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1931 Massimo Vignelli was born January 10th, 1931 in Milan, Italy.
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60 In the mid 1960’s Massimo decided to joined Unimark International with six other architects. Unimark became one of the worlds largest international design firms. Massimo opened the companies New York office. After working with Unimark they started to become more diversitised and focus on marketing, so Massimo decided to leave the company.
71 In 1971 Massimo and Lella Vignelli decided to open their own design firm in New York, Vignelli Associates. In 1972 Massimo designed the New York City subway diagram. In 1978 they decided to change their design firm to Vignelli Designs. Vignelli Designs shaped New York City in profound ways. Massimo created many designs such as posters, books, and journals for architects.
“I like design to be semantically correct, syntactically consistent, and pragmatically understandable.”
82 In 1982, Massimo Vignelli and his wife Lella recieved the AIGA Gold Medal Award. They were recognized for all their many contributions to the design world. This was when Massimo, and Lella were at the peak of their profession.
92 In 1992, Massimo and Lella launched their own functional clothing line, which offered a universal solution to the problem of men’s and women’s fashion, with its extra parts and ever-changing silhouettes. Although the Vignellis’ priest garbs didn’t find a broad market, they became part of the couples’ signature personal style.
2014 5/27/14, End of Massimo Vignelli’s Career.
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New York I
n 1966 Massimo Vignelli designed the New York Metropolitan subway sign system. Vignelli thought that geogrpahy didin’t have to be literal, and that it could be read being abstract. He used different colors to repre-
“It’s not a city map. It is a diagram of how to go from point A to point B” sent the different routes around New York. Each station was shown as a dot and linked to its neighbors by color coded routes running at 45 or 90 degree angles. Mr. Vignelli had used his design skills to tidy up reality. Massimo Vignelli also co produced the New York Transit Authority’s graphic standards manuel. This manuel was made with the helvetica typeface. This was the first time the United States was introduced to this type face.When creating these designs, Massimo thought that Helvetica was the best choice because it was clean and straight to the point to everyone. In 1979 the city replaced Vignellis map design .
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New York Subway Map, Massimo Vignelli
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New York Subway Map, Massimo Vignelli
Knoll International I
n 1968 Massimo Vignelli was hired by Knoll to re-envision the corporates identity. Massimo and his wife, Lella served as graphic and advertising designers to Knoll International in the 1970’s. When Massimo was contracted
In 1983 Massimo returned to Knoll to design the Handkerchief Chair. Using compression molded plastics, they conducted a fabrication and design that lasted 5 years, and ultimately captured the lightness of a handkerchief in an organic way. In 1994 the firm introduced the Paperclip table as a complement to the Handkerchief chair. Echoing the bent wire base of the chair, and the overall lightness achieved by the Handkerchief seat, the designers were able to translate the essence of what made the Handkerchief chair so elegant to the Paperclip Table.
“If You can design One thing, you can design everything” by Knoll they ended up making the new Knoll logo. The logo was changed to Helvetica typeface, and a warm red as the company color. Massimo descibed this design as “the most exciting, and rewarding” of his professional career. Massimo’s work provided the foundation for all basic communication needs. They designed stationery, business cards, stickers, tags, boxes, brochures and four-colour ads for trade
Hankerchief Chair and Paperclip Table, Massimo Vignelli
5 Knoll International logo, Massimo Vignelli
Knoll Design Book, Massimo Vignelli
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Corporate Identity M
assimo Vignelli was offered to create the American Airline logo in 1967. His desire for clean lines and direct communication with the audience consisted of line, color and typography. His most recognizable and “classic” design
Massimo Vignelli’s ubiquitous corporate identities are known for his diverse designs. If a human can interact with it, Massimo Vignelli has designed it or something similar. His creative power comes from his simplistic design which is
“The first thing you need to make clear to a client is that you aren’t there to answer his wants but to answer his needs” is the American Airlines logo. This simple logo speaks for what the brand is and appeals to the audience that results in a brilliant execution of design. This design announced American Airlines as the professional airline, It let the corporation’s reputation speak for itself. Massimo’s design for American Airline is one of the earlier uses of the Helvetica typeface that was all used facets of visual communication and
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an echo of his contemporary Dieter Rams who said “good design is as little design as possible”. Vignelli creates direct links from featureless entities, such as corporations. We find comfort in his designs because they are familiar, relatable. Massimo made his deisgns so they are simple on the surface, yet so complex
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Packaging Design M
assimo designed the corporate design for Bloomingdale’s, the Manhattan based luxury department store chain, including its shopping sacks emblazoned with the ‘‘big brown bag” logo since 1973. The first of the series to appear was the “Big Brown Bag,” which was
It’s the simplest. Starting with the classic Bauhaus typeface Futura, Massimo trimmed the extraneous details, merged the double Os, and turned a cumbersome 13-letter word a nightmare for most logo designers, trust me into an elegant, stylish composition of lines and circles.
“Styles come and go. Good design is a language, not a style” specifically requested by the linen department to accommodate the increasingly larger pillows and blankets that were becoming popular. The little brown bag, for cosmetics and accessories, followed naturally a year later. Vignelli’s system may or may not have been created with a specific lifetime in mind, but its candid language and rounded letter forms create a humble charm that has transcended 40 years of fads, even when translated into a canvas tote.
Medium Brown Bag, Massimo Vignelli
Bloomindales, Massimo Vignelli
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Big Brown Bag, Massimo Vignelli
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Bibliography Vignelli, M. “Vignelli Canon.” (n.d.): n. pag. Web. ”Vignelli Associates.” Vignelli Associates. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. “Massimo Vignelli: 5 Appreciations by 5 Design Professionals.” The Cut. N.p., 28 May 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2015. ”Society by Design.” : American Airlines Logotype By Designer Massimo Vignelli. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 April
Designed and written by Megan Young Composed in Helvetica and Times New Roman Printed from Toshiba estudio2540c on to #80 Hammermill Copyright ©2015 Megan Young, Maine, Maine College of Art