“If you can design one thing, you can design everything.” – Massimo Vignelli Massimo was born in Milan in 1931. He studied architecture in Milan and Venice, and then moved to New York City in the sixties, where he worked for Unimark International, and eventually opened his own office, Vignelli and Associates. Vignelli has worked with may companies, such as Bloomingdales, American Airlines, IBM and Knoll. meel Massimo Vignelli is a well known Modernist. Modernists use practices and perspectives of the new lives and ideas provided A A by the technological advances of the industrial age that helped His work focuses on simplicity through his use of basic Persaud geometric forms. It is also evident in Vignellis designs that he pays close attention to the functionality of his designs. He is also known for his knowledge and use of typography. His design style is very clean, and reflects through his work with Helvetica. Helvetica is one the typefaces that perfectly combines functionally with modernism. It’s a typeface that can clearly be read and understood while still having a dominant, sleek look. One of Vignelli’s most well known logos is the American Airlines logo. In 1967, he created the halp red, half blue, plain type logo to stress the professional attitude of the company. The simplicity of the red and blue Helvectica “A’s” are timeless and can be recognized in an instant. Vignelli’s logo was unique because of its simple, yet elegant and modern approach. A suc- cessful logo is a logo that can be easily recognized and understood. It doesn’t represent the company as a whole. Rather, it gives a glimpse of the company. Visually it’s clear that the company is American by the logo design. The American Airlines logo encompasses a company that is both modern yet traditional, eye catching and patriotic, by using our national colors. Vignelli is also well known for his Bloomingdales and Saks Fifth Avenue Bags. Once again, he stayed true to his minimalistic approach using a Helvetica like typeface, keeping everything legible and clean. Of all his design works, one of Massimo Vignelli’s greatest con- tribution to New Yorker’s is the New York City street and subway signage and maps. The clear typeface, and the bright colors makes a complicated city, easy to navigate. The subway lines are color coordinated making it easier to understand and navi- gate. Massimo Vignelli says he “reimagined the MTA New York City Transit subway system as a neat grid of colored lines surrounded by a beige ocean.” I like design to be semantically correct, syntactically consistent, and pragmatically understandable. I like to be visually power- ful, intellectually elegant, and above all timeless –Massimo Vignelli .