In her short biography of William Addison Dwiggins, Dorothy Abbe, his close associate during his last years, begins by telling us what a nice man he was. A man who took his work very seriously but himself lightly, he was by all accounts a pleasure to work with. Born in Ohio in 1880, Bill Dwiggins…

Whatever Tony Palladino creates, it exudes style, beauty and a personal statement. Whether it’s a poster, a painting, a book jacket, a sculpture, a print ad or a television spot, the uniquely ubiquitous Palladino touch is always present and accounted for. Tony Palladino was born in Manhattan in 1930. His parents were Italian immigrants seeking…

For 40 years, Tom Geismar has quietly and steadily punctuated the designscape with symbols for many of the worlds major corporations, institutions, and thoroughfares. Among the most familiar, of the more than 100 trademarks and corporate identities for which he is single-handedly responsible, are those for Mobil Oil Corporation, The Chase Bank, New York University,…

After breaking into the advertising agency business in 1961 at Wade Advertising (Chicago), Tom Burrell quickly worked his way from the mailroom into the position of Junior Copywriter. From there, Tom went on to Leo Burnett (Chicago), Foote, Cone & Belding (London), and Needham, Harper & Steers (Chicago) before launching what is now Burrell Communications…

It must feel great to be elected to the Creative Hall of Fame. I guess the next best thing would be to work with one who was. I did, and it was. Great, I mean. It was 1971 when a young Tom McElligott came in to see me with a book fresh out of Dayton’s…

This is what I know about Tim. He is tall. He likes to talk. He really likes to talk. He’s a bloody good writer, but you know that already. Tim’s other name is Deadline Delaney. Past the Deadline Delaney would be more accurate. His copy is always late. Tim possesses child-like wonderment. Tim is a…

Tibor Kalmans impact could not have been foreseen when he opened M&Co out of his Greenwich Village apartment on the proverbial kitchen table in 1979. Kalman entered the profession through happenstance, bringing with him none of the prejudices of design school training, and little of the expertise. He had a belief that graphic design could…

Thomas Maitland Cleland was among the first practitioners of the new profession of art directing. A complete art director, he was a well-developed artist, typographer, editor and printer who designed whole pages and whole booklets. His advertisements and marketing booklets for Locomobile and Cadillac automobiles are typical of his elegant and enduring work. While those…

Tadanori Yokoo was born in Nishiwaki, Japan in 1936. As a teenager, his modest dreams were to work at a post office and to paint. He entered the profession by replicating paintings, designing store wrapping paper, and drawing posters for the Chamber of Commerce. His first notable work, a self-titled poster at the Persona group’s…

Susan Hoffman has a tendency to shake things up a bit. That’s probably because she finds the status quo boring. She started her career at Pihas/Schmidt/Westerdahl (Portland, Oregon) and from there, moved to Chiat/Day/Livingston (Seattle) while working on such accounts as Alaska Airlines and Holland America. Three years later she moved on to Wieden+Kennedy, where…