Here’s an idea of where we get some of our inspiration - a number of designers we feel made a huge contribution to graphic design and global branding.
Paul Rand
Paul Rand (Born Peretz Rosenbaum, August 15, 1914 – November 26, 1996) was a well-known American graphic designer, best known for his corporate logo designs. Rand was educated at the Pratt Institute (1929-1932), the Parsons School of Design (1932-1933), and the Art Students League (1933-1934). He was one of the originators of the Swiss Style of graphic design. From 1956 to 1969, and beginning again in 1974, Rand taught design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Rand was inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1972. He designed many posters and corporate identities, including the logos for IBM, UPS and ABC. Rand died in 1996.
http://www.paul-rand.com
Herb Lubalin
Herbert F. (Herb) Lubalin (1918 – May 24, 1981) was a prominent American graphic designer. He collaborated with Ralph Ginzburg on three of Ginzburg's magazines: Eros, Fact, and Avant Garde, and was responsible for the creative visual beauty of these publications. He designed a typeface, ITC Avant Garde, for the last of these; this distinctive font could be described as a post-modern interpretation of art deco, and its influence can be seen in logos created in the 1990s and 2000s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Lubalin
Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser (born June 26, 1929) is a graphic designer, best known for the I Love New York logo his "Bob Dylan" poster, the "DC bullet" logo used by DC Comics from 1977 to 2005, and the "Brooklyn
Brewery" logo. He also founded New York Magazine with Clay Felker in 1968.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Glaser
Josef Müller-Brockmann
Josef Müller-Brockmann, (May 9, 1914, in Rapperswil – August 30, 1996), was a Swiss graphic designer and teacher. He studied architecture, design and history of art at both the University and Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich. In 1936 he opened his Zurich studio specialising in graphic design, exhibition design and photography. From 1951 he produced concert posters for the Tonhalle in Zurich. In 1958 he became a founding editor of New Graphic Design along with R.P. Lohse, C. Vivarelli, and H. Neuburg. In 1966 he was appointed European design consultant to IBM. Müller-Brockman was author of the 1961 publications The Graphic Artist and his Design Problems, Grid Systems in Graphic Design where he advocates use of the grid for page structure, and the 1971 publications History of the Poster and A History of Visual Communication.
He is recognised for his simple designs and his clean use of typography, notably Akzidenz-Grotesk, shapes and colours which inspires many graphic designers in the 21st century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Müller-Brockmann
Joe Finocchiaro
Joe Finocchiaro Design specializes in creativity and craftsmanship.
Most of the work involves solving corporate identity and branding issues using typography. A full range of design services is available through partnering with other specialist in the field.
http://www.joefino.com/
Edward Johnston
Edward Johnston, CBE (11 February 1872 – 26 November 1944) was a British craftsman who is regarded, with Rudolf Koch, as the a father of modern calligraphy, in the form of the broad edged pen as a writing tool, a particular form of calligraphy. He was born in San José, Uruguay. Johnston started teaching at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London's Southampton Row, where he influenced the typeface designer and sculptor Eric Gill. Then he moved on to the Royal College of Art and many students were inspired by his teachings. In 1912 Johnston followed Gill to Ditchling where he died in 1944.
He is most famous for designing the sans-serif Johnston typeface that was used throughout the London Underground system until it was re-designed in the 1980s, as well as the famous roundel symbol used throughout the system.
He has also been credited for reviving the art of modern penmanship and lettering single-handedly through his books and teachings. Johnston also devised the simply crafted round calligraphic handwriting style, written with a broad pen, known as the foundational hand.
In 1921, students of Johnston founded the Society of Scribes & Illuminators (SSI), probably the world's foremost calligraphy society.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Johnston
Eric Gill
Arthur Eric Rowton Gill (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was a British sculptor, typeface designer, stonecutter and printmaker, who was associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. Eric Gill's types include:
Gill Sans (1927–1930), Perpetua (1926), Solus (1929), Joanna (based on work by Granjon (1930– 1931), Aries (1932), Floriated Capitals (1932), Bunyan (1934), Pilgrim (1953), Jubilee (also known as Cunard; 1934).
In his 1947–1949 redesign for Penguin Books, a project that resulted in the establishment of Penguin Composition Rules, Jan Tschichold specified use of Gill Sans for book titles, and in branding their Pelican imprint. In the 1990s, the BBC adopted Gill Sans for its wordmark and many of its on-screen television graphics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Gill
