Malcolm Grear

Malcolm Grear, a graphic designer of astonishing originality and influence, died on January 24, 2016. Anyone who knew him as a friend, client, student, or colleague was profoundly shaped by his ideas and mentoring. Malcolm taught at RISD from 1960 to 1998. His teaching philosophy emphasized formal rigor grounded in clearly distilled design thinking. It was from Malcolm that I learned that deeply dissecting a problem is the secret to its solution. His critically-acclaimed book, Inside/Outside, From the Basics to the Practice of Design, features scores of student and professional projects driven by this core philosophy. 

From his humble roots in rural Kentucky, Malcolm built a global reputation. As an educator, he earned prestigious faculty awards, established a scholarship at RISD in his name, and received five honorary doctorates. In his over fifty years of professional practice, Malcolm won distinguished commissions, including seals for the Veterans Administration (1975), U.S. Health and Human Services Administration (1978), and the Presbyterian Church of America (1984). He designed the visual system, pictograms, and many applications for the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta (1996).

 

Grear’s identities for the Presbyterian Church of America and the 1996 Olympic Games

I was Malcolm’s student in the 1980s. His courses and influence transformed my understanding of figure and ground, shape and detail, form and content. He transformed my thinking in fundamental ways, guiding me to become the designer and educator I am today.

In 2009, I wrote a letter supporting Malcolm Grear’s nomination for a Lifetime Achievement Award from Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. Malcolm’s response to that gesture says volumes about who he was as a person. What he valued most was not the accolades and awards—and he racked up many—but the deep connections and love in the friendships and family he fostered.