X Marks: Massimo Vignelli | BONES

Mas?simo Vignelli?is design in the flesh. With his wife Lella, he has spent his life mak?ing things, and mak?ing things look and func?tion bet?ter. His chal?lenge has always been ?tak?ing the com?mon?place and improv?ing?it.?

Por?trait for Eye Mag?a?zine by Maria Spann. The image links to Eye?s fea?ture on Mr Vignelli.

I attended the Brand New Con?fer?ence held this past Sep?tem?ber at the School of Visual Arts The?ater in New York. Mr Vignelli was a fea?tured par?tic?i?pant? he sat down for a con?ver?sa?tion with Armin Vit of Under?Con?sid?er?a?tion. Hear?ing Mr Vignelli speak is like drink?ing a design elixir. It fills me with a warm feel?ing that reminds me why I was attracted to graphic design in the first?place.

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The con?fer?ence had its own after-party where I got to speak to Mr Vignelli one-on-one. Meet?ing your idols is chal?leng?ing. What to say? How do you con?vey what they mean to your life and work? I chose to relate that I?d first heard him speak 29 years ear?lier at a graphic design con?fer?ence at my alma mater RIT. Vignelli was the keynote speaker at that event in 1983 orga?nized by Pro?fes?sor R Roger Rem?ing?ton. Even then he was estab?lished as a key fig?ure in the his?tory of graphic design. His last?ing works for Amer?i?can Air?lines, the New York Sub?way Map (that he recently updated in print and app forms), Bloom?ing?dales, Knoll and many oth?ers had secured his place amongst design greats. I also thanked him for his inspi?ra?tional life and?work.

In 2010 RIT opened the Vignelli Cen?ter for Design Stud?ies. Roger Rem?ing?ton was instru?men?tal in bring?ing the Cen?ter to Rochester. Rem?ing?ton inter?views Vignelli for Eye Mag?a?zine (No. 83) avail?able now. The inter?view is excerpted in this article.

My friend Joanne Kaliontzis once asked Mr Vignelli what was left that he would like to redesign. His answer was the Catholic Church; he would wel?come the chal?lenge to redesign their visual lan?guage. Vignelli claimed he would start by telling the Holy Father, ?I love the logo, but every?thing else has to?go.?

X Marks are trea?sures worth discovering.

XK9 is a Los Angeles based Graphic Design studio that specializes in Motion, Identity, Type and Character Design. BONES is the blog of XK9 & Creative Director Bill Dawson. This entry was posted in Culture, Design, Dogs & Stuff, X Marks. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://xk9.com/bones/x-marks-vignelli/

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