If there is a clear and insurmountable characteristic of the world of graphic design, it is that it is a fairly young discipline, contrary to what it may seem to us. However, we have been extremely fortunate to attend during its short life the masterful contributions of a large number of professionals and graphic designers from around the world. Certainly visible heads and myths that will remain for posterity that made us learn a little more about the world of design and that, without a doubt, thanks to all of them, today design is what it is.
Below we share a top of ten graphic designers that are essential to acquire a rich and mature vision of our discipline:
Paul Rand
Around 1914 he was born in Brooklyn and immediately perceived his passion for image and art so he attended the art school in New York and later the Pratt Institute and the Parsons School of Design. Despite his formal and academic training, he did not find enough motivators for these educational institutions, so he chose to become a self-taught artist and received inspiration from some European magazines, feeling captivated by the works developed by AM Cassandre and Lazlo Moholy-Nagy. Although he is a multifaceted artist who has touched different areas of design, he has received special recognition for his corporate work for companies such as IBM, ABC or Westinghouse.
Saul bass
New Yorker by birth, he moved to Los Angeles at the age of 25 to study Graphic Design and later specialize in printing and motion graphics. I'm sure you've seen some of his creations since he's worked on movies like Psycho, Anatomy of a Murder, Spartacus or The Man with the Golden Arm.
Herb lubalin
He has been repeatedly dubbed the grandfather of typography. He worked as an art director for most of his active period including around 1962 the National Society of Art Directors named him Artistic Director of the year. Like a good part of his colleagues and peers, he was quite versatile but he stood out for his work in typography and especially the conception he had of it. Among many of his contributions, he highlights the importance of letters and his conception of them as agents of movement and as the transformation of a text into much more enriching and meaningful images and messages.
George lois
He dedicated himself to the world of advertising and art direction. You will surely recognize him for his work for the MTV chain although he has also worked for Jiffy Lube campaigns. He also served as an art director for the prestigious Esquirre magazine where he worked and supervised a large number of covers. This author is perhaps one of the representatives of the golden age of advertising.
Alexey Brodovich
He was born in 1989 in Russia, although he moved to the US around 1930. Our author was a graphic designer, teacher and photographer. He is considered by the community as one of the pioneers in editorial design as we know it today. During her professional career she gave us an infinity of jewels, many of them present in Harper's Bazaar magazine in which she worked for more than two decades.
Bradbury Thompson
Clearly one of the most influential graphic designers of the postwar era. Bradbury revolutionized print media by expanding the applications of the print image in a sense and leaving many possibilities open for the next generation of graphic designers. Among his contributions are his designs for Victory magazine or Mademoiselle magazine. He was also a design director at Art News and Art News Annual. He carried out a typographical reform and developed the Monoalphabet with which he put an end to the custom of separating the forms of upper and lower case letters.
Milton Glaser
Undoubtedly one of the most prolific designers of the 300th century who stands out for his designs for records or books. Among its more than XNUMX posters is that of the famous Bob Dylan, a symbol of the sixties. He also dedicated himself to editorial design working for Paris Macht, L'Express, Esquire or La Vanguardia and to corporate identity creating the DC Comics or Grand Union logo. One of his most emblematic creations, the I Love New York campaign continues unscathed over time, reminding us of the greatness of his vision.
Cipe Pineles
She studied at the Pratt Institute for a scholarship shortly after graduation that helped her continue her studies and later start working as a designer at Contempora. She was nothing more and nothing less than the first female art director in the United States and worked for large firms such as Vanity Fair, Glamor or Vogue.
Lillian bassman
Our author turned fashion photography into a kind of painting with clear artistic and plastic implications. Her personal way of perceiving images and capturing them through the lens and her strong academic load in art not only revolutionized the photographic principles established in the XNUMXs, but also made her perpetrate as a discoverer. She worked as a photo editor at Harper's Bazaar magazine for more than two decades.
Alvin lustig
He was a graphic and typographic designer of American origin and clearly a pioneer of the most modern and avant-garde design. He strongly believed in the power of design and extrapolated it to other dimensions having the belief that it should apply to all areas of life. During his career he contributed with the design of a large number of books, magazines, textiles, advertisements, commercial catalogs and a long etcetera. He worked until 1946 in the prestigious magazine Look and was sympathetic to the principles of the Bauhaus. For him, designers must pursue a comprehensive approach in their work and achieve the design of all aspects of a project, whatever its nature.
