bauhaus in Germany, where his work particularly impressed László Moholy Nagy and… even Kandinsky.” Lissitzky was able to relate to De Stijl: it focused on primary colors and simplified forms, ideas Lissitzky had previously encountered in his home country. Similarly, Bauhaus was a modern style that would encourage expansion in techniques Lissitzky was interested in, such as graphic design, architecture, and typography. His extensive travels enabled him to experience a thorough and vast number of artistic movements, marking his ability not only to cross over, but also to become wholly original.

it became evident that the messages behind much of Lissitzky’s work are more significant and noteworthy. Although Lissitzky’s pieces are clearly composed of geometric forms and a simple set of colors and shades, it is now quite evident to me that there is a lot of symbolism in his work. His experiences through his life and Europe showed up in his work and it becomes clear that his influence as well as innovation cannot be specifically attached to one style or movement.

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“ They demand that their work should be read, not as neutral information, but as a personal message and as a sign-ofthe-time.”—Max Buinsma Story & Images by Alexa Ferrer

wild plakken

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uring the 1960s-1980s, Europe was going through a cultural transformation filled with rebellions and revolutionaries rising throughout the cities—Amsterdam being one of these cities. With so much going on, the country began calling Amsterdam the magisch centrum, or the magical center, a fitting location for many uprisings. Quickly a catalyst of political movements, demanding both social and political change sparked. Starting in the 1960s, Amsterdam’s open use of drugs made the city a popular destination for the hippie scene and also for squatting in neglected buildings led to clashing between the citizens and Dutch contractors. And soon after, the construction of the underground metro led to many protests due to the impact it caused with local residents and landmark areas. From what used to be a poor city in the Netherlands, Amsterdam turned in to an economically booming region. With an increase in foreign immigrants and dangerous riots, these economical and cultural events would mark a shift in society, paving the way for a group of designers who were inclined to challenge conflicting ideas through various media outlets.

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Wild Plakken created a signature style that was inspired by early 20th century avant-garde collage arrangement, bold typography, primary colors, and photographic elements. The design collective Wild Plakken is one group who consistently challenged people’s opinions through their memorable prints, whether it was about political, artistic, or social agenda. It was perfect timing for them, as they were in a city hungry for social change. Whenever I view any of Wild Plakken’s past works, I can relate it to some kind of political or activist movement. They do a successful job in conveying a message through images with no type accompanying the image.

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At that time, when posters or handouts had to be quickly mass-produced, their only option was to use a photocopier or to hand make it. In the end, I think they used a mixture of both. Even with technological advances, their initial process or hand-made practices seemed to stick with them throughout their career. That is another reason why I enjoy their work very much— they constantly push boundaries with their design and it doesn’t have to be clean cut and perfect all the time. When working on projects such as the illustrated name or the three images that represented a designer, it was very easy for me to sketch out random ideas because Wild Plakken was so edgy and I knew my designs didn’t need to look completely polished.

wild plakken ferrer

Throughout my research, Wild Plakken has also proven to be a tough topic to find vast information on. Not only are most of their articles written about them in a different language, but also certain members are more publicly visible to look up than others. Contrary to my initial thought, Wild Plakken consists of three individuals rather than one. The formation of Wild Plakken is a simple story, which is all owed to Rob Shröder. After completing his graphic designs studies at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, Shröder quickly teamed up with his former classmates, Lies Ros and Frank Beekers. In 1977, Wild Plakken was born. The term “Wild Plakken” literally translates to “Wild Pasting” or “Unauthorized Bill Posting.” Given to them in the 1980s, Wild Plakken is a very fitting name due

to their old habits of illegally pasting posters in the center of Amsterdam, where some instances resulted in their arrest. As the years passed, Wild Plakken created a signature style that was inspired by early 20th century avant-garde collage arrangement, bold typography, primary colors, and photographic elements. Elements like these are similar to 1930s designers such as El Lissitszky and Paul Schuitema.

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WILD Wild Plakken was able to use their design skills as powerful tools for political activism.

As I stated earlier, a lot of Wild Plakken’s work is associated with political groups and views. This may be because Shröder and Ros are both former pupils of radical graphic designer Jan van Toorn. Also it was no surprise to find out they were former student activists back in the day. Based on this information, I assume that Wild Plakken had some kind of preference in the clients they chose to work with. In working for clients who were activists or part of a political movement, Wild Plakken was able to use their design skills as powerful tools for political activism. According to the article, Design in the Netherlands, Wild Plakken accepted their commission based on the ideological viewpoint of the client. They believe they should have similar views and beliefs as the client they are working with. Some of Wild Plakken’s clients included leftwing political parties, women’s rights organizations, and trade unions—addressing issues such as racism, the environment, and gay rights. If a designer is

Because Wild Plakken is known for their collage style, this could have the potential to lead to chaotic designs. However, their work manages to produce visual unity. Going back to the Anti-Apartheid

poster, Wild Plakken’s use of Gestalt principles of proximity and negative space in this poster allow the viewer to see the unified pattern and enjoy the overall picture or each element separately. What I really enjoy about their posters is that they are very open to interpretation due to their lack of text. Sometimes, when the poster is being over powered through text, I tend to just focus on the text and ignore other elements.

PASTI N

According to design writer and critic, Max Bruinsma, Wild Plakken’s work includes many striking images. Bruinsma described these images to be equivalent to signage, which can be translated as words or sentences. These captivating images are meant to create dialogue between the poster and the viewer, and because several of their work include photography, it was important for Wild Plakken to shoot all of their own photography so they wouldn’t feel limited by other photographers’ images. This also gave them the creative license to experiment in the darkroom to do any manipulation they wanted to the images. Their use of interesting photographic elements is something that I think is very appealing about their work. One that comes to mind is their poster of Women Against Apartheid. In this poster, they took half of different women’s faces and mixed them up with another half face. Even though the viewer may not understand the message behind the poster, it still looks intriguing upon first seeing the poster. In their earlier years, the audience could only get a specific point of view from them but as their worked evolved, they had the power to gauge different dialogue through one’s work can be a very powerful tool.

taught simultaneously at the graphic design and audiovisual departments at Rietveld Academy from 1982-1997, the institution where he received his education when he was just starting out as a designer. In 1993, Shröder began working for VPRO broadcast where he began working on films and shows such as Bonanza. He was able to take his collage-style poster designs and translate them into a different media type—film.

not deeply committed to the design process, their clients or content of their work, then they risk creating superficial work. I also find that I produce better work when I am actually immersed or interested in the subject at hand. Aside from working with political activist groups, Wild Plakken also designed posters and brochures for various theatre companies and even the Dutch Opera. This shows they are also into cultural movements as well as politics. One work I saw— created by Wild Plakken Member Rob Shroder—was about the rapper Tupac Shakur. I was excited to find this, because I am a fan of Tupac as well as the idea of mixing graphic design with pop culture. Wild Plakken officially lasted 1977 to 1996. Throughout this time, Wild Plakken also had part time members come and go from the group. After eleven years of collaboration, Beekers left the group in 1988 to launch his own studio. Throughout Shröder’s time in Wild Plakken, he

Over the years, the work of Wild Plakken has had great impact on graphic design all over the world, especially in Dutch graphic design. With their use of photography, spontaneous shapes and color, Wild Plakken’s work continually speaks volumes in the design community. Wild Plakken’s work is formally defined by their tendency to use primary colors, such as red and blue, and their use of jagged edges and lines. I was very interested in researching this design collective not only because they created visually appealing designs, but more importantly, they had a powerful message behind their work. They are able to create timeless work while portraying a story or mood with simple images and memorable elements.

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A Global Impact Through Surrealist Juxtaposition The Influence of Frederic Henrion Essay and Images by Brian Riley

Henrion was a member of various designer groups (such as Alliance Graphique Internationale), architectural clubs, and war information offices. In the 1950s he became director of the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, where he began making friends and obtaining connections with other artists and designers in Europe. In addition to designing posters, he also pioneered the art form of surrealist juxtaposition in terms of advertising and visual communication in Britain at the time.

| brian

At the peak of his career, Henrion was designing morale-boosting posters for farmers and their surrounding communities. The public food supply had dwindled from the wars over the past few decades, so the posters Henrion helped create gave the struggling societies a sense of empowerment.

f . h . k . henrion

rederic Henri Kay Henrion was a German graphic designer famous for anti-war propaganda posters and logo design. He is also known for a few wayfinding projects, however after studying his life and works, I would not exactly consider him to be specifically a wayfinding designer; instead I would primarily categorize him as a logo and poster designer. Even though he did more poster and logo work, he also pursued the design of certain exhibitions in his work with Paul Colin. He was born in Nuremberg, and moved to England in his 20s in order to collaborate with Colin. They did most of their work when they went to Paris, where they created many posters, logos, and elaborate, revolutionary exhibition designs.

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The more we think abstractedly, the less we exist.

After his brief stint in poster design, he became more interested in logos when he began working in the realm of corporate identity, which is where his imagination and design skills were put to use in the business world. It seems very difficult to incorporate every single aspect of a company into one logo, and yet somehow he did so with great success and ease, and was recognized by many for his ability to do so. When Henrion began to delve into the relationship between the general public and companies, his visual communication skills from making posters over the years helped him gain notoriety and projects with well-known corporations.

—Kierkegaard

”

various types of posters, but mainly his anti-war propaganda pieces. Kierkegaard said, “the more we think abstractedly, the less we exist.” Henrion was very diligent in portraying this ideal through his poster work very much from an existentialist point of view as a result of the turmoil and the war-torn times that he was brought up during. This is where his influence arose.

“[Poster design] is a very rich area of culture which lies between art and architecture, art and commerce, art and technology, and is considered by some to be an art in itself.”

f . h . k . henrion

| brian riley

This description of poster design is from the preface of Nathan Felde’s study on the subject. This directly relates to Henrion’s style, because through his use of technology, commerce, and publicity, his work definitely evolved into an art form in and of itself. Felde also says that posters are a visual medium for conveying representations of thought. Henrion successfully does this through

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Frederic Henrion has a very unique style that derived directly from the era that he was born into. Much of his influence comes from architectural history and ideals. As he would readily admit to anyone, his work stems from ideas pertaining to how, over the last century, our urban landscapes have drastically changed as a result of economic fluctuation through those years. Much of his work very apparently portrays war, anti-war, our economy, differing ideals, architecture, geometry, and many more visually striking principles. I believe that his use of surrealist juxtaposition comes from the fact that our brains are trained to point out things that don’t belong. For an example, a pile of animals and vegetables would certainly catch someone’s eye, and in doing so it would also initiate their curiosity in order to find out the true meaning behind such a poster. Abstract Art is also very big in the 20th century, and so growing up around influences such as Kandinsky and Mondrian, it is no wonder that Henrion has developed the style that he is recognized by today.

F.H.K., as people began to call him, was a very influential part of the design world, including his work in the world of logos, posters, and exhibition design. He was very political, and eventually considered London to be his true home, because it is where he received most of his inspiration and fame. Even after his death, he continues to influence many aspects of wayfinding and the design community as a whole through his creative layouts and unusual imagination.

“

[Poster design] is a very rich area of culture which lies between art and architecture, art and commerce, art and technology, and is considered by some to be an art in itself.

”

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f . h . k . henrion

| brian riley

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Design in Dubai by Alexa Ferrer

| dubai exchange

| alexa ferrer

Another thing we were able to bond over was our love for great food, whether it was yummy dessert or plain junk food. Aside from talking about our interests, we had also sent each other photos that were to tell a narrative. Later she had sent me a response of what she thought my photos were trying to tell. It was interesting I would say; it wasn’t incorrect but it was too general to see if she understood my story. However, I could tell she understood the most basic concept of my

narrative—posters being posted anywhere and everywhere. The project and correspondence reminded me that people will always have different perceptions of things, whether it may be close to what you intended or completely off. Especially with this, because we didn’t present our photos to them face-to-face or give a background story to it, they were really able to give us what their initial reactions were without knowing anything about it. My partner, Farah, was very kind and was very complimentary of all my photos. My favorite quote from her is, “Oh my god junk is my food, I wake up in the morning and grab a Cadbury chocolate bar, then later for lunch I eat chips and gum and all kinds of junk, before I go to sleep I eat all the chocolate I can find at home and then sleep with a chocolate bar by my side =p!” Talk about junk food overload! I am not sure if we will keep in touch; but we will see! Either way, it was a great experience getting to know her and to view her work.

poster design

owards the end of the semester, we had the opportunity to connect with a design student from Dubai. I had never interacted with someone from Dubai, so I was very eager and excited when we were assigned these partners. It added a nice cross-cultural component to the course and allowed us to meet someone new. After I sent my partner my first e-mail, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was wondering if she’d speak with a different lingo or slang or whether we’d share some of the same interests. My perception of Dubai stems from what I see on the Travel Channel, with that, I know that it is a very established, touristattracted area so I knew that she’d be familiar with some topics I had talked about. After seeing her photos, I knew that we shared very similar tastes in fashion and makeup. I could tell right off the back that she had a love for designer brands and it was great, because our love for quality products really established a commonality that we could talk about.

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From Dubai to San Francisco

by Victoria House

made sense to me as a narrative. Further, it was nice because her perception of my photo narrative was dead on so I was happy that she understood what I was trying to convey. It showed that both of us had a similar idea in taking photos. We both went about it more literally in showing a story, which is interesting since it could have been more abstract. Seeing where she comes from also was nice because there is such a big difference in what my everyday life looks like compared to hers.

poster design

| dubai exchange

| victoria house

The name of my partner for the Dubai project was Ameena. The photos she sent me were of her hometown Ras Al Khaimah. Through these photos the area looked more rural rather than the big city of Dubai. I liked that she showed me this instead because I saw more of who she is rather than the city that she is just studying in. “So, my hometown is not as advanced as Dubai but, we still carry on a powerful education system and a more authentic sense than an international sense like Dubai.” I chose this quote because I thought it was nice that Ameena sounds proud of her hometown, not taken by the luxuriousness of the commercial city that is Dubai. Throughout emailing her I was shocked by how well spoken she was, it sounded like other students in the class got some confusing emails but Ameena was really clear. Through her collection of photographs she illustrated a narrative of her driving and shopping in town. Unfortunately, it did not give me much an idea of UAE design styles. If anything, she showed me designs that felt more American rather than representative of her hometown’s culture. This is probably because she took photos of commercial items through the markets. Since she took a lot of shots of her driving it was pretty easy to tell a story. I picked the five photos that I felt went the best together and they

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wayfinding the process of organizing an environment spatially

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This includes the use of landmarks, signage, pathways, and environmental cues. These wayfinding signifiers should be well-planned, connected, and easy to use. The mental process of using wayfinding signifiers goes through three phases: seeing, interpreting, and decision making.

Wayfinding Essays & Images by Danica Swenson, Rosanne Pitarresi, Noah Broffman, & Brian Riley

pitarresi , riley , broffman

Our society has evolved to a point where navigating through the cities we have created has become complicated, and the need for wayfinding signage is now more crucial than ever. Our dependence on language influences the ways wayfinding is produced, and the invention of certain assets, like high-speed transportation, demands wayfinding signage to be efficient and legible. Thus, wayfinding becomes a representation of the culture we live in. Anywhere in the world, wayfinding signs will

| swenson ,

There are three mental steps that viewers go through when using wayfinding directions. First, a viewer sees the physical sign as they are approaching it, either by walking, driving, or another means of transportation. Then he/she

interprets both the visual and written information. Sometimes these signs only contain words, others may only use symbols, and sometimes they are a combination of words and images. Lastly, the viewer makes a decision based on what he/she has seen. These steps are repeated until the viewer reaches the intended destination. This category of design is important because everyone uses it daily. It is used everywhere: in buildings we enter, signage on roads, any public outdoor space, etc.

wayfinding design

or thousands of years humans have used wayfinding to direct others where to go. It started with creating petroglyphs to guide others to food, water, or shelter and as our needs changed we started making more concise directions to navigate individuals. Wayfinding was made aesthetically pleasing and easier to use by architects and designers in the late twentieth century. Wayfinding is the process of organizing an environment spatially so that people can find their way. The purpose of wayfinding design is to help people navigate a space. This can include the use of landmarks, signage, pathways, and environmental cues. These wayfinding artifacts should be wellplanned, connected, and easy to use.

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correspond with the major languages spoken in that region, and this marks the first reason why wayfinding is unique to location and culture. Here in America, our signs are primarily written in English; however, secondary languages such as Spanish and some Asian languages are sometimes introduced to help assist portions of the population who only speak those languages. Many tourist locations (such as major cities around the world) accommodate English-speaking individuals by writing their wayfinding signage in their respective language and also translating it into English. But wayfinding techniques are not only limited to written text: sounds can be representative of wayfinding as well. For example, in the San Francisco public transportation system called MUNI, each stop is addressed over a speaker system so that those riding the bus can understand their current location, and decide if they need to disembark. Wayfinding signage is also seen when navigating

through shopping areas, monuments, landmarks, and the like. A common wayfinding technique for navigating through

Wayfinding becomes a representation of the culture we live in.

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these commercial destinations is the use of a directory. Main directories provide a general map for individuals to orient themselves and choose where to go next. Planning how people will navigate a city requires a great deal of effort. One major factor of this planning process is how the population navigates their way through it; if we were to tell someone to start from one end of the city and end at the other, could they do so with clarity and ease? Our research team made individual trips through San Francisco to determine how easy it is to get around the city. We pretended as if we had never been to these locations before so that we could follow wayfinding signage without bias. We have

concluded that San Francisco is probably one of the easiest cities to navigate because of its directional coherence. In order to reach this reputation, however, a large amount of research and planning went into creating compelling and comprehensible images all around the city. These wayfinding images work together as a system, relating to each other to create a natural flow and order and assist peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; daily lives. Repetition of specific signs and symbols allows these ideas to become common knowledge, and are eventually so ingrained into our understanding that they become second nature. If one were to visit a different country, obviously the signs would be different, but the general meaning of them would be the same, and one would be able to get around, disregarding the language barrier that might occur. Studying other cities and cultures is important in planning the layout of a city such as San Francisco. City planners look at

culture

wayfinding design

Our dependence on language allows us to have a clear medium by which we can communicate ideas of organization and navigation. Language can be interpreted through symbols, colors, and text. In this way, wayfinding acts as a representation of the social and commercial culture we live in.

| swenson , |

is a way to organize the world weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve created.

pitarresi , riley , broffman

wayfinding

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process Our research team made individual trips through the city to assess wayfinding in San Francisco. We pretended as if we had never been to these locations before so that we could follow wayfinding cues without any bias.

Deciding how people will navigate a city requires a great deal of effort. If we were to tell someone to start from one end of the city and end at the other, could they do so with clarity and ease? 116

what works for some cities, and what doesn’t work for others. Large committees of architects, designers, planners, political personnel and many others meet frequently to discuss certain planning methods and upkeep of a city’s flow. Some designers devote their whole lives to

in environmental graphic design since the late 90s, and has experience with an array projects, including convention center façade renovations as well as university and airport wayfinding designs. Homonym’s technology director, Riccardo Kovacs, is known for being ahead

to focus on this firm because a member of our research team was recently at SFO’s Terminal 2 and noticed the terminal’s visually appealing signage. We think that wayfinding at international airports is especially interesting because, unlike signage within cities

Repetition of specific signs and symbols allows these ideas to become common knowledge, and are eventually so ingrained into our understanding that they become second nature. creating visual aids that help people navigate through a city.

| swenson , pitarresi , riley , broffman

One prominent example of Homonym’s work includes all of the signage in SFO’s Terminal 2, as well as the Holy Family Day Home. We chose

that is mostly viewed by local residents, signage at airports must appeal to and be easily understood by an international audience. Homonym meets this goal with their simplistic and contemporary signage in Terminal 2.

wayfinding design

Our research led us to a Bay Area based design company called Homonym Wayfinding and Information Design. Homonym’s main focus is creating systems that combine digital wayfinding with traditional, static wayfinding techniques. Their designs span a spectrum that includes corporate logos, websites, and intricate wayfinding systems in high-end skyscrapers. The founder and principle of Homonym, Rob Cardoso, has been involved

of the game technologically and always providing cutting edge abilities to implement information delivery.. The design director, Adam Potter, is a UC Berkeley graduate and registered architect in California who helps Homonym with the execution of construction documents and brings a creative solution to any design issues they encounter.

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The restroom signage is simple—it isn’t “in your face,” but is effective enough to guide someone successfully to the correct restroom. As one approaches the entrance to the restroom, larger signs become apparent, designating gender-specific entrances. From the driving route outside of Terminal 2, there is signage that lets airport visitors know they have arrived at Terminal 2. Again, it is large enough for anyone to see but not so big that it becomes overpowering. The simple font blends well with the modern structure of the terminal building. There is an overall theme of simplicity and modern style throughout the wayfinding in Terminal 2. The illuminated cubes that are attached to the ceiling above the Terminal’s different gates are a particularly interesting feature. The large cubes are lit from within by a purple light that makes them stand out against the terminal’s black-and-white background. They are easily visible, making it particularly simple to find one’s designated gate.

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local

Terminal 2 at SFO is a great example of universal wayfinding signage.

Franciscoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very own

pitarresi , riley , broffman

understood by people from all over the world. San

| swenson ,

Signage at airports must appeal to and be easily

wayfinding design

We think that wayfinding at airports is especially accessible. As opposed to a city where majority of people viewing signage are going to be locals, at airports, people from all over the world are just passing by or on a connecting flight.

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Elaine Lustig Cohen A Twentieth-Century Pioneer of American Avant-Garde Graphic Design & Wayfinding Essays & Images by Danica Swenson

28 years old at the time, but she succeeded in running the firm and emerged years later with her own style.

swenson

She mainly specialized in book jacket design with modernist and collage techniques, but she also did some work with architectural wayfinding. Her work plays with composition and the juxtaposition of typography, photographs, shapes, and color. Eventually she mastered digital compositions as well while still including all of her former elements. In addition to book covers and magazine jackets, she also has an extensive list of achievements in architectural signage. This architectural influence came from Alvin Lustig, but there are obvious

| danica

At a young age she married Alvin Lustig, who was a very successful graphic designer with his own design firm in New York City. She had previously attended Tulane University to study fine art, but eventually got

her BA at University of Southern California in art education. It was the 1940s, and women weren’t encouraged to pursue fine art as an “official” profession, so she turned to education, which was considered more “practical” for a woman for that time. But this influence didn’t deter her; she obviously still became a wellknown artist. Unfortunately, Alvin Lustig died due to diabetes seven years after their marriage. In the last few years of his life he was blind, and Elaine had become his “eyes” for creating his work. These last few years were crucial in shaping Elaine’s techniques and styles. After he passed away, she inherited his graphic design firm and most of his former clients looked to her to finish their commissions. She was only

elaine lustig cohen

laine Lustig Cohen’s design techniques and practices are appealing because they are so relatable and easily translated into one’s own artistic style. Personal influences avant-garde movements and ideas were major factors that drastically shaped Elaine Lustig Cohen’s unique graphic design style. She and her works are relatable because she lived a life that was full of success, accompanied by both happiness and tragedy.

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differences between their works—most obviously, her work is much more free-form and his is very precise. Alvin and Elaine’s firm was at the forefront of the European avant-garde architectural movement on the East Coast. Examples of Elaine’s extensive architectural and wayfinding achievements are modernist structures of General Motors Technical Institute in Michigan, Johnson’s Seagram Building in New York, the Trans World Airlines signage, airport identification for the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Seagram Building signage.

years later she felt trapped by her clients, because they were the same ones she had worked with

exhibits, such as the Julie Saul Gallery in New York.

I’m especially attracted to Cohen’s work because of the complexity of her pieces and how they vary. It’s very interesting how there are common themes to her pieces, such as typography or playing with color, but no two pieces look similar at all. She has a specific style and technique that is easily recognizable, but she is able to transfer these into many different types and themes of work. A lot of people try to have a specific style that can be applied to almost any project and still be recognizable as their own, but that’s a very difficult task.

There are common themes to her pieces, such as typography, geometry, or playing with color, but no two pieces ever look the same.

Elaine eventually brought her inherited studio into her apartment and became the sole proprietor. During this time she became closer with an old friend, Arthur Cohen, who was a book publisher. He encouraged her to design a new line of paperbacks, for which she designed over 100 book covers. She eventually married Arthur Cohen. A few 122

since the passing of Alvin Lustig. She decided to quit that business and focus exclusively on painting. The last chapter of her professional career came with the founding of a rare book dealership with Arthur Cohen called Ex Libris. The dealership was very popular among private and institutional design collectors because of its collection of avant-garde documents and its books about design history. Artistically, her focus turned to designing the Ex Libris catalogs. Currently, she’s still doing work, but not for commercial purposes. She has been featured in a few

My favorite of her pieces are her collage works. Her most interesting works incorporated many different types of media. When she brings different art genres together and plays with unique compositions, it makes the viewer pay more attention to what’s happening in the piece. You’re not supposed to judge books by their covers, but the

covers that she designed make me want to read the book. It’s always disappointing when a book’s title is promising but the cover falls short of its potential. It seems like Cohen really took time to pull out abstract qualities of plot lines and transform them into interesting graphic design pieces. This skill is what makes her, and her work, so intriguing to me.

its font change add personality to the book cover because it feels like the “g” is falling or dangling

uses repetition of certain shapes or colors and forms groups or specific objects. Her success with proximity really inspires me because that is a design principle that interests me.. Most of my favorite graphic design pieces have some kind of play with proximity.

Cohen really took time to pull out the abstract qualities of plot lines and transform them into interesting book or magazine jackets.

| danica swenson

I think that one graphic design principle that Cohen really mastered and made her own was working with the proximity and juxtaposition of shapes and type to create something entirely new. In a lot of her pieces she

elaine lustig cohen

One of her pieces that I find very interesting is her book cover design for Dangling Man by Saul Bellow. It’s a playful piece and I think that it brings together exemplary forms of her typography, use of geometry, and collage. There are at least three fonts used in the title alone in both upper and lower case. Personally, I do not like the use of a serif font for the “a” in man. Though that placement seems strange to me, I do think that the use of the same font for the “g” in dangling works very well in this piece. The proximity of the letter to its surrounding graphics and

between the two yellow shapes. When I look at this cover I do not like the placement of the secondary and tertiary headlines. The alignment with the first yellow shape is very strange to me. It splits the authors name in half, but the rest of the text isn’t always perfectly centered on the division between the yellow shape and the white negative space. It makes that text slightly more difficult for me to read.

I can see how and why Elaine Lustig Cohen is so popular. Her works are experimental, but are very effective. Her techniques with proximity, repetition, and collage combined with her abstract ideas are extremely relatable to artists from a variety of backgrounds. Not only can I see how her works could be important to the progression of my own art, but I can also tell that her designs have influenced many artists who are popular today.

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Efficiency. Ease of use. Organization. Per Mollerup. By Noah Broffman

per mollerup

| noah broffman

er Mollerup was born in 1942 in Oslo, Norway during a time when the world was at war. A lot was changing, from political powers to the mass killing and confinement of Jews. When Mollerup was just a child, he grew up in an environment occupied by Nazi Germany. It was almost inevitable that Mollerup witnessed a fair share of Nazi propaganda as a kid, and although it wasn’t positive advertisement it was still a form of advertising design nonetheless. During this time, Norway had also lost a lot of resources due to the war so the people living there had to capitalize on the little resources they had. I have a feeling that this could have influenced Mollerup’s aspect of simplicity in his work. He states “I’m a fairly structured person who wants to bring clarity to his work, be it design or writing,” and that “the graphic designer’s job is primarily one giving structure to visual information.” For example, one map he designed utilizes color-coding which simplifies the map, making it easier to decipher for the viewer.

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Mollerup has managed to be a success in multiple fields through his writing and design. Mollerup is the founder and Managing Director at the Mollerup Designlab in Denmark. The lab is based in Copenhagen and focuses on branding as well as information design. Some of their commissions can be seen at airports in Copenhagen, Oslo, Sweden, as well as some railways, hospitals, and museums. Mollerup has been a great influence in the world of “wayshowing.” He wrote a book on the matter, called Wayshowing, A Guide to Environmental Signage. Another one of his famed books is called Marks of Excellence, which really embodies his love for design. Not only is he an accomplished designer, but he also expresses great interest in his peers’ work. Marks of Excellence is an ode to many of history’s great graphic designers, such as Raymond Loewy, Frank Robinson, and William Golden. The book shows the evolution and development of many logo designs over the years, many of which are still relevant to this day. Marks of Excellence “starts with Egyptian tombstones and continues through the Roman era to the first manufactories 128

and industrialism to our time.” More pertinent examples of logo design that are shown in the book are also contemporary, such as the Shell, Coca Cola, Volkswagen, CBS news, and AEG logos. The book shows the progression of each design from conception to finalization. This is important because it gives insight into the process of how a designer may go back to their original design ever so often to change certain aspects and nuances in order to improve it. It also shows that when companies have different owners over the years, their designs may change based on those in charge. Mollerup also wrote a book called Collapsibles: A design album of space saving objects, which focuses on collapsible items such as umbrellas, maps, and Swiss Army knives. As mentioned previously, I think this has a lot to do with the environment he grew up in. Due to the fact that resources were so scarce, people had to be very efficient. I feel that the efficiency and handiness of collapsible items really intrigue Mollerup for those reasons. However, Mollerup isn’t solely known for his design work alone. He is well known for being highly involved in the design community, whether it is through seminars, consulting, or speaking to those in the design industry. Mollerup stresses the importance of avid reading and writing when it comes to design. Unlike many other artists who tend to be successful in one particular field, Mollerup has managed to be a success in multiple fields through his writing and design. It is stated, “in fact, Mollerup resists all efforts to pigeonhole

Mollerup seems to have an innate passion for what he does and shows a certain level of love for his work that I don’t see everywhere. him (as a writer who designs, a designer who writes, or an information designer who works in identity) because he sees all of his work—identity design, information design, and writing—as expressions of the same concerns in different media.” I really admire that about Mollerup, because I think it is important to realize the connection between particular fields and not view them as completely separate entities but rather different ways of approaching the same thing.

I think what interests me most about Per Mollerup is that although he grew up in harsh times of war and conflict, he managed to become a man of many trades. Not only does Mollerup contribute to different fields, he excels in all of them as well. I feel that many people go into the design industry with the mentality of making money and being successful. However, Mollerup seems to have an innate passion for what he does and shows a certain level of love for his work that I don’t see everywhere. I also really admire how he uses his different fields of work as a means of gaining different perspectives on the particular projects he works on. It is very easy to get caught up in a single viewpoint, especially when you are designing something, but his work with magazines and writing gives him insight to other ideas and opinions, which are crucial components for artistic development.

per mollerup

| noah broffman

Additionally, Mollerup has done work as an editor for two major design magazines, Mobilia and Tools. In fact, he was a professional writer before he ever became a designer and “worked as an economist for the post graduate education department of the Danish Association of Civil Engineers, where he was responsible for planning courses in economics and marketing.” This job led him to meet people in the design field, and from there he went on to become and editor of Mobilia and then later on

Tools. Mollerup has said that he has entertained the notion of solely being a writer, but it seems that his love for the ever-evolving world of design and his drive for efficiency keeps him in the field. He is now focused on Designlab in Copenhagen, and though “[Their] first large job was the revamping of Copenhagen Airport,” many other interesting wayshowing opportunities have followed.

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Into a World of Design Essay and Images by Rosanne Pitarresi

A Biography of Otl Aicher â&#x20AC;&#x153;Born into a country during turbulent times, German designer Otl Aicher envisioned a world of design that consisted of much more than a mere reflection of historical or cultural precedents. â&#x20AC;&#x153; Youth

| rosanne pitarresi

Bauhaus were artistic forms and schools of thought created during this period that heavily influenced upcoming designers, including Aicher. This period also put Germany at the epicenter of innovation through design. However, growth throughout Germany was quickly terminated with the rise of the National Socialist Party, also infamously called the Nazi Party. For the art world, this meant that artists were now used as tools for propaganda development, and schools that promoted anything else were shut down. Aicher was exposed to this rapid degradation of the arts and quickly learned to oppose the Nazi ideals. He started to revolve his childhood education around learning

otl aicher

Otl Aicher was born in Ulm-Soflingen, Germany on May 13, 1922. At the time, Germany was undergoing major economic hardships as a result of the end of the first World War and the economic sanctions of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference in Versailles. It was during this time that the democratic republic, Weimar Germany, was also founded. During the reign of this governing party (1923-1928), Germany was able to enjoy political stability and a new emphasis on the arts brought out fascinating finds throughout the world. Movements such as Cubism, Futurism, and

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more about philosophy and art, and remained motivated to resist the ideals that the Nazi party demanded every citizen partake in. This curiosity in education brought Aicher in contact with the Scholl family, who also became a big influence in Aicher’s artistic and personal life. Together, the Scholl kids and Aicher would philosophize about a world without Nazism and slowly began their involvement in Resistance movements within Ulm. Devoted participation in the Resistance movements gave Aicher the fundamental ideas behind his philosophy for design. He used these movements as a tool to understand the world around him, and his opposing views of his country’s current political order allowed him to refine his societal and artistic views. These principles are what drove him to become an essential figure in the rebuilding of Ulm after the second World War and the collapse of the Nazi Regime. Aicher, along with Scholl family members and other young activists alike, collaborated to help the revitalization efforts in their hometown. One of the more prominent rebuilding effort forums held weekly meetings for the citizens of Ulm to attend and discuss plans of actions. It was during the time of these Thursday meetings that Aicher officially began his design career. Aicher began to design the posters for these meetings and used the styles of the Bauhaus and other modernist artistic movements as inspiration for the aesthetic of the posters. Through the creation and distribution of these posters, Aicher was heavily recognized in the design community and emerged as a designer 134

It had one vision for all of its students, “[to] influence society in two ways: first as a responsible citizen, and secondly as a designer of products which are better and cheaper than any others...” with a lot of potential. This role led him to meet more distinguished people in the design world, and eventually Aicher began attracting clients interested in his style.

Ulm School of Design A big contribution to Germany’s revitalization efforts was Aicher’s establishment of Ulm School of Design, Hochschule fur Gestaltung. It officially opened in 1953, after years of informal meetings. It had one vision for all of its students, “[to] influence society in two ways: first as a responsible citizen, and secondly as a designer of products which are better and cheaper than any others, thus contributing to raise the living standard of society in general, and creating a culture of our technological age” (McLaren 43). The Ulm School of Design adopted the Bauhaus principles of design by creating a unity between artists and craftsmen in the work place, and successfully unifying art

Career After years of devotion to the Ulm School of Design, Aicher left his teaching position at the school in 1966 to establish his own firm in Munich, Germany. Lots of success accompanied Aicher’s move to Munich, including the commission to become head designer for the Munich Olympics in 1972. Aicher took inspiration from the Tokyo ‘64 Olympics and sought out to create a simplified version of wayfinding diagrams to ease circulation throughout the Olympic venues. Aicher also turned to the natural and cultural environment of Munich Straße Aicher for inspiration to maintain a strong connection

otl aicher

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and technology. The school was influenced by the expansion of industrialization, and embraced the new view on manufacturing goods, by gearing their design to compliment ideas of mass production and product simplification. Aicher remained a prominent head figure at the Ulm School of Design along with other notable designers such as Max Bill. Together, they maintained the school’s prestige by continuously revising the curriculum to adopt new artistic movements and ideas. The school also developed departments of Product Design, Building, and Visual Communication, which created devices for civic use, experimented with pre-fabricated elements, and focused on corporate identities, respectively. Out of Ulm School of Design came some of Aicher’s most influential works, first starting with the design package for Lufthansa, a German airline. One of Aicher’s graduates, Hans G. Conrad, became the head designer at Lufthansa and commissioned Aicher and a student design team to develop its new identity logo. Together they developed an image that became a motif for Lufthansa’s corporate philosophy of innovation and technological advancement. The image was conceived through the Ulm School of Design principles of standardization (using predefined elements), simplification (basic construction techniques), and rationalization (modular construction based on a grid) (McLaren 59), and proved to be very successful.

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between the games and its location. He envisioned a “new Germany” to unveil itself in these games, and made sure his designs were positive gestures that reflected a brighter future for Germany and the world, at large. Among the various designs that Aicher created for these games, the most famous remain to be the “Strahlenkrans,” the radiant garland made of a black and white spiral that is representative of a run shining its rays, and “Waldi,” the Olympic games mascot. Aicher received international recognition for these designs and became recognized as one of the most influential designers of the era. The success of the Munich Olympic design package left Aicher with many jobs and worldwide recognition. He continued his career as a prominent designer while also consulting brands, developing his own typeface “the Rotis family”, and writing a series of books on design and design philosophy. Aicher passed away in 1991 due to a fatal car accident.

Commentary Otl Aicher is a fascinating designer. I was very intrigued by his ability to understand what was happening in Germany around the time of Hitler’s reign and use this history as a tool to develop his design philosophy. Aicher’s work follows the strict framework of the Bauhaus design principles. Through Bauhaus education he mastered the ability to convey ideas with simple geometries, and this is seen throughout 136

his career. My favorite piece of Aicher’s is the production set for the Olympic games in Munich. I am most fascinated by the pictograms he designed. Take for example this image of a bicycle. By simply using basic geometric forms such as the circle and parallelogram, Aicher created a graphic that represents a common transportation mechanism. The way he manipulated the lines shows true mastery of the art of design. And this idea of simplicity and purity is seen throughout all of his design work. I also admire Aicher because he wanted to share his design philosophy with the rest of the world by writing books. I was able to read his most famous piece, “World as Design,” and gained a lot of insight as to how Aicher worked from process to finished product. Otl Aicher will remain one of my favorite designers. His elegance of forms and simple concepts have revolutionized the world of design, and will continue to do so everyday.

otl aicher

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Dubai Partner Reflection Sherina’s photos made me realize how contemporary and urban Dubai is. Most of her photos were of her journey to school. She told me that her goal was to show us the common sides of Dubai since people usually only know of the glamorous, rich side of it. Her photos shifted my perspective of Dubai as a super rich country to a place that has those really nice areas but with a humble side as well.

exchange

| danica swenson

—Danica Swenson

| dubai

Through her photos I learned that street signs in Dubai look very similar to ours, except for the font and the fact that there is Arabic accompanying the English words. I already knew that street sign designers have tried to make the design consistent internationally, but her photos were very helpful to see that wayfinding is indeed consistent everywhere. The only major difference that I can immediately see is that some of their signs are brown and blue. Here in the United States I’ve only seen blue signs is at places such as airports.

wayfinding design

It’s especially difficult to compile narratives about photos taken in a place that you aren’t familiar with. She easily guessed Brian’s photo narrative. Mine was a little more difficult because I’m sure they don’t have Trader Joe’s in Dubai. But hers was pretty easy to guess. It was definitely about a journey that started at a school and ended in a neighborhood.

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Dubai Partner Reflection design was very similar if not interchangeable with that of America’s aside from the language difference. I actually found it was easier to create a narrative with her photos, rather than with my own. The correspondence mad me realize that every individual will have a different way of representing certain ideas. Even if you gave two individuals the same exact photos, each of them would naturally create different ways to represent a narrative with them. I am not sure that I will continue to keep in touch with my partner just because of my busy life. However, I am really thankful for the opportunity to have communicated with someone across the world studying the same subject as me, and getting input from her as well. —Noah Broffman

wayfinding design

Before this pen pal journey, I didn’t know anything about Dubai other than the fact that it was a wealthy part of the world with a lot of tall buildings. I didn’t learn as much as I could have through this project; however, it did become clear to me that our cultures didn’t seem too far apart. When it came to the sign-age and shopping malls in the pictures that I received from my partner, it looked very similar to those in America. I think my favorite quote from our emails would have to be, “as we walked far, a stranger with his car stopped and opened his window to suggest us to go to a house that gives a lot of treats”, which was in regards to a Halloween story. Like I previously stated, after looking at her pictures, it became clear that wayfinding

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Dubai Partner Reflection I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that we were able to interact with students at the same level as us in a completely different country; it was very interesting to experience the differences. At first I guess I had a pre-conceived idea that Dubai was very glamorous and rich, but after seeing her pictures of the rest of the UAE it was a bit of a culture shock, and a look into a new world. “Brian took pictures of the amazing graffiti pieces that fill the walls of the alley from bears to rabbits and fictitious characters beautifully colored.” This was probably the most entertaining thing that Sherina had sent us, simply because of the way it was worded… She got the narrative spot on however.

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| brian riley

This was an eye opening experience about how different societies of people can interpret different images in different ways, especially when they are

—Brian Riley

wayfinding design

I don’t know if I learned too much about a specific design category through her photos other than wayfinding signage throughout the United Arab Emirates, but the way she presented her story was very thorough. When Sherina got back to me about my answer to her narrative, she said I was way off, but I don’t think they realized we were working with only 5 of their photos in order to create a story. I could have figured that her photos were fairly self-explanatory, because her photos portrayed a journey from the time that she woke up until the time she went home after a day of work and school.

not familiar whatsoever with the things in the images. Sherina told me that she had to look up several things in my photos in order to understand them. I do not think neither Danica nor I will be keeping in touch with Sherina simply because of the difference of interests, and personal lives. I did however learn a lot about visual interpretation, and organization of narratives, because the way she had her photos laid out seemed to work better than the way we put them together in InDesign.

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Dubai Partner Reflection

wayfinding design

I really enjoyed writing to Hajar. She had interesting Upon reading the first line I thought to myself, things to say about her culture and the parallels it “oh, no this doesn’t sound too good…,” but then I has with American culture. I felt I didn’t get a good realized, as she did at the time, it was all just a joke. grasp on how strict her culture can be because the I also really enjoyed looking at her photos from language she used to communicate with me way her wayfinding trip. She journeyed from a subway very similar to mine. Also, I didn’t notice anything station to the Burj Khalifa and Dubai mall, and took out of the ordinary when she described certain awesome photos of signage in Dubai. The signage experiences of hers. I would say my favorite quote looked very modern and well designed, and I was from our exchange of emails is the following: able to follow her trip just through looking at their “As we walked far, a stranger with his car stopped orientations. Because she did a great job of making and opened his window to suggest us to go to a a cohesive batch of photos, I was able to create a house that gives a lot of treats and he asked us to narrative with no problem. I never received Hajar’s follow him ! At that time we didn't realize how dannarrative of my photos, so I couldn’t see how she gerous that might be, but fortunately nothing bad interpreted my images. I would enjoy keeping in happend. We were exited to go, and followed him touch with Hajar, but the time difference and comuntil we reached that house. However, He went away plicated schedules makes it very difficult. leaving us in front of it, but we were disappointed as it was actually, our own home!” —Rosanne Pitarresi

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references: identity Identity Design

Peter Behrens

by veronica cabanayan, matt shea, and phoebe tillem

by veronica cabanayan

Cass, Kevin. “Branding, Identity & Logo Design Explained.” JUST Creative., 6 April 2010. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. Chase, Dave. “How brands thrived during the Great Depression.” iMedia Connection. N.p., 17 Oct. 2008. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. De Swaan Arons, Marc. “How Brands Were Born: A Brief History of Modern Marketing.” The Atlantic. N.p., 3 Oct. 2011. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. Liska, Steve. “I Need a Cup of Coffee.” Liska Associates Thoughts. Liska Associates, 08 Sep 2010. Web. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. Redding, Dan. “The Evolution of The Logo.” Smashing Magazine. N.p., 9 July 2010. Web. 16 Oct. 2012.

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Behrens, Peter. Untitled / The Kiss. 1898. Spaightwood Galleries. Web. 5 Sept. 2012. Greenberg, Clement. “Greenberg: Modernism.” Sharecom Industries Ltd.. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Sept. 2012. “Peter Behrens Biography.” Art Market. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Sept. 2012. Vittoratos, Christos. “The Virtual Peter Behrens Exhibition.” Google+. N.p., 14 July 2007. Web. 5 Sept. 2012.

Christophe Szpajdel

Massimo Vignelli

by matt shea

by phoebe tillem

“The Legend: Christophe Szpajdel.” Transylvanian Forest E-Zine. N.p., 27 May 2011. Web. 21 Sept 2012.

Remington, Roger. “Reputations: Massimo Vignelli.” Eye Magazine. Vol. 21, Spring 2012: 12-28. Print.

“Lord of the Logos, Christophe Szpajdel.” Logo Design Love. N.p., 24 Feb 2010. Web. 21 Sept 2012.

Vignelli, Massimo. Letizia Airos for i-Italy with Massimo Vignelli. 2012. Video. Web. 23 Sept 2012.

Martinelli, Roberto. “Christophe Szpajdel.” Maelstrom. N.p., 2004. Web. 21 Sept 2012.

Vignelli, Massimo. Vignelli: From A to Z. Victoria, Australia: The Images Publishing Group, 2008. Print.

Szpajdel, Christophe. Lord of the Logos: Designing the Metal Underground. Berlin: Gestalten, 2009. Print.

Vignelli, Massimo. “The Vignelli Canon.” Vignelli Associates. Lars Muller Publisher, 30 September 2010. Web. 23 Sept. 2012.

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references: editorial Editorial Design

Bradbury Thompson

by ali hampton, han bai, & jean karnow

by ali hampton

Armstrong, Claire. Personal Interview. 07 October 2012.

“Art Directors Club / Hall of Fame.” Art Directors Club / Hall of Fame. Art Directors Club, n.d. Web. Sept. 2012.

Bear , Jacci H.. “How to Do Desktop Publishing.” About.com. N.p.. Web. 21 Oct 2012.

“Bradbury Thompson.” RIT Libraries. Rochester Institute of Technology, n.d. Web. Sept. 2012.

“Editorial Design.” Design Is History. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012.

Thompson, Bradbury. The Art of Graphic Design. New Haven: Yale UP, 1988. Print.

Evans, Poppy. Exploring Publication Design. 1st ed. Delmar Cengage Learning, 2005. 20-49. eBook. Scalan, Chelsea. Personal Interview. 07 October, 2012.

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Cipe Pineles

Chip Kidd

by Han Bai

by jean karnow

“Art Directors Club/Hall of Fame.” Art Directors Club/Hall of Fame. Art Directors Club, 1975. Web. 05 Sept. 2012.

Alexandra, Maja. “Chip Kidd.” Say Hi To Design, n.p., n.d. Web. 4 Sept. 2012.

“Cipe Pineles.” RIT Libraries. Graphic Design Archive Online, n.d. Web. 05 Sept 2012. Cook, Joan. “Cipe Pineles Burtin Is Dead at 82; First Woman in Art Directors Club.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Jan. 1991. Web. 05 Sept. 2012. Heller, Steven, and Marie Finamore. Design Culture: An Anthology of Writing from the AIGA Journal of Graphic Design. New York: Allworth, 1997. Print. Lupton, Ellen. “Designing Woman.” Print 53.3 (1999): 22. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Sept. 2012. Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis. Meggs’ History Of Graphic Design/Philip B. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis. n.p.: Hoboken, N.J. : J. Wiley & Sons, 2006., 2006. Ignacio: USF Libraries Catalog. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. Scotford, Martha. Cipe Pineles a life of design. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1999. Print. “William Morris.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 09 May 2012. Web. 05 Sept. 2012.

Gazin, Nick. “Nick Gazin’s Comic Book Love-In #14.” Vice Magazine. Web. 23 Sept 2012. Gazin, Nick. “Nick Gazin’s Comic Book Love-In #71.” Vice Magazine. Web. 23 Sept 2012. Kidd, Chip. “Chip Kidd: Designing books is no laughing matter. OK, it is.” TED2012. March 2012. Conference Presentation. Kidd, Chip. “Failing Better.” Grid Summit. Stockholm, Sweden. Conference Presentation. Kidd, Chip. The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel In Two Semesters. New York : Scribner, 2001. Print. Kidd, Chip. The Learners: The Book After “The Cheese Monkeys.” New York: Scribner, 2008. Print. Minzesheimer, Bob. “Chip Kidd, book cover designer, unmasked.” USA Today, 3 Sept 2003. Web. 22 Sept 2012. Vienne, Veronique. Chip Kidd. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. Zevelakis, Spyros. “Beautiful Covers: An Interview With Chip Kidd.” Smashing Magazine. Web. 4 Sept 2012.

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references: poster Poster Design

El Lissitzsky

by victoria house & alexa ferrer

by victoria house

Berman, Merrill C. “Michael Schwab: Graphic Artist.” n.d. 16 October 2012. Gallo, Max. “The Poster in History.” W. W. Norton & Company, 2002. King, Alec Hyatt. “Senefelder, Alois.” Oxford Music Online. N.p. Web. 2001. Lautrec, Henri de., and Russell Ash. ToulouseLautrec, “The Complete Posters.” 1. publ. ed. London: Pavillon, 1991. Print. “poster.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2011.Web. 15 October 2012.

“El Lissitzky and Modernism.” LdM:Graphic Design Dept. N.p., n. d. Web. 17 Nov. 2012. “El Lissitzky.” Collection Online n.pag. Guggenheim. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. Kleiner, Fred S., and Christin J. Mamiya. “Gardner’s Art Through The Ages: A Concise History of Western Art.” Victoria: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2008. Print. Levinger, Esther. “Art And Mathematics In The Thought Of El Lissitzky: His Relationship To Suprematism And Constructivism.” Leonardo 2 (1989): 227. JSTOR Arts & Sciences III. Web. 21 Nov. 2012. Milner, John. “Suprematism.” MoMA (2009): n.pag. Oxford University Press. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. Perloff, Nancy Lynn, Brian Reed, and El Lissitzky. “Situating El Lissitzky: Vitebsk, Berlin, Moscow.” Los Angeles, CA: Getty Research Institute, 2003. Print. Wolitz, Seth L. “Lissitzky, El.” YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe 25 August 2010. 17 Nov. 2012

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Wild Plakken

F.H.K. Henrion

by alexa ferrer

by brian riley

Bruinsma, Max. “Official Anarchy: Dutch Graphic Design” Typotheque Web. 22 Sebtember 2012

Heller, Susan. “Das plakat: The voice of german poster design” U&LC, May 1999. Web.

Hachmag, Viktor & Sirre, Julian. Wild Plakken. Web. 22 September 2012

Szabo, James. Graphic design in the mechanical age book jacket/poster. I D, 46(1999): 152-151. Print

Hoorne. Rob Shroder: Biography. Web. 22 September 2012

Pedersen, B. Martin. Graphis poster 89: The international annual on design and illustration Graphis. Web. December 1989.

Philip B. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design 45.6 (1991): 100-100. Print.

Hart, Steven; “A Laboratory for Sign Language.” New York Times [serial online]. December 14, 2003:45. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed November 26, 2012. Carty, Thomas. “World War I Posters: Thinking Critically about History and the Media.” Social Education [serial online]. January 2, 2008;72:9-11. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed November 26, 2012.

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references: wayfinding Wayfinding Design

Elaine Lustig Cohen

by danica swenson, rosanne pitarresi, brian riley, & noah broffman

by danica swenson

“The History of Wayfinding.” The History of Wayfinding. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.

Chasin, Noah. “Elaine Lustig Cohen.” Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women’s Archive. 15 Nov 2012.

“Homonym: Work: Wayfinding.” Homonym: Work: Wayfinding. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.

“Elaine Lustig Cohen.” Julie Saul Gallery. Web. 22 Sep 2012.

“What Is Wayfinding?” What Is Wayfinding? Bisek. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.

Kirkham, Pat. Women Designers in the USA, 19002000: Diversity and Difference. Italy: Yale University Press, 2002. Steven, Heller. “Elaine Lustig Cohen.” AIGA. 2010. Web. 21 Sep 2012.

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Otl Aicher

Per Mollerup

by rosanne pitarresi

by noah broffman

Rathgeb, Markus. Otl Aicher: Design as a Method of Action. S.l.: S.n., 2002. Print.

Foges, C. “DANISH DIVERSITY Per Mollerup Was A Comparative Latecomer To Graphic Design, But He Has Found Success As A Designer, Author, And Academic.” Print -New York- 54.(2000): 54-61. British Library Document Supply Centre Inside Serials & Conference Proceedings. Web. 21 Nov. 2012. “Designlab A/S - Information Design.” Designlab A/S - Information Design. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2012.

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about the authors

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veronica cabanayan

matt shea

phoebe tillem

ali hampton

han bai

jean karnow

victoria house

alexa ferrer

brian riley

rosanne pitarresi

noah broffman

Originally from San Jose, California, I’m currentlya freshman design student at University of San Francisco. I enjoy illustration work, poster design and animation. I can usually be found drinking tea, eating tiny cakes, and watching videos of cats on the internet.

Hi, I’m a junior architecture student at the University of San Francisco. I was born in Hawaii, but since my dad was serving in the U.S. Navy, I was raised all over the world (like Japan! Italy! and Spain!). I love elephants, John Mayer, interior design, ice cream (especially coffee flavored), traveling, and the San Francisco Giants. If I’m not in the architecture studio, I am acting silly, exploring San Francisco, eating delicious food, and sipping Blue Bottle Coffee…all with the one and only Rosanne Pitarresi (check out her bio too!).

I am a junior at the University of San Francisco from Brooklyn, New York. I enjoyed taking this design class because it was my first class using computers as tools for art and there was a lot to learn! Having my project on El Lissitzky was perfect for my style, his use of geometric shapes and abstract content was not that far off from my kind of work and it was easy to get inspiration.

danica swenson

I’m currently a senior majoring in Environmental Studies with a minor in Design. I will be graduating in May 2013 and hope to continue on to law school after graduation. In my free time, I like to be outside, going for hikes or reading in the park.

I’m a freshman Design major at USF. I like all kinds of graphic design from vector illustration to motion graphics. I first got into design when I took an introductory graphic design class as a freshman in high school. Besides design, I enjoy playing drums, writing, and listening to all kinds of music.

I’m a design major and am originally from China. My ideal job is working for fashion magazines. I would also like to work as a photographer in the future. My favorite thing is food, because food always brings me satisfied feelings. I enjoy traveling alone because being solitary makes me feel more attuned to my surroundings.

Originally born in Sacramento, I currently reside in San Francisco as a student at the University of San Francisco studying Business Marketing with a minor in Design. I am a lover of music, cuisine, and culture, you can usually find me either napping or exploring the city.

I am an architecture major at USF and enjoy all forms of art, especially dance and music. In my rare free time, I enjoy exploring San Francisco and finding new and exciting eateries. I really love living in San Francisco and being a part of the USF Art and Architecture community. I hope to continue her education in graduate school on the East Coast. cal treatments.

I’m a senior, majoring in Art History/Arts Management and minoring in Fine Arts. I am not sure what I want to do once I graduate, but hopefully something creative and visual. I love living in San Francisco, cooking, hiking, painting, and going to see live music.

I’m a senior Art History/Arts Management Major. who loves summer, steak and has plans to tour the American Southwest after graduation. When I’m not listening to books on tape while sculpting my six-pack abdominals, I continue my reign as fantasy football league champion. This was my first foray into the design world, and I’ll always treasure my time with my Visual Communication I class.

Born in Chicago, raised in LA, and now living in the Bay, I am a young aspiring designer who enjoys the simple things in life. Some of my hobbies include painting, party planning, writing, photography, gaming, meeting new people, and all board sports (snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing, etc…). I hope you enjoyed learning about F.H.K. Henrion as much as I did. I like to always keep in mind something that Salvador Dali said: “Have no fear of perfection—you’ll never reach it.”

I am a fine arts major/design minor. I am a Los Angeles native born and raised, and have always enjoyed art and being creative. This semester was my first time utilizing a computer for artistic purposes. While challenging, it was a lot of fun for me to get out of my comfort zone. I look forward to the learning and progression to come!

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