1961-1962. Catalogue cover for an exhibition of Paperback Covers. Design by Milton Glaser.

And now, back to something about plain old graphic design. Down in the basement of AIGA National Design Center in New York is an old vault. The vault is filled with amazing treasures from the history of AIGA since the early 20^th century. Most of these pieces were designed by some of the most prominent designers of the time, and celebrate the profession at a specific moment in history. It’s a good measure of “high design” of each era.

Every designer is told that work should be timeless. But that’s impossible. Design is not Darwinian; it doesn’t get better as the world evolves. We are products of our time and place on this planet. I don’t believe I’m doing better work than someone in 1970 just because it’s 40 years later. I don’t worry too much about “timeless” design, which is probably fairly obvious for those thinking I’m still in 1962. To me, these pieces are as incredible today as they were when they were produced. Actually, they’re probably considered better today, because someone down the street isn’t saying, “Ooh, I hate that guy. His work sucks, and I hear he yells at his employees. This poster ain’t that good.”

Photograph of jurors at work judging a show. Paul Rand is the gentleman in the suite and the gentleman leaning on the table is Lou Dorfsman.

Call for entry to 50 Books of the Year

1965. Cover of call for entry to Packaging Show

1954. Call for Entry to Design and Printing for Commerce and the first 50 Ads of the Year.

955. Call for Entry to Design and Printing for Commerce and 50 Ads of the Year. Designed by Gene Federico, show chaired by Lou Dorfsman. The AIGA president at the time was Leo Lionni, all of whom were subsequent medalists.

Invitation/announcement for an exhibit of the work of Lester Beall (AIGA medalist, 1993).

1955. Invitational card to Design and Printing for Commerce and 50 Ads of the Year. designed by Gene Federico.

Share This Story

Tags: AdamsMorioka Archives Vault, AIGA, Design, History, Leo Lionni, Lester Beall, Lou Dorfsman, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 5:25 pm and is filed under When. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.