How did Massimo Vignelli become one of the most influential designers in history?
Introduction to Massimo Vignelli
Massimo Vignelli is one of the greatest designers to ever walk the earth and has had a profound influence on graphic design and visual arts over the past century, with his outlook and ideas on design inspiring thousands of graphic designers and product designers today, Massimo Vignelli is easily recognised as one of the greatest designers of all time.
Vignelli was a renowned Italian born graphic designer, product designer and exhibition designer primarily based in New York, USA thoughout the mid 1900’s where he worked as a graphic designer and product designer creating visual identities for brands and companies as well as building a name for himself through his unique design style that placed an emphasis on simplicity and typography as a form of communication.[Livingston, A. and Livingston, I., 2012.]
“Design is not art. Design is utilitarian, art is not.” [Massimo Vignelli: Best Quotes. 2021.]
– Massimo Vignelli
Massimo Vignelli has gained an amazing reputation for his design work and his approach to the design process throughout his lifetime focusing his efforts on ideas and philosophies similar to that of the Modernist Design, International Typographic Style and Swiss Design movements. These principles became a huge influence for Massimo Vignelli’s work and were the forefront of the design style and legacy he left behind, his focus on simplicity through the use of typography, form, colour and systematic grid systems are still principles considered for when we are designing for the modern world and technology.[Livingston, A. and Livingston, I., 2012.]
“If you can design one thing, you can design anything.” [Massimo Vignelli: Best Quotes. 2021.]
– Massimo Vignelli
One motto that Vignelli stood by was “If you can design one thing, you can design anything.” [B. Meggs, P., W. Purvis, A., 2016.] which was evident through the collection of work he had created for his portfolio over the years, Massimo was so diverse with his design style to the point where he was able implement the ideas and principles he so religiously followed into any type of project that could be appointed to him. His work over the years has included design mediums such as poster design, packaging design, product design and other forms of graphic design,[B. Meggs, P., W. Purvis, A., 2016.] his portfolio doesn’t stop there as his projects have even extended into areas like environmental design, interior design, furniture design and architectural design.
History Of A Designer
Early Life & Education
Initially Massimo Vignelli studied as an architect from 1950 to 1957 at universities in Milan and Venice before he translated the skills he had learned into graphic design and other related fields like product design and interior design.[Livingston, A. and Livingston, I., 2012.] His studies into architecture allowed Vignelli to see design from a different perspective that was more uniform and structured, this is evident throughout his design portfolio as he focuses on utilising grid systems[Livingston, A. and Livingston, I., 2012.] and point, line, plane principles to allow his to create designs that have a purpose and solve problems. His use of typography and colour have become a huge part of what Vignelli is known for and is now engrained into his DNA as a renowned graphic designer, his work has gone on to inspire many visual designers and architects over the years and still continues to have a massive impact on design for modern society.
The Beginning Of A Legacy
After finishing his studies at the university of Politecnico di Milano in Milan from 1950 to 1953 and then further continuing his studies at the Universitià luau di Venezia in Venice, Massimo went on to visit the United States of America after his studies in Venice in 1957 and was there for three years until he returned to Italy in 1960.[Wikipedia. 2021.] Vignelli later returned to New York City in America just six years later in 1966 where he began to create the legacy he left behind for us today, he relocated to New York in the 1960’s in favour of assisting the new start-up company Unimark Interactional, which is still considered to be one of the largest design agencies in the world to this date.[B. Meggs, P., W. Purvis, A., 2016.]
Unimark International was founded in 1965 by Massimo Vignelli, Ralph Eckerstrom and James K. Fogleman where they created the first Unimark International design studio located in Chicago, Illinois. The company gained a vast amount of popularity in its early years, having their initial offices in Chicago and Milan they started to expand at a rapid pace creating additional studios around the United States in locations like Detroit, New York and Cleveland as well as across Europe in countries like Switzerland, Germany, England and The Netherlands.[J., S., 2019.] Since the creation of Unimark International, the design firm has grown to employee over 400 graphic design enthusiasts in 48 different offices worldwide with design studios in North America, Europe, United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa.[B. Meggs, P., W. Purvis, A., 2016.]
Unimark International have worked with some big names within a variety of industries over the years including the likes of Panasonic, Ford Motor Company, JC Penny, Xerox in addition to a number of other highly reputable companies.[B. Meggs, P., W. Purvis, A., 2016.] Unimark was renowned for its use of the Helvetica typeface throughout the majority, if not all, of their client design work, this allowed the typeface to become the forefront of the Swiss Design movement which was in full swing during Unimark Internationals prime years. They believed that the Helvetica Typeface, previously know as Neue Hass Grotesk, was the most legible typeface which aligned with their ideals of using typography as the purest form of communication in design.[J., S., 2019.]
Neue Hass Grotesk, commonly referred to as Helvetica, was designed by Max Miedinger in 1957 and grew to become one of the most popular and recognisable typefaces in the world. Due to the large x-height and other characteristics of the typeface it was perfect for communicating through typography which was one of the idioms from the Swiss Design movement and previous movements that came before the mid 1900’s. It’s large x-height allowed the typeface to have a better legibility when displayed at smaller sizes in comparison to other typefaces and type classifications but its characteristics made it stand out when displayed at larger sizes.[Lupton, E., 2010.]
Years after Vignelli worked along side the team at Unimark International in New York he went on to found his own design agency, Vignelli Associates, alongside his beloved wife Leila Vignelli.[B. Meggs, P., W. Purvis, A., 2016.] Together they worked on providing design solutions for businesses throughout the late 1900’s and became a huge influence, not only for the Swiss Design and Modernist Design movements but also the design industry as a whole. Vignelli Associates worked on a wide variety of design projects over the years including areas like corporate identity, poster design, print publications, exhibition designs and architectural mock-ups to name a few, this list goes on with how diverse their portfolio of work is.[Livingston, A. and Livingston, I., 2012.]
Famous Works by Massimo Vignelli
The New York Subway Map
Massimo Vignelli and his company Vignelli Associates have worked on a range of different products throughout the 1900’s with brand names like American Airlines, Ford Motor Company, Knoll International, Bloomingdale’s and most notably his design of the New York Subway Map in the late 1960’s. Vignelli was selected to create a design system illustrating the underground subway system in New York in 1966 which is possibly one of his most famous pieces of work and also one of his greatest projects as he would consider it.[Livingston, A. and Livingston, I., 2012.] The New York Subway Map became one of the most iconic designs and has inspired numerous information designs around the world, one of which being the London Underground system which has similar characteristics to the design Massimo Vignelli did for the New York Subway Map. Along with being one of Massimo’s favourite projects he worked on throughout his career it also became a huge inspiration for modern information design today.[B. Meggs, P., W. Purvis, A., 2016.]
Corporate Identity
After Vignelli’s relocation to New York in 1965 where he worked alongside Unimark International he went on to create the brand identity for one of the most prestigious airlines in the world, American Airlines.[B. Meggs, P., W. Purvis, A., 2016.] In 1967, Vignelli was hired by American Airlines to develop their corporate identity and design their new logo which would become the face of the company, the geometric composition of the elements within the logo demonstrate Massimo Vignelli’s design style and his approach to design using geometric shapes, typography and grid systems.[Livingston, A. and Livingston, I., 2012.] In addition to developing the corporate identity and logotype for American Airlines, Vignelli is also well-known for the work he did in developing the corporate identity of Knoll International who were a furniture manufacturing company founded in New York.[Livingston, A. and Livingston, I., 2012.] Vignelli’s design of the Knoll logo illustrated the ideology and methodology he followed when designing, these were similar to the principles of the Modernist, Bauhaus and Swiss Design movements throughout the 1900’s which focused on clarity as opposed to beauty and saw typography as a form of communication that everyone is able to understand. Massimo followed these principles religiously and focused on delivering work that was clear and concise for what it is intended for.
Print Publications
Massimo Vignelli has also worked on a number of print publications throughout his career as a graphic designer and product designer some of which include book publications for Chanticleer Press and Rizzoli International Publications where his primary focus was on typography and lettering as the main elements of the design.[Livingston, A. and Livingston, I., 2012.] This held similarities with the Swiss Design movement and other Modernist movements at the time and Massimo focused his attention to creating clarity through the use of systematic grid systems and clear typography, Massimo also used a lot of sans-serif typefaces throughout his work which shared the ideas of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Josef Albers and Herbert Bayer from the Bauhaus Design movement in the 1920’s.
Below are some poster designs that have been influenced by the works of Massimo Vignelli, you can see the principles of design Vignelli followed and how he used typography as a form of communication. These are some designs that would influence my own personal design projects especially the use of typography to create a visual hierarchy between content.
Conclusion
After conducting my research into Massimo Vignelli and the legacy he has left behind within the graphic design and visual arts industry it is clear that he is without a doubt one of the most influential designers of the past century, Vignelli has had a huge impact on the Modernist, Swiss Design and International Typographic Style movements throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s which is demonstrated in the vast amount of work he has created over the years.
Personally, I see Massimo Vignelli as a huge inspiration of mine. After researching into his work and what he has created throughout his career I noticed that a lot of his designs have inspired other designers work. His philosophy on simplicity within design is something that I can heavily relate to as I love minimalist, modern design in addition to sharing many of the same ideas to that of the International Typographic Style movement.
The vast amount of work Massimo Vignelli created over the years is one reason he gained recognition as a key designer from the mid 1900’s, his diverse portfolio of work ranging from graphic design, product design, corporate identity, poster design, signage, publications and architectural designs as well as many others make Massimo Vignelli one of the most versatile designers in history as he was able to implement his principles of design on to almost anything he could get his hands on. This makes Massimo Vignelli one of the most influential designers in history and someone to learn from as he was able to successfully design products of all types.
Massimo Vignelli’s use of typography throughout the 1950’s and beyond made him a key part of the International Typographic Style movement and was essential to the development of the movement moving into the 21st century. Vignelli’s thoughts on simplicity within design and typography was something that was exclusively followed throughout the Swiss Design movement, the use of geometric sans-serif typefaces, grid systems creating a uniform layout and basic geometric shapes was also something Massimo chose to use as opposed to illustrations and images that were commonly used throughout other Modernist movements in the 1900’s.
References & Sources
- Livingston, A. and Livingston, I., 2012. The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers. Thames & Hudson.
- Massimo Vignelli: Best Quotes. 2021. Massimo Vignelli: Best Quotes. Available at: https://thefutur.com/blog/massimo-vignelli-best-quotes.
- Wikipedia. 2021. Massimo Vignelli – Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massimo_Vignelli.
- B. Meggs, P., W. Purvis, A., 2016. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. John Wiley & Sons.
- J., S., 2019. Graphic Design: A New History. Yale University Press.
- Lupton, E., 2010. Thinking with Type, 2nd revised and expanded edition. Princeton Architectural Press.