Page Text: News from Steven Heller
American Reich
November 25, 2015
World War II continues to be a gold mine for movie magicians, yet creating an alternative history that has one foot in that reality and the other in speculative fiction is a challenge for any designer looking for authenticity, a look at the challenge for the team responsible for designing The Man In The High Castle .
How ISIL uses media to get their message out
November 19, 2015
ISIL is spreading their propaganda to the world producing high end videos mimicking familiar Hollywood-like images
When I’m Sixty-Five
November 4, 2015
A commentary for Design Observer on the state of design for seniors and the lack of focus and detail on the use of typography for communications for an older audience.
Logos Start Media Frenzy!!
September 2, 2015
In a post for Design Observer , Steven Heller questions if the media knows what designers do?
Tag Team: The Graffiti Artists of Show Me a Hero
August 26, 2015
The graphic designer Chris Capuozzo used photographs of Yonkers taken by his wife during the 1980s in order to achieve verisimilitude for the HBO show’s sets .
Magazines Can Compete with the Web with the Right Design
August 21, 2015
Great magazine covers once held pride of place in the home. They were social and intellectual status symbols. And among them, 92 covers that George Lois created for Esquire from 1962 to 1972 stand above almost all others. Publishers trying to combine print and digital continue to grapple with how to retain integrity between media, while investing in brand consistency. Digital and analog may have the same basic content, but their approaches are inevitably different.
The Many Meanings of K
August 12, 2015
In the alphabetic hierarchy A gets all the attention and Z comes in last, but the most symbolically crafty of all the letters is K. For Design Observer , Steven Heller looks at the many ways people have capitalized on K.
Know what else sucks about Donald Trump? His Branding
August 7, 2015
In a post for Wired.com , Steven Heller takes a sharp look at the lack-luster branding effort of Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Unwrapped: The Subtle Joys of Food Packaging
August 5, 2015
A post for The Atlantic , celebrating the art of what our meals comes in, from cookie boxes to condiment bottles.
Can Design Help the USPS Make Stamps Popular Again?
July 18, 2015
The Postal Service’s new Forever stamp series, “Summer Harvest,” targets two kinds of audiences: foodies and nostalgics. Designed and illustrated by the veteran illustrative letterer and typographer Michael Doret, who drew upon old fruit-and-vegetable-box labels for inspiration, the stamps seem to reflect the country’s renewed interest in organic and locally sourced food.
The Cognitive Benefits of Doodling
July 9, 2015
Two new books tout the benefits of drawing, sketching, and doodling as tools to facilitate thinking,even for the unartistic.
An Untimely Loss, a Timely Memorial
July 2, 2015
New York’s Morgan Library and Museum is currently exhibiting an original calligraphic manuscript of the preamble of the UN Charter, precisely hand-lettered in French, English, Spanish, and Russian by Hermann Zapf . The master type designer, who was also a typographer and calligrapher, died on June 4 at the age of 96.
Beyond Black and White: The Forgotten History of Color in Silent Movies
June 5, 2015
Archived at Holland’s EYE Filmmuseum, more than 250 still images from early colorized films from as far back as 1895. These stills featured in an eye-popping book, Fantasia of Color in Early Cinema .
Queens of Kings
June 18, 2015
Queens of Kings , directed/edited by Nicolas Heller, takes a raw look at the stimulating and flashy lifestyle of some of Brooklyns brightest drag stars. Each episode focuses on the intricate duality of performing in drag and the compelling story of the person behind the makeup.
“They’re Grreeaat!”: The Enduring Charm of Advertising Characters
June 18, 2015
Meet Mr. Product: The Graphic Art of the Advertising Character Volumes 1 and 2 (Insight Editions) by Warren Dotz and Masud Husain, are based on a collection of logos, packaging, and brand spokescharacters the authors acquired over the course of 30 years.
Revisiting the Work of One of the 20th Century’s Best Ad Men
June 11, 2015
Fresh from the industry’s creative revolution in the 1960s, the art director George Lois helped make some of the greatest advertisements of the modern era.
Reviving a Beloved Forbear of the Graphic Novel
June 4, 2015
An unsung treasure that influenced the likes of Maurice Sendak, R.O. Blechman’s picture book, The Juggler of Our Lady , originally released in 1953 will be reprinted for a new generation.
The Dark Side of Design
May 28, 2015
MoMA senior curator, Paola Antonelli and Jamer Hunt, the director of Parsons graduate program in transdisciplinary design, curated Design and Violence , a hybrid “exhibitio” and critical forum that has been hosted online by MoMA for the last 18 months. The museum published a book of the same title that addresses the impact of design on everything from shooting targets to lethal injection drug cocktails. The project looks specifically at changes that occurred after 2001, a watershed year for the perception of violence in the United States.
WANTED
May 18, 2015
A look long copy ad concepts , conceived by editor Ralph Ginzberg, including “Wanted” a subscription-selling ad for Eros; which was decidedly one of his most compelling.
Sex, Lies, and Animation
May 14, 2015
The cult indie filmmaker and cartoonist Bill Plympton remains a faithful advocate of the traditional hand-drawn method, on display in his latest romantic dramedy Cheatin’ .
Hollywood’s Griffith Observatory at 80: Still a Gateway to the Stars
May 7, 2015
A new book, Griffith Observatory: A Celebration of its Architectural Splendor , by the graphic designer and documentary filmmaker Arnold Schwartzman chronicles the building’s otherworldly beauty and mythic aura as one of one of Los Angeles’ most beloved attractions.
The Man Who Changed Humor in America Forever
April 30, 2015
Before it was a magazine, MAD was a satirical comic that ran under the inimitable leadership of Harvey Kurtzman. The title of a new, exhaustive biography by Bill Schelly out May 2, Harvey Kurtzman: The Man Who Created MAD and Revolutionized Humor in America , makes this exceptionally clear, giving Kurtzman a hero’s welcome into the pantheon of American cultural pioneers.
The Art of a Heartfelt Redesign
March 19, 2015
Southwest Airlines’ new logo and accessible font is a case study in how iconography conveys the human values of large corporations.
Design’s Great Debate
March 12, 2015
The Visionary Behind Italics
March 5, 2015
A new exhibit commemorates the Renaissance-era printing innovator Aldus Manutius , who pioneered classic typesets and engineered the predecessor to the paperback.
The Designer Who Humanized Corporate America
February 26, 2015
A new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, titled “Everything is Design: The Work of Paul Rand,” curated by Donald Albrecht, is Rand’s first solo New York museum exhibition. Paul Rand, was considered an American design pioneer who re-envisioned the look of megacompanies with whimsical, colorful logos and illustrations.
Socialist Regime, Commercial Design
February 19, 2015
Beyond the Wall: Art and Artifacts from the GDR , a 904-page picture book published and edited by Benedikt Taschen of Taschen Books chronicles the GDR’s hybrid approach to Eastern and Western design, which echoed capitalist styles while, at the same time, rejecting its ideology.
In Cuba, Maps Make a Comeback
January 29, 2015
Old-fashioned navigation is enjoying a renaissance on the island, where Internet access is still scant.
When Bauhaus Met Lounge Music
January 22, 2015
An upcoming art experience revisits the flash-in-the pan symbiosis between modernist master Josef Albers and an easy-listening 60s record label.
A Reclusive Logo Designer Gets His Due
January 15, 2015
A new monograph Wilhelm Deffke: Pioneer of the Modern Logo (published by and Scheidegger & Spiess and the Berlin-based Bröhan Design Foundation) is bringing Wilhelm Deffke, a little-known 20th-century German artist with a distinctive minimalist style, the showcase he deserves.
A Design Magazine That’s More Than Just Pretty
January 1, 2015
Works that Work (WTW) is a biannual print and online magazine that focuses its attention on consequential design that is rarely or never otherwise reported in design and lifestyle publications. Edited by Amsterdam-based type designer Peter Bilak, who also runs the type foundry and website Typotheque, WTW is concerned with the intentional and unintentional, jerry-rigged and precision-designed “work” that has made an incredible impact somewhere in the world.