Innovators in Graphic Design Three American Greats 1

Innovators in Graphic Design Three American Greats 1 Muriel Cooper 1945–1994 2 Lester Beall 1903–1969 3 Paul Rand 1914–1996 Innovators in Graphic Design Three American Greats 1 Muriel Cooper “Information is only useful when it can be understood.” 1945–1994 —Muriel Cooper 2 Lester Beall “The essential character and effectiveness of my design— 1903–1969 whether complex or simple, feeble or emphatic—is the inevitable product of two points of view, two attitudes toward life, two philosophies: that of designer/creator and that of the owner/user.” —Lester Beall 3 Paul Rand “One of the objectives of the designer who deals 1914–1996 with type matter involves readability. Unfortunately, however, this function is often taken too literally and overemphasized at the expense of style, individuality, and the very effectiveness of the printed piece itself.” —Paul Rand 1 Muriel Cooper 1945–1994 A pioneering book designer, digital designer, researcher and educator, Muriel Cooper was the was the longtime art director of the MIT Press, instilling a Bauhaus-influenced design style into its many publications. She moved on to become founder of MIT's Visible Language Workshop, and later became a co-founder of the MIT Media Lab. In 2007, a New York Times article called her "the design heroine you've probably never heard of.” Born in 1925, Cooper attended college at Ohio State University and received a Bachelors of Arts degree in 1944. In 1948, she garnered a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Design. She then went on to study at Massachusetts College of Art and earned a BS degree. Soon after, she moved to New York City and looked for a job in advertising. There she had an opportunity to meet Paul Rand, who inspired her design ‘way of life. “Information is only useful when it can be understood.” 2 Lester Beall 1903–1969 Lester Beall helped to change the face of American advertising and graphic design from the 1930s through the 1960s. His work was consistently clear, direct, and communicative. He was one of the early “no frills” graphic designers who emphasized a more functional, information-oriented kind of graphics. For Beall, typography had become a machine for communication, just as architecture had become a machine for living. Perhaps more than anyone else, Beall would be responsible for bringing American graphic design of the 1930s out of its humdrum tastelessness and inaugurating what we now know as effective visual communication. “The essential character and effectiveness of my design—whether complex or simple, feeble or emphatic—is the inevitable product of two points of view, two attitudes toward life, two philosophies: that of designer/creator and that of the owner/user.” 3 Paul Rand 1914–1996 Always in the vanguard of design developments, Paul Rand was strongly influenced by the many tal- ented designers who chose to leave Europe and settle in America during the pre-war years. His ability to manipulate visual form (shape, color, space, line, value) and skillful analysis of communications content, reducing it to a symbolic essence without being sterile or dull, allowed Rand to become widely influential while still in his twenties. The playful, visually dynamic, and unexpected often found their way into his work. After playing a pivotal role in the evolution of American editorial and advertising design during the Innovators in Graphic Design 1940s and early 1950s, Paul Rand became more involved in trademark design and visual identifica- Three American Greats tion systems in the 1950s. Rand realized that to be functional over a long period of time, a trademark should be reduced to elementary shapes that are universal, visually unique, and stylistically timeless. “One of the objectives of the designer who deals with type matter involves readability. Unfortunately, however, this function is often taken too literally and overemphasized at the expense of style, individuality, and the very effectiveness of the printed piece itself.”.

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