Picture this: It’s the year 1927 and you’ve been granted the Tiffany Foundation Scholarship to attend Pratt Institute. Fast forward to 1931, after your skills flourish, you finally graduate, and you are ready to enter the workplace. But here’s the issue – you’re a woman.

Despite being a talented hopeful, Cipe Pineles faced many challenges finding work and a creative safe space after graduating from Pratt Institute. She would eventually find comfort in a group of European immigrant designers who were also trying to make a name for themselves. The company became Contempora Ltd. and there Pineles’ skills only grew by designing advertisements and pattern updates.

At a Gala event put on by Contempora Ltd., Pineles met the wife of Conde Nast who was fully impressed by her work. Shortly after Pineles became an assistant to M.F. Agha, then art director of Condé Nast publications. After about 10 years working under Agha, Pineles was titled the art director of Glamour magazine in 1942. Her art direction and design were also brought to publications such as Seventeen, Charm, Vogue, and Vanity Fair. 

Pineles was so innovative for her time, not only because she was a successful woman working in a male-dominated industry, but because she blurred the lines between fine art and publication design. Before Pineles, hiring and commissioning fine artists for publications was unheard of.

Images (Left to Right):

Cipe Pineles, Vouge cover, 1950, photograph: Irving Penn

Cipe Pineles, Charm cover, November 1953

Cipe Pineles, Vouge cover, 1939

Carla Dadulla

By: Jolie Siegel

Paula Scher is a well known graphic designer who has done work for companies such as Adobe, Microsoft, Coco-Cola, Walt Disney Company, and many more notable companies. She is known for her unique approach to typography, developing a new style based off of Art Deco and Russian Constructivism. She utilizes typography in a way that is unusual and new, yet instantly recognizable. This is why some consider her to be the most influential graphic designers in the world. Her work even has a permanent home in exhibitions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Library of Congress and other various institutions.

Some notable achievements include; Art Director Hall of Fame (1998), Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design (2000), American Institute of Graphic Arts Medal (2001), and was the first woman awarded the Type Directors Club Medal (2006)

Some of her work that can be found in MOMA

Some more commonly recognized work of hers

“The things that make work interesting, and create invention, are accidents. You want to be in a position where you’re capable of making accidents”

Check out this link if you’re interested in learning more about “A Life in Her Work”

https://www.madamearchitect.org/interviews/2020/7/16/paula-scher

Check out this link if you’re interested in seeing more of her work

https://www.behance.net/PaulaScher

In the story of graphic design, there are millions of people who now call themselves graphic designers but there are some that have left a remarkable mark in the industry. One of them is Paul Rand (1914-1996) many say that he is considered the father of graphic design. Paul Rand was an American art director and graphic designer that was well known for his corporate logo designs for major firms like Morningstar, Inc., NeXT Computer, Yale University, and Enron. He also was one of the first American commercial artists to embrace and practice the Swiss Style of graphic design. since the late 1930s, Rand adopted both European modernism and American spirit and functionalism in his graphic style and was highly rated for it. In 1947, Rand published his book titled Thoughts on Design which contained theories and beliefs that shaped the entire future of graphic design he introduces many ideas to the world of design, one of them being the ideology that graphic design should be a “functional-aesthetic perfection”. The balance between beauty and practicality was the major factor to make something look good while getting the message across in an effective manner to the public.