Chapter 19 - 20 Flashcards
Alvin Lustig
Notes: Graphic Designer, Interior Designer, and Architect. Believed that graphic design was a way to make sense of the universe. Designed a lot of book jackets/covers. Became blind in his 50’s…very sad.
Text Book: Was the visual design research director of Look Magazine. Josef Albers asked him to help him set up a graduate program at Yale. That was when his vision deteriorated. In spite of this, he continued to teach and design until his death over a year later.
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American Typographic Expressionism
Notes: Used typography itself to express some idea. Type was sometimes scratched, torn, bent, or vibrated to express a concept.
Text Book:
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Bradbury Thompson
Notes: One of the most influential graphic designers in post war America. Illustrated for Westvaco. His designs were influential because they were being seen by his peers. Achieved a rare mastery of complex organizational form and visual flow. Designed postal stamps for USPS (over 90 different designs). Also designed a bible for Washburn College.
Text Book: A thorough knowledge of printing and typesetting, combine with an adventerous spirit of experimentation, allowed him to expand the range of design possibilities. Thompson achieved a rare mastery of complex organization, form, and visual flow.
For his book designs in the 60s and 70s, his style turned more classical, focused on effectively communicating.
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Chermayeff & Geismar
Notes: Stong understanding of European Art movement.
Text Book: New York Design firm started by Robert Brownjohn, Ivan Chermayeff, and Thomas Geismar. Brownjohn left the firm to go to England, where he made significant contributions to british graphic design. Meanwhile the firm, played a major role in the development of postwar coporate identity. They moved to the forefront of the corporate identity movement. Created the Chase bank logo, Mobil logo, NBC logo, etc. Believed symbols must be memorable and “have some barb to make it stick in your mind.”
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Doyle Dane Bernbach
Notes: Designed the popular “think small” VW ad. Their designs were reduced to the basic elements necessary to convey the message. CA Magazine published a satirical critique on the VW ads. Believed the writer and designers should work together.
Text Book: Design Agency that changed advertising. Became a training ground for what was eventually called the “new advertising.” “Took the exclamation point out of advertising” and made it talk intelligently to consumers. Utilized white space. Developed a strategy around the distiguishing characteristics of the items he would market. Fused word and image so that they became fused, working seamlessly together.
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George Lois
Notes: Worked for Doyle Dane Burnbach. Also believed designers and writers should work closely. Climbed out on the third floor ledge demanding that his poster proposal be approved. He is noted for his work in Esquire magazine having designed 92 of it’s covers.
Text Book: Ditto to above notes.
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Henry Wolf
Notes:
Text Book: Became art director of Esquire in 1953. Studied under Brodovitch. Redesigned Esquire’s format, placing emphasis on white space and large photos. When Brodovitch retired in 1958, Wolf took his place at Harper’s Bazaar. He left Harpers in ‘61 to create his own magazine, Show, which was short lived. He then moved on to advertisting and photography.
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Herb Lubalin
Notes: Called the typographic genius of his time. Talks about using typography as an image (mother & child logo). Worked for Avant Garde Magazing and designed their logo. Later formed ITC (International Type Corperation) to distribute independent typefaces and to allow designers to be compensated for their designs. Created many typefaces over the years including: Avant Garde Gothic. Started a magazine called U&lc (Upper and lower case). It was distributed to designers for free.
Text Book: Dabbled in many types of design. Abandonded traditional typographic rules. He would sometimes cut apart type proofs with a razorblade and reassemble them. His designs using phototypography brought awareness to the design potential of phototypography. Also made significant contributions to editorial design. Worked on a quarterly journal called Eros. He believed type should express content and used a variety of type in Eros. Magazine Avante Garde became one of his most innovative achievements.
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Lester Beall
Notes: One of the few USA designers who contributed to modern design. Designed the trademark for International Paper.
Text Book: Contributed to the development of the corporate identity manual. Beall’s manuals told specifically the permissable uses and forbidden abuses of the trademark.
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Lou Dorfsman
Notes: All text in the new CBS building was set in Didot. Also designed books.
Text Book: Became art director for CBS Radio. He forged a design approach that combined a pragmatic sense of effective communication with imaginative problem solving. After Goldman’s death, he became the creative director for CBS TV. Later named director of design for all of CBS and later Vice President.
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Massimo Vignelli
Notes: Unigrid system and Stundig Calendar.
Text Book: Unimark’s director of design. Later founded Vignelli Associates. Created the Unigrid system for the National Parks (in the Swiss style) and their brochures. Also designed the Stundig Calendar.
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New York School
Notes:
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Paul Rand
Notes: Mostly know for his cooperate identity design. Started in editorial design and advertising. Worked for several companies/magazines including: Apparel Arts, Esquire, Coronet. Often used collage to solve problems. Believed that there was no difference in where you designed, it is all design. Terminology may change but the design is the same. Wrote an audatious book while in his 20’s (Thoughts on Design) that used his own work to illustrate ideas.
Text Book: Initiated the American approach to graphic design. Broke traditions. Worked with Bill Bernbach to create an ad where the image and the words worked together. The image visually reinforces the headline. Also took risks and explored unproven ideas.
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Saul Bass
Notes: Moved from NY to LA and became very involved with movie markenting and design. Frequently reduced his designes to a single dominant image. Later Started working on opening credit sequences and animations. Also directed a number of short films or film sequences (classic shower murder scene from Psycho).
Text Book: Inspired by Rand’s work, but unlike Rand, he often simplified his forms to a single dominant image. Irregular forms appear to be crudely drawn or cut out of paper. The images are simplified, but are not drawn on any kind of grid. He was commissioned by Otto Preminger to create the marketing for his movies. The Man with the Golden Arm was his first, and the animated title sequence he created for it made him quite famous. All of his promotional art was cohesive. Simplicity and directness of work allows viewer to interpret the content immediately.
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William Golden
Notes: Brought Didot back from France and used for CBS logo. Characters had to be drawn by hand.
Text Book: CBS Art director for almost 2 decades. High visual standards and key insight. Designed one of the most successful trademarks of the 20th century for CBS. Effectiveness of that symbol demonstrated to the larger management community that a contemporary graphic mark could compete successfully with more traditional illustrative or typographic trademarks. Believed that the designer’s primary function is ensuring that the message is accurately and adequately communicated.
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