The world lost a truly prolific designer in Massimo Vignelli. He passed away on Tuesday, May 27th in his home in Manhattan at 83 years of age. Born in Milan, Italy, a hotbed for design for generations, he fell in love with design at an early age and held fast Modernist design principles. He was widely known for clean, yet elegant designs and infusing European Modernist design into American culture. He studied at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, as well as Polytechnic University in Milan, and the University of Venice. He started the New York branch of Unimark International and supported its expansion before starting his own company, Vignelli Associates, with his wife Lella Valle. They married in 1957, and his contemporaries acknowledged that both Massimo’s and Lella’s vision shone through his work.
His work permeated a multitude of different areas, including book covers, subway signage, furniture logos, corporate logos, exhibitions and package design. He also created a subway map for the Metro Transportation Authority, which was released in 1972(pictured above), with mixed reviews. Although widely regarded as a beautiful piece of work by art lovers, some claimed that it was confusing due to its lack of landmarks.
Mr. Vignelli had a prestigious list of clients during his career, including IBM, Xerox, Gilette and American Airlines. Designers today emulate his principles and hope to achieve his level of success and efficient execution of blending form and function. It’s no wonder why his work can be seen in museums in New York, Philadelphia, Montreal, Jerusalem, Munich and Hamburg, Germany. Given his education, talent and experience, one shouldn’t be surprised that he covered such a wide scope of design. Mr. Vignelli covered it in his own words, often stating that “If you can design one thing, you can design everything (Carey Dunn, fastcodesign.com).”
Photos: observatory.designobserver.com, washingtonpost.com
