History

Ken Gordon|Essays

Recognizing the Designer’s Ego

Designers, on the whole, are a humble lot; they have high standards and a great sense of professional pride, but they know the ethical and economic implications of bragging, and they avoid it. Ego is traditionally the prerogative of, …

Sean Adams|Evidence

Will Burtin

Will Burtin was a graphic designer with no sense or boundaries in media.

Michael Bierut|Essays

Lella Vignelli

In my ten years at Vignelli Associates, I came to understand the relationship between the two brilliant designers who ran the office. Massimo would tend to play the role of idea generator. Lella served as the critic, editing the ideas and …

Steven Heller|Essays

User-Friendly Paul Rand

Paul Rand did not coin the term “user-friendly.” He would have hated its trendy sound.

John Foster|Accidental Mysteries

Postcards from the Trenches

Hand-painted postcards from WWI sent home in 1915 and 1916 by a 23-year old German soldier named Otto Schubert.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Audrey Real Helfand: Designer Manquée

Fifty years ago, my mother Audrey was a prolific visual maker: today, she’d be running her own studio.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Logocentrism

For Paul Rand, a modern mark was a simple mark, and the secret to making things last lay in keeping them simple.

Jessica Helfand|Chronicles

The Pipeline

A Personal History as Told Through a Straight Line

Rick Poynor|Exposure

Exposure: License Photo Studio by Walker Evans

The building as camera

Adam Harrison Levy|Essays

Hiroshima Lost and Found

The lack of visual evidence of the atom bomb’s effect has helped us to forget its devastating impact. To see is to remember.

Rick Poynor|Exposure

Exposure: Rayograph with Gun by Man Ray

The poetry of the cameraless photo

Rick Poynor|Exposure

Exposure: Assicurazioni Generali by Tošo Dabac

The textual unconscious of Zagreb