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Massimo Vignelli on Design and Beauty

Graphic design legend Massimo Vignelli speaks about design, beauty, and the education of a designer […]

Graphic design legend Massimo Vignelli speaks about design, beauty, and the education of a designer.

Massimo Vignelli was born in Milan, Italy in January 1931. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest graphic/ industrial designers and architects of the 20th century. His modernist and “intellectually elegant” approach has had an immense influence on various disciplines of design, including graphic design, houseware design, furniture design, apparel design and architecture.

Vignelli studied architecture in Milan and Venice between 1950 and 1953. He started his early career working as a designer at Venini Glass in Venice. He married his long-time collaborator, Lella Valle, in 1957. Within a few months, they moved to the US. They were both on fellowships. Massimo went on to teach at the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, and later joined Container Corporation of America as a designer.

Massimo became a founding member of Unimark International Corporation. He created visual identities for some of the world’s most popular companies, including American Airlines, J. C. Penney, Knoll Associates and Cinzano. He established his own design firm, Vignelli Associates, in New York in 1971.

Massimo famously created the graphics for the United States National Park Service in 1977, and the subway map for the MTA New York City Transit Authority in 1970. He has numerous awards and accolades, both national and international, to his credit and his work has been exhibited widely in various art galleries and museums throughout the world.

By Itamar Medeiros

Originally from Brazil, Itamar Medeiros currently lives in Germany, where he works as VP of Design Strategy at SAP, where he leads the design vision for the entire Human Capital Management product line, ensuring cohesive product narratives and establishing best practices.

Working in the Information Technology industry since 1998, Itamar has helped truly global companies in multiple continents create great user experience through advocating Design and Innovation principles. Itamar has also served as a juror for prestigious design competitions and lectured on design topics at universities worldwide.

During his 7 years in China, he promoted the User Experience Design discipline as User Experience Manager at Autodesk and Local Coordinator of the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) in Shanghai.

Itamar holds a MA in Design Practice from Northumbria University (Newcastle, UK), for which he received a Distinction Award for his thesis Creating Innovative Design Software Solutions within Collaborative/Distributed Design Environments.

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