Graphic Designers Who Broke the Rules (Week 5)

          Hello everyone! This time we are discussing about artists that broke the rules again. However, these artists are profound in a sector from my chosen study, that is graphic design. So they are great graphic designers, and here is my discussion about them.

1. Stefan Sagmeister

          This graphic designer is from Austria, who is famous of his poster design for AIGA in 1999, which displays a naked man with typographies in his body. I think he broke the rules that graphic design doesn’t always created in normal mediums, such as papers or posters. He has so many kind of typography mediums, such as body, trees, water, or even human’s face. We can see these kinds of objects for typography in his book “Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far”.  He also has many good quotes for me, such as “Worrying solves nothing”, or “It’s very important to embrace failure and do a lot of stuff – as much as possible. It’s much, much better to wind up with a lot of crap having tried it than to overthink in the beginning and not do it”.

Poster for AIGA Lecture, Cranbrook, Michigan, 1999

Trying to Look Good Limits My Life, 2004

Things I Have Learned in My Life so Far Book Cover, 2008

Poster for Lou Reed's Set the Twilight Reeling, 1996

2. Milton Glaser

          He is an American graphic designer who is best known for his "I Love NY" logo. He is also a good graphic designer using colors, like the poster for Bob Dylan. I like the way he used many colors to form hair. The way he made "I Love NY" logo was also interesting. I learned that good graphic design doesn’t always come out with a complex drawings and color compositions.

I Love NY Logo, 1977

Bob Dylan Poster, 1967

3. Shepard Fairey

          I think this graphic designer mostly broke the rules. He is an American contemporary designer who can apply graphic design into street art. He is famous of his Obama “Hope” poster which was used in the events of American presidential election in 2008. He also put up his piece in Melrose Avenue Street in Los Angeles. This street painting is very wonderful with many colors and drawings painted on the wall.

Barack Obama "Hope" Poster, 2008

Urban Street Art, Melrose Ave, Los Angeles