Famous Poster Designers

Armin Hofmann
- one of my favorite designers EVER - 
Armin Hofmann is a very famous Swiss poster designer. He loved to use black and white, sometimes with limited use of red or light blue, and lots of geometric forms.  His posters for theatrical productions, such as the one for the ballet, Giselle, are very well known as well.  When using images, he liked to use raw, unfiltered, often grainy images that reflected the interactiion of light and design.  He wasn't just a famous designer, he was also an extraordinary teacher, inspiring and coaching generations of designers. 

Paula Scher

Described as "iconic, smart, and unabasedly populist" Scher is a well known designer specalizing in identity, enviornmental design, packaging desing, etc.  She works at legendary design firm, Pentagram, in New York City, and has designed for top-knotch clients such as Tiffany & Co. and The New York Times Magazine.  Her recent work has introduced a whole new level of "dimensional graphic design" by fusing architecture, graphics, environmental design, and wayfinding into a complete expierence.

Josef Muller-Brockman

Muller-Brockman is a very well known Swiss designer, who was also influenced by the ideas of several different design and art movements including Constructivism, De Stijl, Suprematism and the Bauhaus.  Like his counterpart, Hofman, he enjoyed working with more serious tonalities of black, white, red, etc. and always stuck to the grid.  He wrote two famous books about the Grid system, and is part of the reason it is so essential to designers today.

Herbert Matter

Matter was a Swiss designer, and was known for his poster designs that both successfully communicated their immediate messages, used photomontage, and had a strong personal expression.  His contribution to the partnership of design and photography lives on in importance today.  He also worked alongside Alexey Brodovitch at Harper's Bazaar, among many other travels and jobs! 

Verner Panton

VERNER PANTON - the designer I choose 

what are they known for?
Verner Panton was one of the most innovative designers of 20th Century design and architecture.  He was the first designer to create inflatable furniture and has also recieved much aclaim for his single molded Panton chair and the "Flying Chair".  Most known for his pyschedelic inspired, large-scale installation art ("architecture") that auidences could physically interact with.  His range of design work includes: seating, lighting, wall elements, fabric, interior design/enviornments, and miscelenous works (such as sculpture).  He pushed technology to its limits and produced other design icons such as the Flowerpot Lamp and the Pantower. 

what was their philosophy?
Panton wasn't obstructed by limitation adults incur throughout life.  Instead, he dreamed and created with the imaginary vision of a child, where anything was possible and the laws of gravity didn't exist.  He wasn't interested in just the design of singular objects, but rather the development of complementary groups of furnishings and the design of entire spaces. 

 did they have a style or belong to a movement in design?
His 'Fantasy Landscapes' are considered 'cult' status in today's day. He focused on extravagant geometric forms and the use of strong color.  He was influenced by Jacobson's "Organic Modern Approach," but first established himself at the forefront of the avant-garde movement.  When creating domestic spaces, he leand on his architectural background and fused floors, walls, furniture, lighting, and textiles into wholly original and integrated interiors.  

 did they use a particular color palette?
Panton's signature style involved the use of extremely bold, bright, highly saturated  often neon colors.    

Thinking with Type comments

What are the advantages of a multiple column grid? 
More flexibility! You can better articulate hierarchy, and integrate text with illustrations more successfully.

How many characters is optimal for a line length? words per line?
6-7 words/line.

Why is the baseline grid used in design?
It anchors basically all elements of your design into a common rhythm.

What are reasons to set type justified? ragged (unjustified)?
Justified: makes efficient use of space, and creates a clean, compact shape.  Ragged: Can look pleasently uneven, giving a 'natural, easy' feel to the reading, especially when hyphenation is kept to a minimum.  

What is a typographic river?
Gaps in typesetting that appear to run through a paragraph, and are caused due to a concidental aligning of spaces.

What does clothesline, hang-line or flow line mean?
It is a horizontal reference point on your grid, which type can 'hang' down from on a vertical rag.

What does type color/texture mean?
These ideas are put to use when mixing typefaces.  You want to create a 'salad' of typography, with a variety of sizes, colors, textures, etc. You should strive for contrast, rather than harmony (but don't get too wild). 

How does x-height effect type color?
A shorter x-height can make the letterforms appear smaller, and harder to read. Therefore, you shouldn't choose a hard-to-read color (such as soemthing bright or light) for a typeface with a small x-height.

What are some ways to indicate a new paragraph. Are there any rules?
Some ways to indicate a new paragraph include; indentation, skipping a line between paragraphs (adding a space), line break, outdent (hanging indentation), add a symbol, etc.!
Yes, there are rules... avoid indenting the very first line of a body of text, use the 'Space After Paragraph' feature when "skipping" a line of text (so that you don't waste space),