Massimo Vignelli’s 1966 design for the New York City Subway map used the graphic simplicity of modernism to clearly communicate the layout of the transit system, ironically though, this oversimplification of the design was rejected by many New Yorkers as difficult to understand.
Alvin Lustig created a book cover design for Anatomy for Interior Designers: Plus How to Talk to a Client that used whimsically decorative typefaces contrasted with strong modernist themes of simplicity, montage, and aesthetic self-reflexivity.
As part of a series for the Rural Electrification Administration, Lester Beall designed a campaign of posters that combined the realistic representation possible in photography with strong graphic language through the use of montage and paradox.
c.christian
Blogger Liz Throop said...
ReplyDeleteChristian - all three sound interesting, and could be discussed in terms of American audiences, who were not so interested in an ideal form of modernism.
Regarding Vignelli, we were told many times in design school to make it "as simple as possible but no simpler." While I gloat a bit about this failure on Vignelli's part, the overall approach prevailed and the map still looks similar.