Famous Designers to Know & {maybe} Love

Paul Rand was a well-known American graphic designer who specialized in corporate logos, including those of major companies IBM, USP, and ABC.  Although American, Rand was one of the originators of the Swiss style of graphic design.   Rand was very well-known for being able to sell his designs to a client, a skill essential for any graphic designer when presenting their ideas.  For Rand, he valued his modernist ideals above all other design styles, a philosophy which can be seen in his simple and timeless designs to this day. 
http://www.paul-rand.com/foundation/biography/#.Vei1aGRVikp

Muller Brockman was also a founding father of the Swiss International design style, and is sometimes considered the most well-known of those such designers.  Unlike Rand, Brockman was a true Swiss.  He was born and raised in Switzerland where he attended the renowned Zurich school of arts and crafts.  Some of his most widely recognized work were a series of posters for the Zurich Town Hall theatre productions.  
http://www.designishistory.com/1940/joseph-mueller-brockmann/

Emil Ruder also was born and raised in Switzerland, where he helped start the Basal School of Design with fellow famous designer, Armin Hofmann, while contributing heavily to the growing style of Swiss graphic design.  Ruder was a big fan of asymmetrical compositions, negative space, and "the counters of characters".  Ruder was one of the pioneer users of the grid, and specifically paved the way for many web designers to come.
http://www.designishistory.com/1940/emil-ruder/

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F.H.K Henrion was born in Germany in 1939, and moved to Paris to study design from 1936-1939.  Henrion is best known for his work for the Ministry of Information and the US Office of War Information, as well as many successful British branding campaigns.  Unlike previous designers, his signature style was the use of photomontage and and collage, known as Surrealist juxtapositions. 
http://www.rennart.co.uk/henrion.html

Piet Zwart was both a graphic designer, a photographer, architect, and an industrial designer during the 1920s-30s.  Zwart was a member of the De Stijl art movement, and was instrumental in the development of modern graphic design.  Zwart focused on abstract, linear, and geometric qualities of design with the use of primary colors, shapes, and varying typefaces  and strong diagonals.  Zwart also coined the phrase "typo  tect", after realizing the importance of intertwining architecture and typography.  
https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/people/18044821/bio

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Stefan Sagmeister is currently one the most widely known graphic designers.  Sagmeister is known for "upsetting norms" by pushing boundaries, creating controversial work, and using a variety of alternative mediums.  Sagmeister jumped from design firm to design firm for years before starting his own studio in New York City, titled Sagmeister, Inc. 
http://www.aiga.org/medalist-stefan-sagmeister/

Jessica Walsh is often spoken of in conjunction to Stefan Sagmeister.  In 2005, Sagmeister shocked the design company by changing his studio to "Sagmeister & Walsh" and announcing the addition of a new partnership with young designer, Walsh.  Jessica Walsh has sometimes been considered the "It Girl" of graphic design, and has already taken the design world by storm in her early age.  After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, Walsh turned down a great job offer from Apple and started an internship at Pentagram where her .  Walsh soon caught the interest of the larger design community and continues to produce innovative, energetic, new work alongside her mentor and partner, Stefan Sagmeister. 
http://observer.com/2014/04/jessica-walsh-graphic-designer-profile/

Armin Hofmann was born in Switzerland in 1920 and studied art and design in Zurich.  He taught at the Basal School of Arts and Crafts for forty years, and eventually became head of their graphic design program.  created a variety of works, including stage designs, logos, typography, orientation systems, and some three-dimensional designs for public buildings.  He is most known for his poster designs, which are rich in typographic elements and a focus on the purity of photographs.  Hofmann is also known for his exceptional teaching ability, and is considered one of the few exceptions to the phrase, “he who can does; he who cannot teaches”.  As a teacher, he was a balance of patience and energy, pushing his students to strip down their designs and work on them until fully satisfied. 
Hans Wichmann. Armin Hofmann: His Work, Quest, and Philosophy, Hofmann, Armin, and D. Q. Stephenson. Graphic Design Manual: Principles and Practice, Poyner, Rick. "Armin Hofmann."

Jessica Hische grew up in Pennsylvania, where she began her career as a freelance graphic designer.  After a few years of working, Hische began specializing in what would later earn her the title "The Drop Cap Girl".  She began working relentlessly in type design, lettering, and illustration.  Her clientele ranges from Wes Anderson to Penguin Books, and works in a studio alongside fellow hand lettering fanatic, Eric Marinovich.  

http://jessicahische.is/anoversharer

April Greiman is another contemporary style graphic designer who is well known for her transmedia work and innovative, new methods of creating graphic design.  She creates work that combines and moves through time, space, images, and color, and specialized in the fusion of technology and art.  She established her own practice called, Made in Space in 1976 in Los Angeles, after living, going to school in, and working in various locations from Switzerland to Kansas City.  
http://aprilgreiman.com/