Looking Closer Three: Classic Writings on Graphic Design, Vol. 3

Rare and difficult-to-find essays provide fascinating reading in this third anthology in the Looking Closer series, a matchless resource tracing the continuum of critical thought from graphic design¹s earliest days as a viable art and craft. Looking Closer 3 brings back into discourse more than thirty seminal essays by such distinguished figures as William Morris, Aldous Huxley, Alvin Lustig, and Paul Rand, reviving ideas of form and content as well as arguments over manner and style that have been lost for decades. For professionals, teachers, and students alike, this pivotal collection is an invaluable compliment to any design library.

Booknews

At the turn of the century they were scorned as commercial artists, then advertisers realized the value of fusing commerce with aesthetics and now at least some graphics artists are highly skilled, paid, and respected. Here are 55 articles that are nearly impossible to find that set out the artistic and professional principles. They range from William Morris' 1893 The Ideal Book to Massimo Vignelli's 1983 Call for Criticism and include Susan Sontag's 1970 Posters: Advertisement, Art, Political Artifact, Commodity. The design of the pages is of course exquisite. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Michael Bierut is a partner in the New York office of the international design consultancy Pentagram. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1957, Bierut studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, and graduated in 1980. Prior to joining Pentagram in 1990, he worked for ten years at Vignelli Associates, ultimately as vice president of graphic design. In 1991, he and his partner Paula Scher chaired the AIGA national conference in Chicago. He was president of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) from 1988 to 1990 and is currently a member of the AIGA's national board. He has also been director of the American Center for Design. In addition, he has designed identity and environmental graphics for a new children's museum in St. Paul, Minnesota; coordinates all promotional material for the Brooklyn Academy of Music; and serves as graphic design consultant to Mohawk Paper Mills, where he is responsible for corporate identity, packaging, and advertising and edits ReThinking Design, a journal of critical perspectives.

Jessica Helfand is a partner of William Drenttel/Jessica Helfand, a multimedia and print media company. She lives in Falls Village, CT. Steven Heller is a senior art director at The New York Times, editor of the AIGA Journal of Graphic Design, and the author or editor of more than seventy books on graphic design.Rick Poynor is the founding editor of Eye magazine and the author of six books on graphic design. He lives in Twickenham, England.