The Top 10 Graphic Designers You Should Know

Graphic Design is an art. Here are the top 10 graphic designers you should know.

 

 

Paul Rand

Born in Brooklyn, Rand attended art school in NYC at Pratt Institute and Parsons School of Design. Despoite this formal training Rand found these institutes not stimulating and ultimately taught himself design, studying the works of A.M Cassandre and Lazlo Moholynagy through European magazines. His most notable contributions to the field of graphic design have been his corporate work for companies such as IBM, ABC, Next, UPS and Westinghouse.

 

 

Herb Lubalin

Herb Lubalin is arguably the grandfather of typography (although he disputed this classification, opting for the term “typographics” – creating graphics through the use of type). Lubalin worked as an Art Director for most of his career (designing for Eros, Fact, Avant Guarde and U&Lc) he was named Art Director of the Year in 1962 by the National Society of Art Directors. But, despite this, Lubalin’s typography has always been the crowning glory of his portfolio – influencing the way people saw letter forms and words, by adding movement and transforming text into pictures and meaningful messages.

Saul Bass

A native New Yorker, Saul Bass moved to LA in his mid-twenties to pursue a career in Graphic Design. Bass is a jack of all design traits, dabbling in both print design and movie animation. You may be familiar with Bass’s work if you’ve ever flown United or Continental, supported United Way or the Girl Scouts, or have seen the title sequences for Psycho, Anatomy of a Murder, Spartacus or The Man with the Golden Arm, a trend Bass spearheaded.

George Lois

George Lois is a prolific advertiser and Art Director. You’ll recognize his work for MTV, remember a little “I want my MTV” campaign? He also helped create VH1, Lean Cuisine and launch Tommy Hilfiger. Lois’s work also includes campaigns for Jiffy Lube, USA Today and ESPN. But, his art direction for Esquire magazine, where he oversaw numerous covers, is probably his best-known work.

Alexey Brodovitch

Born in Russia in 1898, Alexey Brodovitch moved to the United States in 1930. In 1934 he began working for Harper’s Bazaar, under the inspiring editor, Carmel Snow. He spent nearly 25 years at the woman’s fashion magazine, ultimately influencing the profession for future generations. Brodovitch’s work at Harper’s Bazaar was more in-depth and all encompassing than what previous art director’s had done; He not only arranged photos, illustrations and text on the page, but he conceived and commissioned all graphic art – including helping start the careers of photographers Richard Avedon and Irving Penn. His role at the magazine is now the model that contemporary profession of Art Direction is based on.

 

Bradbury Thompson

A native of Topeka, Kansas, Bradbury Thompson left the Great Plains for the big city life of NYC, as you do when you’re a creative. He worked for 60 years in NYC, for companies like Rogers, Kellog and Stillson, the magazine Mademoiselle and the West and Co. Paper Corporation and also taught at Yale. Thompson’s work is distinguished by his talent for color, composition and understanding of the power of letter forms. His close relationship with the printing process is evident by his use of color overlays, which gives his work a refreshing energy.

Milton Glaser

There’s no doubt that you’ve seen Milton Glaser’s work. He founded New York Magazine with Clay Felker and created the I <3 NY logo that every tourist annoyingly proudly wears. Born in 1929, Glaser attended the Cooper Union and was a Fulbright scholar, traveling to the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, Italy to study. In 1954 he co-founded Push-Pin Studios with Reynold Ruffins, Seymore Chawst and Edward Sorel, In 1963 Glaser and Felker founded New York Magazine and in 1983 he and Walter Bernard formed WBMG; a publication design firm with clientele like LA Times, Boston Globe, Time, AdWeek and Brill’s Content.

 

Cipe Pineles

Cipe Pineles began her designer career assisting M.F. Agha at Vogue (a direct rival of Alexey Brodovitch) and Vanity Fair. After years of preparing and learning from a master, Pineles finally rose to the position Agha was preparing her for, Art Director of Glamour magazine. She worked hard to develop the magazine – employing the best talent of the day including another creative on our list, Herbert Matter, despite her publisher’s lack of support for the magazine. After Glamour, Pineles took over the reigns at Seventeen, finding founder and editor Helen Valentines’s mission to educate teen girls a kin to her own, she pushed the magazine to greatness by utilizing the best artists available to them.

 

Lillian Bassman

Lilliam Bassman was a contemporary of Cipe Pineles, working as a protégé of Alexey Brodocitch while at Harper’s Bazaar. When the magazine launched their young girls magazine, Junior Bazaar, Bassman was appointed Art Director in conjunction with v – at his request. In addition to her talents as a designer, Bassman also had a successful photography career, being sought after for her commercial portraits of models in lingerie, cosmetics and fabric.

Alvin Lustig

Alvin Lustig contributions to book design, magazines, interiors and textiles have had a long-term influence on contemporary design practice. A Denver native Lustig’s family moved to LA when he was just a boy, it was here he met “an enlightened teacher” who introduced him to Modern art, sculpture, and French poster design. He started off as a printer and typographer, and after a few years focused solely on design, designing books for New Directions. In 1944 he moved to NYC top further pursue his career. Here he worked for Look Magazine until 1946. Lustig was a true Modernist designer. He was a kin to the Bauhaus school of thought, that designers should pursue a holistic approach to their work and design every aspect of a project, and applied it to every aspect of his career.

Herbert Matter

A Swiss native, Herbert Matter moved to Paris to pursue his academic goals. He assisted A.M. Cassandre and Le Corbusier. It was in this roll he crafted his intense, yet precise style. In 1932 Matter was expelled from France for having improper papers and returned to Switzerland, taking up work as a poster designer for the Swiss Tourist Office where he created some of his most notable work. Matter travelled to the U.S. by exchanging his work for passage with a Swiss ballet troupe. After the tour ended Matter stayed in NYC, pursuing a career with Alexey Brodovitch (who happened to be a fan of Matter’s travel posters). Matter designed for the Container Corporation of America and Knoll, and later went on to teach at Yale. He also experienced a successful career a photographer, shooting for Harper’s Bazaar and Saks Fifth Avenue.