In the halcyon days of 1928, before the great economic crash that shook the country and the world, magazine publishing was a considerably less beleaguered business than it is today. An earlier century’s tradition of personal enterprise was still alive and many publishing companies were imprinted with the name and style of the founder. Conglomerates…

It was the time when Ulysses S. Grant was President of the United States. It was the time when the great powers of Europe were dividing Africa into colonial states. And it was a time when a small boy in Stuttgart, Germany, developed a pastime that was to affect the world of graphic art during…

To learn about Louise Fili, read the official announcement for her TDC Medal.     Listen to Louise talk about her career at the Type Directors Club 2017 conference, Type Over Time, in this video.  

Louis Silverstein is probably the only art director ever to be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, a nomination that was put forward by A.M. Rosenthal, executive editor of theNew York Times. In Rosenthal’s opinion, “Everybody who knows anything about American newspapers knows that Lou Silverstein ranks as the outstanding newspaper designer in the country.” Silverstein…

Dorfsman was born in 1918 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and moved as a child to the Bronx. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Poland. Dorfsman attended Theodore Roosevelt High School, graduating in 1935. Dorfsman had wanted to attend New York University and study bacteriology there, but was unable to afford the tuition.…

In 1960, after nearly twenty-five years of distinguished accomplishment as an independent designer, Lester Beall, in a look backward, reflected, “It is very difficult for me to imagine ever having, even on rare occasions, considered the possibility of working within an established organization.” It was said without bravado, and Beall hastened to add that the…

Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1902, Leon Friend came to the United States at the age of three. He received both his Bachelor and Master degrees from New York’s Columbia University. In 1930, he began his teaching career at Brooklyn’s Abraham Lincoln High School. There he became the school’s first art department chairman. It was…

The Depression had a firm grip on Chicago in 1935. But this didn’t deter Leo Burnett from mortgaging his home and borrowing on his life insurance in a $25,000 gamble despite the fact that he had a wife and children to feed. And when he put a bowl of red delicious apples out on the…

Leo Lionni is what they call a Renaissance man. Most recently applauded for his writing and illustrating of childrens books, he has been a corporate art director, magazine art director, and government consultant. He has continually refused labels or strictures during his career. In fact, soon after earning the “Art Director of the Year” award…

Leo Burnett was born on October 21, 1891 in St. Johns, Michigan. His father ran a dry goods store. As a youth, Burnett worked with his father in the store. He grew up watching his father designing ads to promote his business. During his high school, he worked as a reporter for a local, rural…