With the temperature outside at record highs this week, I can’t help but think of William Henry Bradley’s The Blue Lady. Clutching her ice skates in her left hand, she makes a cold winter’s stroll through the thin, bare trees look elegant and placid. The Blue Lady was Bradley’s second poster for The Chap-Book, America’s...
To celebrate the opening of Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color (May 11, 2018-January 13, 2019), Object of the Day this month will feature colorful objects from the exhibition. Today’s post was originally published on April 18th, 2013. From the New York Subway system to American Airlines, Massimo Vignelli was responsible for some of the...
Paul Rand was an influential American graphic designer well known for the logos he created for IBM, UPS, ABC and other corporations. His 1947 book Thoughts on Design is considered a seminal text on graphic design. The poster above shows something different from Paul Rand’s oeuvre. It’s not a neat and compact corporate logo; instead...
London Transport posters played an indispensable role in the field of graphic design, particularly in the 1920s and 30s. In 1908, Frank Pick assumed responsibility for London Transport’s publicity and commissioned designs from internationally known artists as well as promising newcomers. Among them, a talented American poster artist and graphic designer, Edward McKnight Kauffer (1890-1954), helped...
Two short talks and a moderated conversation featuring graphic designers Richard Niessen and Craig Welsh explore themes of ornament, type, and history in contemporary graphic design. Niessen’s poster series—Palace of Typographic Masonry—create intricate arrangements of text and pattern, and is now on view in Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial. Welsh collaborated with AIGA Gold Medalist Elaine Lustig Cohen...
Streamed live on September 26, 2015. Graphic designer Philippe Apeloig speaks about his work and methodologies in today’s rapidly changing world of graphic design. A fascinating conversation about design, typography, branding, digital media, and global practice.
