Paula Scher…

 

Paula Scher was born in 1948 and is an illustrator, painter, graphic designer and art educator. She was the first female principle of Pentagram, when she joined in 1991. The New York approach to retro began with a small group of designers including Scher. They rediscovered earlier 20th century graphics ranging from the Vienna succession to modernist and decorative European typefaces. The approach they had to space, colour and texture was often personal and original. Scher shared these unorthodox attitudes about the accepted rules and regulations of design and typography and this permitted her to take risks and experiment with her designs by mixing fonts, using extreme letter-spacing and printing type in subtle colour-on-colour combinations.

 

 

Scher, an outspoken designer, with an iconic sense of humour, worked with CBS Records during the 1970s, which was when the music industry was hit with inflation. This led to tight budget which forced Scher to develop typographic solutions based on her imagination, use art and design history sources and her fascination with obscure and little used typefaces. Art Deco, Russian constructivism and outmoded typefaces were incorporated into her work.

 

“Typography is painting with words”

 

Paula Scher paints with words, developing the visual language of iconic brands and institutions worldwide. Based in New York City and working at the Pentagram studio, Scher describes her design process as using large scraps of paper to work out ideas and it is very fast paced. She says the design process doesn’t take place at a desk, but whenever you’re doing something else that you figure stuff out. Scher has come up with more ways to make type talk than anyone else and has built up a distinctive body of work with just letters.

While working at Pentagram, which has the benefit of being a large firm but everyone can still work as an individual.  Scher has been designing for the Public Theatre since 1994. Firstly to create a brand identity because they were having name issues and having multiple identities. They wanted it to be populous and ‘New York-ish’. While looking through the book, American Wood Type, Scher saw different weights of the font and came up with the idea to use all the weights. This symbolises New York to Scher as ‘every type of weight is included’ and this is still the identity the theatre uses today.

 

 

 

Netflix ‘Abstract’ Series – Paula Scher: Graphic Design 

MEGGS’ History of Graphic Design by Meggs & Purvis

 

Ian Spalter…

 

Ian Spalter is currently the head of Instagram Japan and previously was the head of design at Instagram, where he led the team that was responsible for all things design ranging from cross-platform app experiences to brand and identity. Spalter had previously worked on UX at YouTube and Foursquare, and has overseen design development projects like the Nike+ fuel band and Nike Running, Basketball and Training products. 

 

 

His journey in Instagram began when he joined in April 1915 as Head of Design, where he was in charge of a social media app that was being used by over 1 billion people at the time. Spalter oversaw major changes which increased the apps popularity including the introduction of stories in 2016 and changing the logo to a colour, cartoon-esque logo. Today he is now living and working in Tokyo as the head of Instagram Japan. No one anticipated how successful Instagram would be and how it would be shaped into one of the most influential technologies in today’s society. As a result, Spalter oversees a product that 1 in 7 people are using. 

 

“Design is everywhere..designed to help you complete a given task”

 

Spalter’s outlook when it comes to UI and UX is a part of the reason why he is so successful. He feels a big part of humanity experiences the universe is visual based on how we all carry a device which allows you to capture a moment, and send it anywhere on Earth. A design to Spalter, is not just what it looks like in a given moment, but to do with the entire experience of using a particular product/service. When designing a product, you have to think about how people think, how they approach each other and how they approach the abstract concepts, like ‘this touching on glass’.

 

Netflix ‘Abstract’ Series – Ian Spalter: Digital Product Design

 

Walter Gropius & co…

 

The radical thinking of the Bauhaus still shapes our lives today, even after a century from when it was formed. It was the first revolutionary design movement, and even though it only spanned over 14 years, it had a worldwide impact. The Bauhaus was never just one thing. It was a school where avant-garde designers came together in one place to decide and shape the art in the coming age. They had an attitude of positivity and belief, that you can change how people think and do things through design. 

 

 

The school was founded in 1919 in Weimar, which ended dup being an early modernist movement. Walter Gropius created the school and became the first director, who is now considered one of the greatest architects and educator of the 20th century. He came from a well-known family which had a long history and line of architects. A good architect should always have a wider view of society and how the built environment changes us, which Gropius had. Beyond an architect, he was a thinker and has the concept of let’s redesign society.

 

“A chair should be beautiful, not just practical…I consider beauty a basic requirement of life”

 

Gropius surrounded him self with other designers such as Wassily Kandinsky, who brought a new method of painting, Paul Klee, whose students described his lectures as transformative and spiritual, and Oskar Schlemmer, who focused on the human figure. 

Gropius talked about a ‘total work of art’, and hired people because they weren’t the normal designer and brought something different. Kandinsky and Klee were less inclined to express the agony of the human condition, so they sought a spiritual reality beyond the outward appearances of nature and explored form and colour. Kandinsky compared colour and form to music, and its ability to express deep human emotions. Klee synthesised elements inspired by all modern movements as well as children’s art. His subject matter was translated into graphic signs and symbols with a strong communicative power.