(1931–2014) Massimo Vignelli, born in Milan, studied architecture in Milan and Venice. Prior to establishing the offices of Vignelli Associates in 1971, and Vignelli Designs in 1978, with Lella Vignelli, he and Lella Vignelli established the Vignelli Office of Design and Architecture in Milan in 1960, and in 1965, Massimo Vignelli became co-founder and design director of Unimark International Corporation.
Massimo Vignelli is the co-founder and President of Vignelli Associates and Chief Executive Officer of Vignelli Designs in New York. His work includes graphic and corporate identity programs, publication designs, architectural graphics, and exhibition, interior, furniture, and consumer product designs for many leading American and European companies and institutions.
Massimo’s Vignelli’s work has been published and exhibited throughout the world and entered in the permanent collections of several museums, notably, The Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York; the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Montreal; and Die Neue Sammlung in Munich. Vignelli taught and lectured on design in the major cities and universities in the U. S. and abroad.
For the past ten years he taught a summer course at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He was a past president of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) and the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), and a vice president of The Architectural League.
Two feature-length television programs on the Vignellis’ work have been aired worldwide. A monographic exhibition of the Vignellis’ work toured Europe between 1989 and 1993, and was featured in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Helsinki, London, Budapest, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Munich, Prague, and Paris.
Among Massimo Vignelli’s many awards are the Gran Premio Triennale di Milano, 1964; the Compasso d’Oro, awarded by the Italian Association for Industrial Design (ADI), in 1964 and again in 1998; the 1973 Industrial Arts Medal of the American Institute of Architects (AIA); the 1982 Art Directors Club Hall of Fame; the 1983 AIGA Gold Medal; the first Presidential Design Award, presented by President Ronald Reagan in 1985, for the National Park Service Publications Program; the 1988 Interior Design Hall of Fame; the 1991 National Arts Club Gold Medal for Design; the 1992 Interior Product Designers Fellowship of Excellence; The 1995 Brooklyn Museum Design Award for Lifetime Achievement; and The 2001 Russel Wright Award for Design Excellence.
Massimo Vignelli has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Architecture from the University of Venice (Italy) and Honorary Doctorates in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design, New York; Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY; Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; the Corcoran School of Art, Washington D.C.; the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA; and the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY. In 1996 he received the Honorary Royal Designer for Industry Award from the Royal Society of Arts, London. In 2003, Lella and Massimo Vignelli received the National Design Lifetime Achievement Award; in 2004, the Visionary Award from the Museum of Art and Design, New York; and in 2005, the Architectural Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Announcements
Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister
Now is Better
By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023
Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future
By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022
Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People
By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022
Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.
Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Milton Glaser: POP
By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023
This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.
Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange
Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall
By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022
Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”
Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)
By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023
This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.
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