Podcasts about vignelli

The MTA released a new subway map that harkens back to the colorful 70s-era Vignelli version. Stephen Nessen, transportation reporter for the WNYC newsroom, talks about the change. 

En este episodio de "The Designer Class" exploramos las lecciones que los diseñadores podemos aprender de la increíble carrera de Massimo Vignelli, pionero del minimalismo y creador de obras icónicas como el mapa del metro de Nueva York. Más allá de contar su historia, reflexiono sobre sus principios clave: cómo la simplicidad mejora la comunicación, la importancia de la coherencia visual para un diseño sólido y por qué la funcionalidad debe ser el corazón de todo lo que hacemos. También hablo sobre su enfoque atemporal y su rigor creativo, encapsulados en su Canon de Vignelli. Si buscas inspiración práctica y reflexiva, este episodio te dará herramientas valiosas del legado de un verdadero maestro del diseño. #Temporada4 #Creatyum10

Lella Vignelli's impactful contributions to product and interior design take center stage in this episode, with guest Giorgia Lupi, data visualization pioneer and Pentagram partner, and returning guest Rachel Gogel._______This show is powered by Nice PeopleJoin this podcast and the Patreon community: patreon.com/womendesignersyoushouldknowHave a 1:1 mentor call with Amber Asay: intro.co/amberasay Sources:Designed by: Lella Vignelli by Massimo Vignelli (Rochester Institute of Technology) About LellaYou've likely heard of Massimo Vignelli, the renowned designer behind iconic works like the New York City Subway map, but did you know that behind many of those projects was an equally brilliant mind? Lella Vignelli—Massimo's wife and design partner—was a powerhouse in her own right. With a background in architecture, she seamlessly blended elegance and functionality in everything from interior spaces to product design. Her meticulous attention to detail was the driving force behind many of their best-known works, including the timeless Handkerchief Chair and the stunning interiors of Saint Peter's Church in New York.Lella was more than just Massimo's collaborator—she was a visionary who believed in creating design that was truly timeless, free of trends and fads. Yet, despite her immense contributions, Lella's name often remained in the background. So, why is her story so often overshadowed? And how did she quietly reshape modern design?Tune in to this episode to hear the incredible legacy of Lella Vignelli—a designer whose work deserves to be front and center. About GiorgiaGiorgia's Books:This is Me and Only MeObserve Collect Draw!: A Visual JournalDear Data: A Friendship in 52 Weeks of PostcardsGiorgia Lupi is an Italian information designer, a partner at design firm Pentagram, and co-founder of research and design firm Accurat. She is a co-author of Dear Data, a collection of hand drawn data visualizations, along with information designer Stefanie Posavec. Her work is also part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art.In 2011, Lupi co-founded research and design firm Accurat, that combines design and data to create data visualizations, interfaces, and tools. Among their clients are Google, IBM, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Starbucks, United Nations, the World Economic Forum and the Museum of Modern Art. Lupi's influences for her work come from fascinations by geometrical feel and balance of abstract art compositions.Follow Giorgia Lupi on Instagram: @giorgialupiGiorgia Lupi's Website: giorgialupi.com ____View all the visually rich 1-min reels of each woman on IG below:Instagram: Amber AsayInstagram: Women Designers Pod

Discover the Timeless Genius of Legendary Graphic Designer, Massimo Vignelli. Dive deep into the world of the Godfather of Graphic Design Massimo Vignelli, and explore how his groundbreaking principles revolutionized modern graphic design. This episode is a must-listen for every graphic designer seeking inspiration from Vignelli's iconic legacy. Join The Angry Designers this week as they unpack Massimo Vignelli's ethos of simplicity, functionality, and timeless beauty, and see how they apply in today's design landscape. In this episode, the guys cover:- Massimo Vignelli's early beginnings- Popular Massimo Vignelli quotes- 5 Principles of Massimo Vignelli- How they apply to modern Graphic DesignWhether you're a seasoned designer or just starting out, there's wisdom in Vignelli's approach that transcends time. Stay Angry our Friends –––––––––––Want to see more? See uncut episodes on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/theangrydesigner Read our blog posts on our website TheAngryDesigner.comJoin in the conversation on our Instagram Instagram.com/TheAngryDesignerPodcast

Massimo Vignelli saw the world in black and white — and I'm not talking about one of his favorite color combinations. In his manifesto, The Vignelli Canon, he paints of scene of stark contrast: appropriateness vs arbitrariness, elegance vs vulgarity, discipline vs chaos. About quality, he said there are no hierarchies. “Quality is there or is not there, and if it is not there, we have wasted our time.” A Modern moralist, he traced the birth of his ideology to the publication of the French Encyclopédie in the mid-18th century, the embodiment of Enlightenment thinking at the time. While he does acknowledge this a “personal canon” and “my interpretations of reality,” his simple and powerful words cast him in a superhero persona, a crusading creative living a life of “fight against the ugliness.”In addition to covering his core philosophy, we'll use this episode to explore themes of timelessness, context, and commercialism and consider the enduring relevance of the Canon.Outline* History (1:11)* Core philosophy * Semantics (2:26) * Syntactics (7:26) * Pragmatics (9:30)* Timelessness (16:40) * American Airlines* Context (32:30) * Dribbblisation of design* Commercialism (41:46)* Bonus: how elegant paper sizes relate to evil-sounding music (47:26)References* Hard copy of the book (Lars Müller Publishers)* PDF of the book (rit.edu)* Objectified documentary by Gary Hustwit (hustwit.com)* American Airlines Rebrands Itself, And America Along With It (Fast Company)* American Airlines rebrand upsets Massimo Vignelli (Phaidon)* The dribbblisation of design (Intercom)* Vignelli tribute poster series (Anthony Neil Dart) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit designersketches.substack.com

Lisbon transit cartographer and designer Aurélien Boyer-Moraes talks learning to use a computer at 19, creating his first 3x4 ft. transit map of an imagined Brazilian city after reading Jacques Bertin's Semiology of Graphics cover-to-cover, preempting Google Street View in Lyon with his 6x6 Seagull camera, ten years of designing transit maps for French cities with Attoma, and his heavily-annotated collection of 2,100 transit and city maps (which he might let you see someday.) See his maps at https://transit-map.com/Indented below are Aurélien's notes on my notes (he is, as you can imagine, a precise man). Transit maps originally designed by Aurélien Metz, and Aurélien's original design  “The colors were imposed, there was no discussion, the use of these specific colors was mandatory because they were the new colors of the authority overseeing the transport in the agglomeration. They do not convey any specific information, which is against my general ‘credo', but we had to use them in the map.” Toulouse “My map had a strong palette which was consistent with the offer (the headways and the span of service) as you can see in the original from sept 2013, but it was scrapped in-house.” Dijon “A picture of a bus stop with the maps displayed (plan schématique général and the city center) and a pdf of an early version of the paper maps as they were issued in three different configurations: North, SE and SW (SO for sud-ouest), only the geographic map changed accordingly, the plan schématique remained the same, it was the reference. This initial configuration was irrelevant for a city of this size (250,000 inhabitants), then they reversed back to a single issue with, on one side the schéma + the center + information, and overleaf the geographic map.” Lyon, and Aurélien's original design Milan street map, completed in under two weeks Lisbon bus, tram and subway map Marseilles transit as of 1957 Vignelli's 1972 NYC subway map (cropped seven years later without his input, quelle horreur!) “I have a lot of respect for the early version of the map that the MTA committee led by Tauranac (with Michael Hertz as designer) released in 1979 (and was left almost untouched until the 1990s).One of the most relevant features of this map was the introduction of a very well thought out color code system by trunk in Mahanttan, which finally served also Vignelli since it makes his redesign of 2008 even more efficient! I am not a ‘blind pro-Vignelli, all against-1979 map.' It is way more subtle than that.Although the 1979 map evolved in such a wrong way since the mid-1990s, that today it is a spaghetti plate, and the redesign—first with the weekender and then with the opening of the first section of the 2nd subway line (after the demise of Vignelli)—by Cifuentes-Waterhouse in 2017 is more than ever powerfull thanks to the work of the 1979 committee.” Jarret Walker: a transit planning consultancy Sanborn insurance maps of Manhattan Two cartographers Aurélien would like to honor: “A Frenchman (for once) civil engineer from the prestigious École des ponts et chaussées, from the 19th century Charles-Joseph Minard (1781-1870) whose work is stilll pretty obscure to the general public, I learnt about him while reading The Visual Quantitative Display of Quantitative Information by Tufte, and you can easily find information about his impressive charts on the www.” “A Swiss designer (alive) who worked mostly in France, Rudi Meyer, he designed the 1976 splendid RER diagram and the French Railway system map that was on display from the late 1970s until 2011 in the trains. Need maps for your org's reports, decks, walls and events? ⁠The Map Consultancy makes real nice maps, real fast.⁠ See what good maps can do for you at themapconsultancy.com I have three words for you: Big. Glowing. Maps. Depending on how that makes you feel, you might like two more words: ⁠Radiant Maps⁠. See the most beautiful backlit maps at radiantmaps.co

This week, Luigi and Ravi bring back one of the first episodes that received great feedback from the listeners. Massimo Vignelli is one of the great modernist designers. They discussed how Vignelli cracked the design of the NYC Subway system, American Airlines timeless logo, the use of Helvetica in his work and more. Join us as we explore Vignelli's design philosophy and some of his eternal work. Happy Holidays and see you in 2023! _ Find the free show notes on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/designbyus _ Check out: byus.design Follow Design By Us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/designbyus_fm Follow Luigi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/luigi_dintrono Follow Ravi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/raviisoccupied --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/designbyus/message

Lorraine Wild is a designer who teaches and writes. A graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Yale School of Art, Lorraine runs Green Dragon Office in Los Angeles and is on the faculty of the graphic design program at California Institute of Arts. She's written extensively about graphic design for a variety of publications. In this wide-ranging conversation, Jarrett and Lorraine talk about the early years at Cranbrook, working for the Vignelli's, rethinking design history, and what it means to be a graphic designer today. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/204-lorraine-wild. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Rand. Vignelli. Bass. You often HEAR about these great graphic designers, but do you really know what they contributed? What they are known for? What mark they left on graphic design?In this episode of The Angry Designer podcast, the beardos reveal their top list of legendary Graphic Designers past & present, and WHAT mark they left on Graphic Design. You will learn about:Who they areWhat they were known forFamous worksWhat mark did they leave on Graphic DesignThis episode will leave you yearning for more - and good thing too...because there is a Part B coming next week!

Have you ever spent more time searching for the perfect font than actually designing? The excessive surplus of fonts have created a nightmare for designers (and confusion). Famous legendary designer Massimo Vignelli said  "New fonts have created Visual pollution".Join The Angry Designers as they battle against lazy designers who rely on fonts instead of good designs. This episode will shock you as they cover:The problems with having a giant font listHow fonts create lazy designersVisual Pollution & Massimo VignelliGlobal brands and the fonts they useType vs fontsHow to make your design barkThis episode will challenge you, shock you, and enlighten you to a new state of design. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google and on our website!

The Vignelli Paradox, Free Design eBooks + Sustainable Fonts A whole lot of fun packed into this week's episode — in links this week, we have a great tutorial on color theory in digital design, the inside scoop on how Arial and Times New Roman are good for the Earth, an amazing resource that compiles free design eBooks, and more! For our Nerd Alert segment, Olivia and Micah chat about Vignelli's controversial design principle of only using a few "good" typefaces and how that impacts design learning today. Weekly Typographic Newsletter Links

Massimo Vignelli is one of the great modernist designers. Join us as we explore his philosophy and some of his works. _ Show notes: Ravi was wrong! Check out the Canon in eBook form: https://rationale-design.com/resources/vignelli-canon/ New York City Subway Map: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Subway_map See Naples and Die: https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2014/04/27/a-dramatic-gesture/ Follow Design by Us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/designbyus_fm Follow Luigi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/luigi_dintrono Follow Ravi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/raviisoccupied --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/designbyus/message

My guest today is Maria Giudice. Maria founded Hot Studio, a design consultancy that was acquired by Facebook in 2013. After leaving Facebook, she served as VP of Design at Autodesk. In this conversation, Maria reveals how she found her purpose, and shares with us the exciting next stage of her career. Listen to the full conversation   Show notes Maria Giudice on LinkedIn Maria Giudice on Facebook Hot Studio Richard Saul Wurman Information Architects by Richard Saul Wurman Cooper Union Fortran Massimo Vignelli The yellow pages CCA Cartography Macintosh IIci Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Times New Roman Helvetica Mosaic web browser Netscape Frank Frazetta Italic script The Speedball Textbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Pen and Brush Lettering by Joanne Fink Autodesk Clement Mok The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life by David Brooks Rise of the DEO: Leadership by Design by Maria Giudice and Christopher Ireland Rise of the DEO posts in Medium Some show notes may include Amazon affiliate links. I get a small commission for purchases made through these links. Read the full transcript Jorge: Maria, welcome to the show. Maria: Thank you. I'm so happy to be here with you, Jorge. Jorge: Well, I'm very excited that you've agreed to come on. So, for folks who might not know you, how do you describe what you do and what you've been doing; your trajectory? Maria: Boy, that's a good question because I feel like I keep changing and growing. So, I'll go from one end, from being a child. I considered myself a fine artist and now that I'm a woman in her fifties, I am a, a design leadership coach and consultant. And a lot of stuff happened in between. Jorge: I was about to ask. I think there's a lot of… There's a big gap between those two. I'll tell you what I know, because we've known each other, but my awareness of you proceeds my knowing you in person. And I knew two things about you before I met you. One was that you founded a design agency or consultancy called Hot Studio. Maria: Yes. Jorge: And I also know that at one point you worked with Richard Saul Wurman. Maria: I did. Yes. Great, then you got two data points in a sea of many years of data points. Jorge: I think that the first time that I became aware of you, I believe it was in the Information Architects book. Maria: Yeah. I was sitting my twenties when I was featured in that book. And you know, Richard coined the phrase “information architects” back in the day. Jorge: Absolutely. Maria: I started out as a fine artist, went to art school. I went to Cooper Union in New York City. One of the beautiful things about Cooper Union as an art school was it was art, engineering, and architecture. It was founded in the 1800s by Peter Cooper. And when I went to art school, I had no understanding of the interrelationship between art, architecture, and engineering. They just seemed like very discreet disciplines. But at Cooper, you could take an art class. I was majored in art, but I took an engineering class. I learned how to do Fortran; don't ask me why decided to do that. I could take an architecture class. And so, this interconnection between art and technology was there at the very beginning, even though I didn't realize it. And then out of school, I got to work with Richard Saul Wurman. And how I got to do that was Richard was a visiting professor in my senior design class. And I was taking graphic design classes, but I had very… I was just… I hated it. I was a painter and I took graphic design essentially to learn how to be more organized. And also, my painting teacher suggested that I do that so I don't become poor. So, I was taking graphic design for all the wrong reasons, really seeing no purpose to it. I felt like it was incredibly formulaic. It's like, “Okay, you got Bodoni, you got Helvetica, you got the classic typefaces, you got the Bauhaus. So, you create the grid. Everything should be flush left. And oh yeah, lots of white space. Throw an image out, slap it together, call it a day.” That was my version of graphic design, and I was struggling for meaning and purpose. And then Richard walks into our class, he's a visiting speaker for the day. He doesn't look anything like all the graphic designers from the 80s. It is graphic design, and we're tall. Men wearing black. Vignelli. Everybody looked so polished, and I'm a girl from Staten Island. Okay? So, I look nothing like a typical designer. And he walks in, and he looks nothing like a typical designer. Short, chubby, big scarf, and more importantly, cursing up a storm, which of course I fell in love with. And he walks in and he changed my life because he walked in, he looked at all of us. He said, “You're all full of shit.” He's like, “You're doing design for the wrong reason. Design isn't about you. It's about helping people make sense to the world.” Now, I don't know if he said that exactly, but that's what I took away, and that was like the gods coming down from the heaven telling me, “Oh. There's a purpose to this.” You know, design is about being in service to others. Our job is a service job. Helping people understand, be entertained, make sense, you know, make clarity out of chaos, all of that stuff. And that changed my trajectory for the rest of my life. And that idea about design being in service to others, carried me through my 30 year career to where I am today. That focus, that we are here to help make clarity out of chaos. So, I worked for him right out of school designing guidebooks, because that's what you did in the 80s. And another big milestone happened where he got the gig to redesign the Pacific Bell Yellow Pages. Now, do you remember the yellow pages, Jorge? Jorge: I sure do. Maria: Yeah. I mean, I teach at CCA now and I, and I ask people about the yellow pages. They don't raise their hands. It's like generationally, a gone concept. But the yellow pages was the only thing that connected people in communities together through the telephone. And he got the gig to reimagine what the yellow pages could be for all of California and Nevada, to rethink about what the value proposition could be for this. And I thought that was a) fascinating; a fascinating problem to solve at scale, and b) an easy trip to the Bay Area for a couple of months where I can hang out and enjoy the nice weather. So, I drove cross country, my best friend came here. There was no office set up, so it was like ground zero. I land, a few other people land, and then we actually have to put together a company. So, I was at the beginning of understanding how you put a company together from the ground up. And so, I worked on the yellow pages, and my specialty was cartography. I don't know if you knew that about me, but I was a master cartographer. And that came through working for Richard. And so, my job in the yellow pages was to redesign and build all the maps in all the yellow pages. And we're talking about hundreds of different yellow pages throughout California, for all of California and Nevada. So, you know, I started designing maps and I had to quickly build a team, because I couldn't do it all myself. So here I am, 24 years old trying to help bring a company to life and become instantly turned into a manager of people. And it was the dawn of the digital age. A computer landed on my desktop in 1987, it was the Mac IIci. And it had Photoshop and illustrator 1.0 and it had Times New Roman and Helvetica. And Richard embraced technology really early on, and we all were at the beginning trying to figure out how to integrate this new technology into our workflow. So, all these new things happened at the same time in my twenties. That entrepreneurial spirit was alive and well, I was part of this new horizon. And I flourished. I really took well to tech. I loved working with computers. I loved being part of the beginning of figuring out how this all works. And I turned out to be really great at managing and inspiring people to work really hard. And so, I wound up staying in California and I had a team of like 20 people. By the time I was 27, I was managing a large, large team of people. And then I got to a place where I could no longer grow. I hit the top of my game in that company, and that's when I went on my own and started freelancing. And then, the short answer here is I started freelancing, I got busy, I hired people, I got busy, I hired people. Suddenly I had a company. I had a small company. Then I had a medium sized company. Then I had a really large company. The other thing that happened was I was also part of the very early beginnings of the internet. So, my clients were like, “Hey, you think about design very differently than other people, and can you design a website?” And I'm like, “I don't know what a website is, but I'm sure I could figure it out.” And this was like 1993. Mosaic was there. Netscape was coming out. And again, we were all trying to figure out what is this new medium and how does it integrate with what we do? And that propelled my career to founding Hot Studio. Hot Studio grew to about a hundred people in two locations, New York and San Francisco. And then we sold Hot Studio to Facebook in 2013, the year I turned 50. And then I worked at Facebook for two years and went to AutoDesk to be VP of Design, and that takes me to where I am now. Two years ago, I left Autodesk, and now I'm a coach where I get to help grow the next generation of creative leaders. And that's been incredibly rewarding. So that's a long trajectory, long story. But the information design element, the design being in service to others is the consistent thread through all of those experience touchpoints. Jorge: That's great. I want to circle back on that, but before I do, I want to ask you about something you said. You said that when you were still a student, you got into it primarily because of a love for the arts. Maria: Yeah. Jorge: But it's like visual arts, right? Maria: Yeah. I started painting when I was seven or eight years old, and I used to go study painting every Friday… Every Saturday morning, I would go to Mr. [Inaudible] art studio and take a book out of his rack and paint seascapes and still lifes, and it was oil paint. My uncle is actually a very famous fantasy artists named Frank Frazetta. Jorge: I've seen Frank Frazetta's work. It's astonishing. Maria: Yeah. So, he was my uncle. And so, I was surrounded by this idea about, you know, art being something that you can thrive in. And also, the connection between painting and graphic design for me was calligraphy. I started doing calligraphy in middle school. My English teacher gave me a book on italic, and I was fascinated by the Speedball book that I bought in the art store that had all of these different, like… I wouldn't say they were typefaces, but they kind of were. And I was really good at drawing letters and I used to design band posters. So that's how I managed to peg with the cool kids, because I would design posters for bands. And also paint jean jackets. So, I was entrepreneurial at a young age, being able to apply my artistic skills to things that people needed. Jorge: You said something when you were describing your career at Cooper Union, where you said that when you made the switch from visual arts to graphic design, one of the distinctions between the two was that graphic design was more organized. Maria: Yeah. I was such a slob, and I thought that if I take graphic design classes, it would help me be a little bit more organized. Jorge: Why would that be? Maria: Because my impression of the graphic designers that were in art school, they seemed like they had their shit together. The fine artists, not so much. And so, I saw these graphic designers that were so buttoned up and I went, “Oh, I maybe could learn something about this.” Jorge: When you came to California and started a company, was that The Understanding Business? Maria: Yes, that was The Understanding Business. So, Richard had Access Press in New York, and he founded the understanding business, and the big client was Pacific bell yellow pages. Jorge: So that is an awesome overview of your career, and I've learned so much just from this short conversation. Maria: Yeah, we're done now. Right? Jorge: Yeah. No, but I want to focus on what you're doing now because you said that… Well, you've had the experience, starting out as a freelancer, and I don't want to say accidentally, but it's almost like the business grew organically. Maria: Yeah, it was accidental. Jorge: Right? By the time before the step where you find yourself now, you were running design at a fairly large organization that makes tools for designers, right? Maria: Yes. Jorge: So, you've been exposed to various different facets of the design industry, and in particular digital design, right? From being an individual contributor, all the way to being an executive in a large organization. Maria: Yeah. Jorge: And you've made the switch now to advising folks, is that right? Maria: Yeah, I have had the good fortune of being exposed to growing businesses, working in essentially startups. Right? Because The Understanding Business was a startup — my own company was a startup from the very beginning — and being in middle-sized companies, also having hundreds of clients, when I worked at Hot Studio. So, I've had this context about how people and organizations work at scale. And at Autodesk I was the VP of Design. I loved that job because I got to participate in culture change at scale, with 400 designers worldwide, and Autodesk had hundreds of products. So, the last two years of working for others, I was in corporate America. So from 2013 to 2017, end of 2017, I was essentially working in two large corporations. And I loved pieces of it, but I also hated pieces of it. And as I got older, this is what I say about people who get older: the amount of fucks you give goes to zero, right? When you get older, your priorities change. It's so hard to play the politics game. But I was fascinated by that, and I like looking at how people in organizations work together from the outside in. So I left Autodesk and I resisted jumping into another VP job. And that was actually one of the hardest things I've ever done, because I've spent my entire life building my brand and reputation. And I have a great story to tell. I've worked hard and I've accomplished a lot, and then suddenly I don't have a job anymore at the end of 2017. And I remember running into Clement Mok. He's an early mentor of mine. And he told me, “Maria, you have to promise me to take a year off.” I'd never taken a year off. Everything was one thing to the other. I had two kids. I raised kids; I have… I'm married. I did all of that nonstop. And it just, it stuck with me. He said, you need to take time to think and figure out what you want to do next. And that year was brutal because I kept saying to myself, “Who the hell am I if I don't have a name, a title, I'm not bringing in shitloads of money?” And it really made me question and challenge myself in terms of like, what's it all worth? Why am I doing what I'm doing? What's my purpose in life? All of these big, big questions. So, one thing I did in that time off is I made a list of all the classes I ever wanted to take but could never take them. My kids are teenagers now, so they ignore me. So, I have plenty of time on my hands. And I took like an improv class. I hated it, but I know it's important. I'm taking calligraphy classes again; I'm taking a watercolor class. I'm bringing back the fine art, but I also took a coaching class. And I took coaching classes because I, not necessarily wanting to be a coach, but I thought that, boy, those are great skills to have. I could always be better at listening and asking powerful questions. I'm working on another book project and I'm interviewing people and I thought that these could just really improve my listening skills. And then over the course of the year, I realized I was really good at it. That, you know, people are constantly asking me for advice. So, I said, well, if I'm going to be giving advice, I should a) be great at it, and b) get paid to do it. So, then I kind of committed and stepped over the line. I drew like an invisible line on the floor and I said, “What am I stepping into? What will I commit to?” And I committed to getting certified as a coach, which is a pretty rigorous training program. It takes about seven to eight months to do. And I should be done with my certification at the end of February, I have like over 20 clients worldwide and it gives me great energy to help people. I get to help people lead based on where they are in their career. So, it could be everything from emerging design, emerging leaders, all the way up to very senior leaders. And I get to support them without the bullshit of corporations and corporate America. I don't have to deal with their politics, they have to deal with their politics. So it gives me that insight to stay relevant and fresh in the industry that I love without dealing with the corporate bullshit. And that, that's been great. But what I want to say is, from a meta perspective — and I find this to be true with people who are leaving jobs in their 50s and asking the same kind of questions that I'm asking… There's these two phases in life. David Brooks wrote a book called The Second Mountain, and he talks about this. And the first mountain is the mountain that you climb to establish your identity, build your career, generate wealth, create status, raise a family. You know, that's the mountain. That's the trajectory that we're all climbing. And then something happens to people in their 40s and 50s, when they start really questioning what's next for them. They're at the peak, and then they're going to go down the mountain. Some of them retire, some of them get depressed, and some of them go into different careers. But what I'm finding is people in their 40s and 50s are staying in… are not retiring. They're reinventing. And they're reinventing through the context of purpose and meaning. They're starting to ask questions about what is worth doing in life? Why am I here on this earth? What can I do to support people, help people? You know, create a legacy that isn't about wealth and title. And that's the space that I'm sitting in right now. And it's like going from the outer world to the inner world, and that's been really satisfying. So, I'm doing a lot of work on myself, sort of inner work, like identifying what brings me joy and fulfillment, and making sure that I'm spending my precious time on earth in service. And it's exciting because I don't feel like I'm marching towards death. Right? I feel like I have, like… I feel lucky that at 57 years old, I feel like I'm at the beginning of a new path. Jorge: That's great. Maria: Yeah. What a gift, right? I mean, when I was in my twenties, I thought when you were 50, by the time you turned 50, you were like close to death, you know? And even though it sucks to get older, I have to say, the wisdom that you gained from your life experience is priceless. And then you have to decide how you're going to use that wisdom in, in really helpful ways. Jorge: It sounds to me like you had an experience when you were younger of someone coming into your life and helping you discover your purpose, right? You talked about Mr. Wurman and this idea that he helped you see that it was about helping people understand and make sense of things. And to bring it back to the folks listening to the show, as you go about advising people now, and helping impart this wisdom that you've gained over the years and your experiences. First of all, I'm wondering if you ever find yourself advising folks who maybe have not yet discovered that purpose, that can motivate them and that can get them to another level. And if that's the case, how do you move past that? Maria: Well, that's the part of coaching. The big part of coaching is not to give people answers, it's to guide them so that they find their own answers that resonate with them. And through those coaching sessions, we unpack values. What are things that are important to you? What are your own guiding principles in life, and how do you use those guiding principles, those values that you have, to make decisions, and to live your life authentically? A large part of the coaching journey is to help people uncover what they're meant to do on this earth, and how they can live in authentic life, and bring joy and purpose to it no matter where they are in the process. The other thing about finding Richard early in my life, who became sort of the linchpin to who I have become, we all have that. We just have to pay attention to it. I tell my students that all the time. Walk around life with your eyes wide open and pay attention to those moments. Be open to those moments that are going to… That may change your trajectory in life. And we all have them. Jorge: That is a fantastic takeaway for folks. And I think it's also a good summary of where you are now, and what you're doing to help folks. So, thank you for sharing that with us. I'm wondering, if folks want to follow up with you and perhaps reach out to see if you can help them with this, where can they reach out to you? Maria: Yeah. Well, if you go to hotstudio.com, which is still up, you could send me an email through there. Or you could just reach out to me on LinkedIn and send me a message that you're interested in coaching. That's how I found all my clients, by the way. I put out a call on LinkedIn and Facebook and I said, Hey, I'm doing this. And I got contacts from people all over the world, which was so humbling. And this is the other thing that I love about this work, that I get to be introduced to people from all over the world who want help, want coaching, and I could help them no matter where they are, whatever geography they're in. So that's been lovely. Jorge: We didn't get into this, but you're also the author of a book called Rise of the DEO, and I just wanted to mention it because I'm going to link that in the notes as well. Maria: That's great. Yeah. Actually, Rise of the DEO is my third book. The great thing about Rise of the DEO now is it's all available on Medium. So, if you are a subscriber to Medium, you can get the whole book on Medium for free. Jorge: That's great. I didn't know that. I'm going to link to that as well. Folks who are listening to this conversation, especially if they're in the design disciplines and looking to move up to leadership positions, it strikes me as something that they would be keen to follow up on. Maria: Yeah, it's actually, it's both for… I would say it's for designers, design leaders, but it's also for creative business leaders, because it talks about the interrelationship of design skills and qualities at the CEO level. And the rise of the DEO is about the rise of the Design Executive Officer. You don't have to be a designer in order to be a creative business leader, a DEO. And it talks about how you can be better at risk-taking, intuition, system design, people-centeredness. All of these things that we were trained as, as designers, are now incredibly relevant skills and characteristics in today's business world. Jorge: Well, fantastic. I'm going to link to that. Well, thank you so much for your time, Maria. This has been fantastic. Maria: Oh, it was great talking to you.

Since 2010, Metaproject has paired RIT student designers with a client in what has become a signature project for the university’s internationally-ranked industrial design program. Distinguished professor Josh Owen, director of RIT’s industrial design program and the founder of Metaproject, talks with distinguished professor Roger Remington, director of the Vignelli Center for Design Studies, about a decade of connecting students to industry. Read a transcript of this podcast: https://www.rit.edu/sites/rit.edu/files/docs/Vignelli%20Metaproject%20Podcast%20Transcript.pdf

On my way to record this interview a weird thought popped into my head. Weird, because I’ve been reading books on designers for thirty odd years and I’d never spotted it. Also weird, because it’s the opposite of the received wisdom. The thought was this ‘Good designers can work in many styles, great designers have a distinctive style’. As Art Directors and Designers we're taught to put our skills at the service of the brand. Let’s say you’re designing for IBM on Monday and Kleenex Toilet Tissue on Tuesday, your output should be as diverse as the products. You should leave your personal preferences at home. Be led by the problem. You should be a chameleon. Ask anyone, everyone knows this is true. But it’s not. Take my, and any civilised person’s favourite designer; Paul Rand; you can spot his work a mile off, the hand-writing, playful cut-outs and use of space. Herb Lubalin, few use or could use type the way he did, so it’s easy to pick his work out of a line-up. Brownjohn, Vignelli, Fletcher, Gill, Kalman, Scher, you name them, if they are great they’ll have their own style. Their own aesthetic world made up with favourite fonts, colours and techniques. I went to hear Paul Rand talk once, I thought he'd be all precious and delicate, talking about abstract concepts. I couldn't have been more wrong, he was blunt, grouchy and straight-talking, more like a New York cabbie than an Artiste. Anyway, someone asked him if he was worried that he had a style. "NO? WHY THE HELL WOULD I BE? I like what I like, other people like what they like, so our work comes out different. My work's unique to Me, their work's unique to them. It’s a good thing." Out taste is shaped by the culture we take in and gravitate towards as we grow up. But when we try to copy it we can't help but add a few dollops of ourselves, which warps it into a new shape. I read an interview with Bryan Ferry where he talked about how much he regretted giving away his influences, he said it made it easier for people to copy him. (I think he was referring to David Sylvian at the time, shows you how long ago it was.) But it's odd, Bryan Ferry copied Smokey Robinson, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and a whole bunch of other folks and it came out Bryan Ferry. I've been trying to think of someone whose work is like Mark Denton's. I couldn’t and still can’t. He once described the issue like this ‘People look at my work and put me in this little box, the thing is, I like it in here.’ We had a great chat about Mark’s new book and all the ingredients that make up the fruit cake that is Mark’s brain. Enjoy.   p.s. It's on sale here https://www.coy-com.com/shop It'll make a great Christmas present. Particularly for kids (If you rip out page 292). Also parents and grandparents alike (again, probably best rip out page 292). And anyone interested in design. Or puerilty. p.p.s. If none of that appeals to you, maybe you have a damp patch on the wall that you need to cover? https://www.jealousgallery.com/artists/mark-denton-esq?

[0:00 – 1:56] Intro [1:57 – 4:27] Growing up in non-starstudded Ohio and discovering his drawing talents. [4:28 – 7:20] Serendipitously stumbling on the book “Aim High for a Career in Graphic Design / Art by S. Neil Fujita” at age 14 and starting art as a vocational trade. [7:21 – 12:10] The benefits of social ineptitude and the nerve to push yourself creatively. [12:10 – 17:57] The curse of ‘knowing the rules.' [17:58 – 26:16] For the love of rules and parameters. [26:17 – 28:16] Helvetica and 70's font style at the University of Cincinnati [28:17 – 33:35] The magnetic pull to New York City and working with mastermind Massimo Vignelli. [33:36 – 36:10] The healthy side of a workaholic. [36:11 – 38:16] Wisdom gained from 10 years with Vignelli and the importance of compelling ideas. [38:17 – 43:08] Leaving Vignelli to become a partner at Pentagram in 1990. [43:09 – 48: ] Working on the top-secret Hillary Clinton campaign logo. [52:49 – 54:59] Outro

Wes Anderson in Italy; 3D printed Mars habitat competition; from Hilton to boutique hotels to Airbnb; designer baby names; the Vignelli townhouse

“If the essay film has become a trope…and these strategies that we’re using have become formulaic, how do we negotiate our way through that?” - Gavin Hipkins. In the fourth of our conversation series artists Sonya Lacey and Gavin Hipkins come together to discuss working methodologies, a shared interest in failed modernist utopias, and the moving image as a distribution mode of sculpture. Hosted by Mark Amery. Points of Discussion: 00:00: Introductions 1:00 SL: on recent residency in Singapore researching Cambodian print cultures 2:30 GH: on recent survey at Dowse Art Museum, and sequel to The Homely at City Gallery Wellington, discusses spending time with the work whilst ‘in exhibition form’ 3:55 GH: on shift from photography to film, formal and thematic synergies between the two mediums 6.00 SL: on making moving images from a design and sculpture background. Discusses the making of Newspaper for Vignelli (2015); and making films as an act of distribution for the sculptural object 7:50 GH: engagement with modernism and failed utopias, unrealized and realized projects. 9:32 GH: on SL’s practice of ‘making and staging’, makes comparison with Thomas Demand’s use of miniature / maquette and use of stills as means to document; the idea of ‘metamorphosis’ 10:20 GH: asks SL about her CIRCUIT commissioned work By Sea (2015), describes it as ‘exquisite’ but “I don’t understand the connection to the commission”. Mentions his own commission in response to the writing of Julian Dashper. 11:00: SL: on the geometry and architecture Joanna Paul’s letterforms and poems as inspiration for By Sea. Question of how dependent to be on the source material. 13:00 MA: What is the resonance of these failed utopias today? GH: On City of Tomorrow (2017), inspired by Courbisier’s architectural vision of Chandigargh. Discusses Leisure Valley (2014) and The Port (2014). 16:00 SL: Modernist history as ‘foil’ in her work, modernist design as ‘pure transmission of content’. Discusses Infinitesmals (2016) - ‘Almost like making the found object I wish existed’. 18:00 SL: Discusses making work for cinema context versus installation. Use of script /text for By Sea to bring ‘sense of intimacy’. 20:50: GH: describes shared ‘essayistic’ practice with SL. “If the essay film has become a trope…and these strategies that we’re using have become formulaic, how do we negotiate our way through that?” 22:00 GH: asks SL about use of the voice in her work Infinitesimals - “Within the heterotopian space what does it mean for (the actor/readers) voice to be present?” 24:30 SL: Discusses working a Japanese New Zealander to voice By Sea. Discusses attempt to use subtitles. 26:15 SL & GH: Discusses working with actors for Erewhon (2014). Use of visual prompts. GH on working with reader Mia Blake. 29:00 GH: on collaboration in moving image projects and with jeweller Karl Fritsch, sound designer Ben Sinclair. 31:30: SL: on collaboration, instructions to musicians. Discusses Lightreading collaboration with Sarah Rose “we can overwrite anything that each other have done…there’s nothing that’s untouchable”. Discusses Courtenay Place commissions and new negotiation of collaboration between Lightreading and others. 35:13: GH: on working with Karl Fritsch and giving up authorship. On recent soundtrack for City of Tomorrow by Torben Tilly, and presenting the audio in an installation context. Activating a single channel work through performance.

In this episode, we hung out the one and only Lucas Smith. We covered everything from design systems, to fighting your CFO, and even the hot new front-end framework, Haskell.

Led by M Twist, the class attempts a rhetorical analysis of the Vignelli New York City subway map.

The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 30 with Designer, Educator & Writer Michael Bierut Michael Bierut (@MichaelBierut) is one of today's most renowned and respected graphic designers. Since 1990, he has been a Partner at Pentagram, where he works with clients like MIT Media Lab, The Yale School of Architecture, and the New York Jets. In addition to his work at Pentagram, he is a Senior Critic in Graphic Design at the Yale School of Art and co-founded the online publication Design Observer, where he writes about design and creative culture. Together we discuss Michael's feelings in becoming a business owner, how he divides work duties with his team, the clunky process of learning business skills as a young designer, and the exhaustive routines which power his morning. We also learn the 19-syllable Starbucks order he buys each working day, and how long it takes him to run 3 miles. Read more about Michael via his lengthy biography on Pentagram's website. Show Notes & Links Pentagram's New York Office, and its library, where we recorded this episode Michael Bierut in the Pentagram Library. Image via The Architectural League of NY Michael [still] thinks of himself as a “working graphic designer” Michael's previous — and only — employers were Massimo & Lella Vignelli As a young designer, he “never spent a minute lying in bed wondering if a client was going to pay an overdue invoice.” Michael writes his own proposals; there is no “behemoth” behind the scenes “I thought I was ready to be a business owner, but I really didn't know much about it.” ← Click to tweet Pentagram Partners “really like to do the work.” Michael currently works with 6 designers, 2 project managers, and 2 interns. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” ← Click to tweet Teaching business skills to designers isn't “baked in” to Pentagram's ethos, but it happens through close collaboration Without cultural context, working as a designer can be a “long road to carpal tunnel syndrome.” Knopf Doubleday, publisher Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis New York Times “The world we live in was created by people no smarter than us.” —Prescott mis-quoting Steve Jobs ← Click to tweet “Designers are actors playing a part. We have to learn about X and show the world X.” ← Click to tweet Michael is a Lazy Designer “The time I invest [in proposals] is always intense and personal.” ← Click to tweet Michael's famous sketchbooks notebooks. Currently working with #104. Make It Bigger by Paula Scher Tools Marble composition notebooks Venti Triple Non-Fat Cappuccino from Starbucks Techniques Oversee a single designer, bring on a second only if you need it Keep your pitches/responses to briefs short but purposeful. Don't participate in theatrics. Ponder a problem during your morning run. Solve it during that time. Habits Wake up early (5:15a–5:35a) Jog 3 miles every morning Use vacations as a time to focus on a particular project Build writing into your routine. Chunk it down and don't give yourself a chance to escape.

What sparked Massimos interest in design. His fascination in Architecture and reminisces about the past and how he met his wife. How they built there company internationally. Michael Beirut :: St. Peter's Church :: Slow Food :: File Download (15:34 min / 14 MB)

Massimo talks about graffiti and its anti social effect. Massimos role as a missionary, spreading the gospel, there are thousands of junk typefaces and only 5 worth using. He talks about New York and why he lives there, American politics and media. NY Subway Guide :: File Download (13:36 min / 13 MB)

Massimo discusses timeless design versus obsolete design, how fashion can pollute timeless design. Massimos talks about the efficiency of the American Airline identity. Why Massimo strongly doesn’t believe in subcultures and post modernists. American Airlines :: File Download (13:31 min / 12 MB)

Massimo talks about his dream project, why he wears black. How he collaborates with his wife. Massimo discuses his ego and how he characterizes it. He talks about his life is design, if he designs one thing he can design everything without being superficial, and taking responsibility for design. Vignelli Associates :: File Download (17:20 min / 16 MB)