“I awoke one morning and found myself famous,” Byron said. How did I get to be famous, the famous askseldom sure of what it all is. There often is an elegant insouciance that comes with greatness. Paul Smith is cast out of that classic mold. He was a Renaissance agency man long before the concept…

The human animal discovered soon after it was perched up high on the evolutionary ladder that languishing on the “grunt and point” rung of communications was hardly a suitable posture for a sapient species. Eventually, a rather involved way of saying what had to be said was devised. At various stages of his advancing sophistication,…

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…

Paul Standard (May 19, 1896 – January 1, 1992) was an American calligrapher and author, who immigrated from Russia in 1903. His books included: Calligraphy’s Flowering, Decay and Restoration, Society of Typographic Arts, 1947 Our Handwriting, 1947 Arrighi’s Running Hand, 1979

Kelly came from one of those states where the borders are straight lines and anything crooked is out of place: Kansas, smack in the middle of everywhere. Tesch was born on the coast in Far Rockaway past the last stop on the A Train, underneath the landing patterns of Idlewild Airport-within the borders of New…

Paola Antonelli is senior curator, Department of Architecture & Design of The Museum of Modern Art, where she has worked since 1994. Through her exhibitions — among them Design and the Elastic Mind in 2008 teachings and writing, she strives to promote a deeper understanding of designs transformative and constructive influence on the world.  …

There is no more biting comedy than Stanley Kubricks 1964 doomsday film,Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The film’s frightening Cold War absurdity was established from the very first frame of the main title sequence designed by Pablo Ferro. As the ballad Try a little Tenderness plays in…

Otto Storch is a member of the Art Directors Club of New York and the Society of Illustrators. In 1943 he received the first award in the National Magazine Cover Competition sponsored by the Office of War Information at the Museum of Modern Art. Since then, he has received over 300 awards in all, from…

Give a 12 year-old boy the choice between running out to play ball or running out to a museum and it’s no contest, unless that 12 year-old is Onofrio Paccione, a youngster of such immense talent that his work would one day deserve its own place in those museums he haunted. At 21, he was…

Shortly after the turn of the century, three young art students swore an oath: they signed their names in blood, swearing never to prostitute their art, never to do advertising jobs, and never to make more than fifty dollars a week. One of these blood brothers dismally failed to keep his allegiance. His name was…