Massimo Vignelli was born in Milan in 1931. It was there that he first studied art and architecture, until he came to America in 1957. In 1971 Massimo and his wife formed Vignelli Associates, and in 1978, Vignelli Designs. His work covers nearly every field of design including advertising, identity, packaging, product, industrial, interior and architectural design.
As An avid fan of modernism, his work is always very clear and concise with no clutter or unnecessary materiaL
Massimo Vignelli featured in a 2007 documentary called "Helvetica". The film explores the nature of typography, graphic design and global visual culture. Many other artists were featured in the film expressing their experiences with typography and design, and more importantly the influence it holds in our world today.
Vignelli at one point during his interview said the following
“The life of a designer is a life of fight. Fight against the ugliness. Just like a doctor fights against disease. For us, the visual disease is what we have around, and what we try to do is cure it somehow with design”
This quote though having snobbish connotations to it, can be a way of saying that artists look for aesthetic harmony in their field of design. Much like the quote from Antoine De Saint-Exupery "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away." This can mean an imbalance in colour, scale, composition, texture etc. Vignelli is emphasising on the practice to ensure the 'ugliness' of imbalances within a design is accounted for as well as the accounting for the genre of design.
Some of Vignelli's work is in our everyday lives without even realising.
The Ford logo is Vignelli’s creation. Its description is that of the shape of an ellipse and filled in with blue colour. The word ‘Ford’ is written in silver. This logo became the trademark for the company.
He made the famous American Airlines logo that emphasised on two colours; blue and red. He did this to represents the United States of America. That logo was used by the Airlines for 45 years when they changed it last year and was much criticised for that. The typography is simple, but the way it was used made to make it work.
His NYC subway map caused a great controversy. Although it was a colourful map, it had no relation to the actual geography of the system. To many, it was a poor design to start with. According to him, the NYC Subway map wasn’t a map, but a diagram.
However, the map is one of his most famous works.
His poster for Knoll International is an excellent specimen of his work. It was a colourful poster with each letter of the company name overlapping the other along with the details written in small font.
With these examples its easy to see Vignelli had a taste for geometric concepts, simple typeface and superb resistance to overcrowding. No matter what Massimo Vignelli set out to do, he worked hard to create a finished product he could be proud of. He has set the bar high for future designers. Through my own work I intend to follow the same concept that aesthetic harmony is key to balancing a design and ultimately fighting against ugliness.
Until Next Time, Live and Laugh,
Yorumlar