“I was in my early 20s and I could quite happily work all day and go out all night. And I always had a camera with me.” –Nick Waplington, 2016 British Photographer Nick Waplington (b. 1965) was a student of the Royal Academy of Art when he was “discovered” by renowned fashion photographer, Richard Avedon. Throughout his...

This poster designed by Seymour Chwast for Herman Miller Furniture Company is all about the details. Chwast skillfully packed a bustling city scene overflowing with conversation into the poster’s vertical format, requiring the viewer to look closely and engage with the design’s dialogue as though reading a comic or storybook animated by the designer’s careful...

In Budapest, Hungary 1935, Andrew Kner was born into a family whose history in design, bookbinding and publishing dated back to the 18th century. In 1940, the Kner family fled the Nazi regime in Hungary and landed in Chicago, Illinois. Kner displayed an early interest in graphic design and matriculated at Yale University, where he...

A snowy terrace, ebullient pink-tinged amaryllises, and a scarlet-coiffed maiden distinguish this winter-themed print by Eugène Samuel Grasset (Swiss, 1841-1917, active Paris, France, 1871-1917).  The print, which spells out “Décembre” in the upper left-hand corner, was a part of a set of calendar prints, organized by month.  Cooper Hewitt has eight of these prints in...

Wallpaper, like all design, can be a powerful tool for communicating a specific message. Take for example wallpapers printed during the French Revolution that portrayed ribbons of red, white and blue in support of the uprising. On this object, however, a message has been spelled-out right on top of the design, the pattern becoming a...

American-born E. McKnight Kauffer is perhaps best known for his series of ground-breaking poster designs produced for the London Underground in the 1920s and 1930s. Widely recognized as one of the greatest graphic designers of early twentieth century Europe, Kauffer, who lived for much of his career in London, was influenced heavily by the work...

When it was introduced to London in the 19th century, the first underground railway was revolutionary. Able to provide quick, uninterrupted travel for commuters and easy access to the bustling city from the suburbs, the London Underground promised a better, more efficient future. It would take some convincing, however, to get the general public to...

The Artvertiser is a software platform that replaces billboard advertisements with art in real-time. It works by teaching computers to recognize individual advertisements so they can be easily replaced with alternative content, like images and video. A user must hold special Artvertiser goggles up to an advertisement to see artwork appear as a superimposed layer...