Vignelli

Vignelli

A Book by Yasmin Nadhirasari

A Retrospective to the Journey of Life and Career of One of World’s Greatest Modernist.

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Vignelli

Published by beStowed Publishing Group 8 West 26th Street New York, NY, 10011 Phone.: +1-212-627-9090 Fax: +1-212-627-9511 www.bestowedbooks.com Copyright Š beStowed 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without permission of the copyright holder.

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN: 978-0-1234-5678-6 Printed in the U.S.A.

Contents

1

Biography

A brief look into the story of Massimo Vignelli’s life and his journey as a graphic designer. p. 2

2

Philosophies

A thorough explanations of the three design values that Massimo Vignelli incorporated to his work. p. 8

3

Creations

A look into Massimo Vignell’s most prominent works, including American Airlines and Knoll. p. 12

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Biography PhilosophiesCreations

3

A life of a designer is a life of fight.

Fight against ugliness.

The Pure Modernist.

In 10 January 1931, the world was blessed with the arrival of a prolific Italian designer, Massimo Vignelli. Born in one of world’s major design, architecture, and fashion capital, Milan, Massimo Vignelli initially studied architecture at Politecnico di Milano before he found his niche in the two-dimensional plane.

Several fellowships abroad initially brought Vignelli to the United States, setting in motion plans and relationships that would lead to a permanent relocation to the States as Vignelli co-founded the design firm Unimark in 1965.

During the years spent at Unimark, Vignelli would make lasting impressions upon the design world with work such as his corporate branding for American Airlines, the identity re-design for Knoll furniture, and the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority Subway Sign System. Many of his works remain in place to this day, standing testament both to the quality of his work and its timelessness.

In 1972, Massimo Vignelli together with his wife Lella Vignelli would open the doors of Vignelli Associates, a multi-disciplinary design studio that could tackle any number of projects from corporate identity to interior spaces.

Massimo Vignelli has often been deemed a pure modernist for his strict adoption 4

6

and application of the International Style, clearly evident in his use of the grid and a select few typefaces that exemplify the Modernist aesthetic.

Function plays a primary role in his design work, as it often informs and determines the Form of any ensuing design project. Massimo Vignelli and his wife Lella have long established it as part of their design process to question the nature of what it is they’re designing. They have found that the solution to any given design work often enough lies at the end of a careful examination of the nature of it. Massimo Vignelli aspires to always make clear the essence of the work, so that communication can be clear and unimpeded.

Massimo Vignelli has been deeply committed and involved with the American design community, having even served as a past president of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. His work has been published and exhibited at an international level, with several of his works being made part of the permanent collection of several museums both in the United States and abroad. With a professional career that now spans 50 years, Massimo Vignelli has made last contributions to the design world and continues to serve as an influential leader in that realm.

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Biography PhilosophiesCreations

3

Details last longer. Lines last longer.

Good design lasts longer.

Design with Discipline.

Massimo Vignelli could not get to where he is right now without having a certain set of standards for his work. He goes by the book and follows the rules of International Typographic Style religiously. Massimo Vignelli believes that design serves as a tool to ease and help simplify human’s life rather than just a form of art.

Design needs to have a strong concept to create a visual power towards its audience. Through this visual power, design will then be able to influence and give an impact to people’s life in their own certain way. To achieve these certain standards, discipline is required in everything that we do.

Massimo Vignelli believes that to create a discipline in design, we must apply and hold certain values and integrity in our work. He believes that without discipline, there would be no good design. There is no room for sloppiness, for carelessness, for procrastination. Every detail is important because the end result is the sum of all the details involved in the creative process no matter what we are doing. To him, design without discipline is an anarchy, an excercise of irresponsibility, There are three values that Massimo Vignelli strongly holds to create a strong, visually powerful, and above all, timeless design. Those values are semantics, syntactics, and pragmatics.

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Semantics

Syntactics

Pragmatics

Semantics, is a study of meaning. In design, it means to understand the subject in all its aspects; to relate the subject to the sender and the receiver in such a way that it makes sense to both.

Details is the essence of syntax: the discipline that controls the proper use of grammar in the construction of phrases and the articulation of a language, Design.

Whatever we do, if not understood, fails to communicate and is wasted effort.

It means to design something that has a meaning, that is not arbitrary, that has a reason for being, something in which every detail carries the meaning or has a precise purpose aimed at a precise target.

The syntax of design is provided by many components in the nature of the project.

In graphic design, for instance, they are the overall structure, the grid, the typefaces, etc.

Syntatic consistence is of importance in design as it is in human life.

If we design things which we think are semantically correct and syntactically consistent but at the point of fruition, no one understands the result, or the meaning of all that effort, the entire work is useless.

So pragmatic means that any artifact should be able to stand by itself in all its clarity to be a successful design.

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Biography PhilosophiesCreations

3

If you can design one thing, you can design anything.

Bloomingdale’s (1972)

14

Kroin

Timeless Identity.

Over his years of career, whether it is with Unimark or with Vignelli Assoicates, Massimo Vignelli has created many recognizable brand identities. Skeptics might argue about Massimo Vignelli’s approach in design but evidences proofs of its impact in the society Massimo Vignelli and his peers at Vignelli Associates and Unimark have established brand identities works for big companies, such as American Airlines, Knoll, Bloomingdale’s, which identities lasted for decades and some even lasted until this very day. These identities have now become 16

1981 some of the most well-known ones through-out the United States of America and even the world.

The key to timeless design for Massimo Vignelli is in its simplicity. Massimo Vignelli always sticks to his integrity to try to always use logotype rather than using imageries to establish a brand identity. Type to him has a clearness and simplicity values, which he believes, will lead into something timeless.

United Colors of Benetton (1995)

AmericanAir 18

rlines

1967)

SATO20

GA.

RABeauty in Comfort.

1964

“If you can’t find it, design it�, Massimo Vignelli once said. During his career in the design industry, he combines his knowledge that he gained through his architectural education and his experience in graphic design to venture through the world of furniture design Massimo Vignelli have designed furnitures such as The Saratoga for Poltranova, Handkerchief armchair and PaperClip tables for Knoll, The Vignelli chair for Heller, and many others. His sleek and modern furniture design brings a clean look and feel towards the ambience of a room interior in its entirerity.

Knoll Handkerchief Chair (1982)

22

Heller Plasticwares

Stendig Calendar (1966)

24

Jack of All Trades.

Company identities and furniture designs might be Massimo Vignelli’s most prominent works. However, his design ventures spans much further.

Other prominent works in his portofolio includes the map for the New York City Subway system, Unigrid Publication System for US National Parks Service, plasticwares for Heller, watches for Junod, calendar for Stendig, interior design for St. Peter’s Church Manhattan, and even tea set for Cleto Munari.

This only proves further that Massimo Vignelli, who is considered one of the 20th century design greats, has successfully created designs that are semantically correct, syntactically consistent, and timeless.

If we understand the important values of design and are willing to explore, there is no doubt that we will be able to branch out our designing capabilities.

Massimo Vignelli, A Design Maestro.

In more than 50 years of career, Massimo Vignelli has managed to create a huge impact in the design industry.

Massimo Vignelli and his integrity has been able to influence modern designers in many ways possible.

In this book, we will take a look into his life story, principles, and wide arange of portfolio.

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Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright Š beStowed 2013. All rights reserved. www.bestowedbooks.com