Tobias Frere-Jones is a type designer from New York City. He still lives and works there, at a type foundry in Brooklyn called Frere-Jones Type. He was born on August 28, 1970, in Brooklyn to Elizabeth Frere and Robin Jones. His mother, Elizabeth Frere, was an English native hailing from Kent, a county right outside…
John Rieban’s importance to graphic design can’t be understated, and the work he designed for the Chicago Public Library, titled Chicago Public Library, was one of many indicators of this. This is my favorite piece by Rieben because it draws the eyes of the viewer with the giant red “a” and brings you closer only…
Born in Chicago, Illinois, on July, 6th, 1931, John Massey would come to be known as one of the premiere contemporary graphic designers of the twentieth century. He became interested in design as a young boy, partially following his father’s footsteps into the realm of architecture before eventually finding his niche in graphic design. At…
Penfield, Edward, and Pollard, Percival. Posters in miniature. New York: R.H. Russell (1896), pg 240. The American designer William H. Bradley is one of the most influential designers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Regarded as the “American Aubrey Beardsley,” Bradley left behind a legacy of incorporating many styles into design due…
Now, this is going to sound weird, but the way Terry Irwin uses Pinterest is even more artful than the typical user. Of course, it is clear to see how design could come into play with something like Pinterest, but how can I say that these boards are an actual project and not just a…
Perhaps the most important project Terry Irwin has led, the reworking of the Carnegie Mellon curriculum is not something traditionally ascribed to the field of design. However, that is kind of the point of the project: to expand the meaning of design. As mentioned in her biography, Terry Irwin had developed a deep reverence for…
Stanley Mouse created designs for many top tier bands throughout his time as a designer but one of his most famous is a The Grateful Dead poster he made in 1966. It was one of his collaboration projects with Alton Kelley, a fellow designer Mouse worked with for 15 years. The poster was one of…
Mehemed Fehmy Agha was a Turkish designer, art director, and the first magazine editor. He was born in Russia in 1896. He received his education in Czarist Russia, with a degree in economics from Emperor Peter the Great Polytechnic Institute in Kiev as well as a degree in Oriental Languages in France, Paris. He was…
Thomas Geismar is known to be one of the most influential designers in the 20thcentury. He is best known for the firm Chermayeff & Geismar, which he founded with his life-long partner, Ivan Chermayeff. For the past 40 years, Geismar has changed what it means to be a graphic designer. His designs are recognized daily…
Stanley Mouse was born in Detroit Michigan in the year 1940 with the name Stanley George Miller. He ended up adopting the name Stanley Mouse later in his life. Growing up in a household with a Disney animator for a father led Stanley to develop an intense passion for art. This passion slowly…
Before looking any further, no, she’s not the naturalist wife of the legendary crocodile hunter. Trust me, it was my first thought too (and apparently every search engine’s as well). Terry Irwin is an esteemed graphic designer who has made a name for herself in her over 40 years of experience in the field. There…
Have you Gert of Dumbar? Gert Dumbar is a veritable icon of graphic design, whose work in iconic graphic designs are still used today. He studied painting and graphic design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Hague, later attending the Royall College of Art in London where he furthered his studies in graphic…
Germany in the late 1800’s was going through a great number of changes in its governmental and social structures, giving rise to new art and cultural opportunities as well. These upheavals would, of course, lead into the world wars many years later, but preceding those tumultuous times would be the time that Thomas Theodor Heine…
Robert Brownjohn was born in 1925 in Newark, New Jersey. His father, a bus driver, died at age twelve. He did the title sequence for the second James Bond Movie, and it was really good! His addiction to drugs, specifically heroin, and his fast-paced lifestyle led to his untimely death at the age of forty-four.…
Fabien Baron is an art director and magazine editor, famous for his influential work with Vogue magazine and brands such as Calvin Klein, Givenchy, and Fendi. He was born in Antony, France in 1959. As the son of a newspaper designer, Baron began his own passion for graphic design in 1976, when he began to…