Graphic Design

Denise Gonzales Crisp|Dialogues

A Critical View of Graphic Design History

Now comes yet another historical survey, Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide by Johanna Drucker and Emily McVarish. Denise Gonzales Crisp and Rick Poynor have been marking pages, making notes and exchanging views...

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Reflections on The Ephemeral World, Part One: Ink

Half-size manila blank paper notebooks with "makeready" covers by Trip Print Press, TorontoI was on a press check recently, deliriously inhaling the pervasive aroma of ink (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it) whereupon, feeling very …

Steven Heller|Essays

O.H.W. Hadank

Scharlachberg, wine label, 1933American modernist Paul Rand greatly admired German classicist O.H.W. Hadank, although the two appeared to have very little in common. Professor Hadank (1889-1965) began his career in 1907 and worked through …

Dmitri Siegel|Essays

Credit Where Credit Is Due...Or Not

Sundance Channel on-air identity, designed by Keira Alexandra, 2004 I was recently in the bookstore and I saw a big green book called Broadcast Design. I was pleasantly surprised upon opening it to see some very nice reproductions of work …

The Editors|Essays

Chicago International Poster Biennial

Chicago International Poster Biennial, poster design by Yann Legendre, 2008Posters, so beloved by graphic designers everywhere, have never felt at home in the United States. The European poster tradition, from Toulouse-Lautrec to Cassandre …

Jessica Helfand|Essays

National Scrapbooking Day

Scrapbook kept by Frederick Nixon-Nirdlinger, Philadelphia, PA 1909. Special Collections, University of Delaware Library.Today, scrapbooking enthusiasts across the United States celebrate National Scrapbooking Day, heralding the meteoric …

Debbie Millman|Audio

Abbott Miller

An interview with Abbott Miller, Pentagram partner and an award-winning graphic designer and writer. Miller is also the art director of 2wice magazine.

Debbie Millman|Audio

Laurie Rosenwald

On this episode of Design Matters with Debbie Millman, Debbie talks with graphic designer, artist and actress Laurie Rosenwald.

Alice Twemlow|Essays

Some Questions about an Inquiry

Opening night of the “Forms of Inquiry: The Architecture of Critical Graphic Design” exhibition at Casco, Utrecht, January 2008The Audio-Tooth Implant receives digital signals from radios and mobile phones and transmits the …

Michael Bierut|Essays

The Smartest Logo in the Room

The birth, death, and debate around one of Paul Rand's last logos: the "crooked E" he created for Enron.

Adrian Shaughnessy|Essays

Look and Feel / Nip and Tuck

I first heard the term "look and feel" in the early days of web-design. I found it an odd phrase. When web developers used it I couldn't be sure if they were talking about graphic design or some new hybrid form of design for the web and …

The Editors|Essays

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Paul Rand, played by Jack Nicholson.There's a great line in the Oscar-nominated film Juno in which the title character, contemplating the sort of family she'd like for her unborn child, resists the notion of "wholesome," telling her …