designing duos

Designing Duos

IntroductionKatherine and Michael McCoyNancy Skolos and Tom WedellLella and Massimo VignelliSummary, Comparisons and OpinionsBibliography and Colophon

13

13334345

Contents

This book is about 3 couples that practice design

together. These couples have many things in

common, but also have many differences. Their

design styles have made them each known in-

ternationally and is consistent in their works. They

are all highly respected members of the design

community and at one time or another have been

teachers, thus passing the baton to a new gen-

eration of graphic designers

1

Introduction

Katherine and Michael McCoy

Katherine and Michael McCoy are the founders of the McCoy

and McCoy design firm. Both of them were co-chairs of the design

department at the Cranbrook Academy of Art for 23 years and

are currently professors at Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute

of Design. Michael is more of a product designer, while Katherine

specializes in graphic design. They also founded High Ground, a

company that hosts workshops and seminars for designers.

The McCoys seem to have a very varied style of design. Michael’s

furniture and product design is very sleek and cutting-edge, look-

ing like something found in a futuristic home. Katherine’s design is

very versatile with some pieces simple and others complicated. She

seems to favor bright, bold colors which is displayed in her work for

Frontier Airlines and Creel Morell. She shows simplicity in her design

of the High Ground Website and for Tivoli, but contradicts that style

with The New Cranbrook Design Discourse and the Design Michigan

educational posters.

3

When I think of the undercurrents that shape my

graphic design, I think of ideas about language

and form. Ideas about coding and reading visual

form, about challenging the viewer to construct

individual interpretations, about layers of form

and layers of meaning. These are at the forefront

of my mind, but behind that lie other deeper and

older concerns that go back to my earliest years

of design. Perhaps these are what could be called

a philosophy or an ethic, a personal set of values

and criteria, a thread that winds through the life-

time of work and sustains its rigor, the contin-

uity in the cycles of change.

5

One Home Michael McCoy Collection

Incident Coat Rack and Collage Coffee Table

Rethinking Modernism, Revising Functionalism

Katherine McCoy

Undergraduate school in industrial design was a very idea-

listic time. The strong emphasis on problem-solving and

a form follows functionalism struck a resonance with my

personal approach toward the opportunities and problems

of daily life. As a college junior, I enthusiastically embraced

the rationalism of the Museum of Modern Art’s Permanent

Design Collection, abandoning the ambiguously intuitive

territory of fine art. This somewhat vague midwestern Am-

erican Modernist ethic had its roots in the Bauhaus,and

our group of students gained a dim understanding of its app-

lication by the Ulm School of Germany. Added to this was

a reverence for the insights of George Nelson, Marshall Mc-

Luhan and Buckminster Fuller. In hindsight I continue to

appreciate the foundation built by those years of industrial

design training. At that time, in the middle 1960s, even

the best American education in graphic design would not

have gone much further than an intuitive ah ha method of

conceptualizing design solutions and an emulation of the

design masters of the moment.

Knoll Bulldog Operational Office Chair

Katherine McCoy: Rethinking Modernism, Reviving Functionalism �

This faith in rational functionalism (and not a polished portfolio) found me my first job,

at Unimark International, then the American missionary for European Modernism,

the graphic heir of the Bauhaus. There I had the opportunity to learn graphic design

from “real” Swiss and to have my junior design work critiqued by Massimo Vignelli, the

greatest missionary of them all, the master of Helvetica and the grid. Our ethic then

was one of discipline, clarity and cleanliness. The highest praise for a piece of graphic

design was, This is really clean. We saw ourselves as sweeping away the clutter and con-

fusion of American advertising design with a professional rationality and objectivity

that would define a new American design. This approach was fairly foreign to Ameri-

can clients and in 1968 it was remarkably difficult to convince corporate clients that

a grid-ordered page with only two weights of Helvetica was appropriate to their needs.

Now, of course, one can hardly persuade them to let give up their hold on Swiss, so

completely has the corporate world embraced rationalist Modernism in graphic design.

Logos for Cranbrook University

But after a few years of striving to design as purely as possible, employ-

ing a minimalist typographic vocabulary, strongly gridded page

structures and contrast in scale for visual interest, I came to view this

desire for cleanliness as not much more than housekeeping. A num-

ber of us, mainly graphic designers in the Swiss method, began to

search for a more expressive design, paralleling a similar movement

in architecture now known as Post Modernism. Eventually what

came to be called New Wave, for lack of a better term, emerged in

the 1970s as a new operating mode of graphic design. This included

a new permission to employ historical and vernacular elements,

something prohibited by Swiss Modernism. Then in the mid 1980s

at Cranbrook we found a new interest in verbal language in graphic

design, as well as fine art. Text can be animated with voices and

images can be read, as well as seen, with an emphasis on audience

interpretation and participation in the construction of meaning. But

now, as the cycles of change continue, Modernism may be reemerg-

ing somewhat, a renewed minimalism that is calming down the visual

outburst of activity of the past fifteen years.

Katherine McCoy: Rethinking Modernism, Reviving Functionalism �

Modernism may be reemerging somewhat, a renewed minimalism that is calming down the visual outburst of activity of the past fifteen years.

Frontier Airlines 1967

Ticket counter posters that Katherine designed while working at Unimark.

Rizzoli International 1991

Cranbrook Design: The New Discours. A book

about design work done by student, faculty and

alumni from Cranbrook.

Phillips Videophone

Katherine McCoy: Rethinking Modernism, Reviving Functionalism 11

Through these years of continual change and new posibilities,

where does the ethic lie? Does not the idea of ethic imply some sort

of unshakable bedrock impervious to the winds of change? For me,

there seems to be a habit of functionalism that shapes my process

at the beginning of every design project, the rational analysis of

the message and the audience, the objective structuring of the text.

Each cycle of change during the passing years seems to have added

another visual or conceptual layer laid upon that foundation of

fun-ctionalism, but inside of every project it is always there. Although

this emphasis on rationalism would seem to be at odds with recent

experimentation at Cranbrook, in fact it has been the provocation to

question accepted norms in graphic design, stimulating the search

for new communications theories and visual languages. I have never

lost my faith in rational functionalism, in spite of app-earances to the

contrary. The only thing lost was an absolute dedication to minimalist

form, which is a completely different issue from rationalist process.

Part of this ethic is a strong conviction and enthusiasm that design is

important, that it matters in life, not just mine, but in the lives of our

audiences and users of designed communications. Graphic design

can be a contribution to our audiences. It can enrich as it informs

and communicates. And there is a faith in not only the possibility, but

the necessity for advancement and growth in our field, an imperative

for change. That only through change can we continue to push

ahead in know-ledge and expertise, theory and expression, contin-

ually building our collective knowledge of the process of communica-

tion. These convictions were formed early and sustain me today.

Nancy Skolos and Tom Wedell are the founders of Skolos/Wedell, a

design and photography firm located in Cambridge, MA. Nancy and

Tom met in 1��5 while both were attending Cranbrook University in

Michigan. Nancy was studying design and Tom was seeking his MFA in

photography and design. They started working together because of their

busy work schedules forced them to. In Nancy’s words, if Tom wanted to

spend time with me, we would have to work together. After we began

working together on the posters, we realized it was really fun. Aside

from working in their studio, Skolos and Wedell are both professors at

the Rhode Island School of Design. The couple does a wide variety of

work, but are best known for their posters which combine each of their

expertise to produce astonishing results.

The style that is displayed from Skolos and Wedell is very unique in that

it plays heavily between the relationships of type, images, space, and

lighting. One look at one of their more prominent posters and you cannot

clearly understand what is going on and what elements are photographic

or digital. The style is greatly influenced by cubism and has been referred

to as Techno-Cubism. Even thier design work that is devoid of photogra-

phy is stylistically similar to their posters. This style and innovation has

earned them many awards and landed their work in various museums.

13

Nancy Skolos & Tom Wedell

Resnik, Elizabeth Graphis Magazine 2003

Nancy Skolos & Tom Wedell: In Tandem 15

It is a dismal, rainy afternoon on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. As the windshield

wipers go full blast, I dare to glance at the hastily scribbled directions announcing

the landmarks on an avenue that suddenly makes a transition from rundown, urban

three-decker houses to suburban, country-style colonials. After driving a few more miles

of bare, tree-lined streets, I take a right on Green Street and continue looking to the

left until my destination comes into view. The house is set back from the road, a warm

beacon of light emanating from its unique structural mix of Japanesemin-imalism and

Bauhaus geometry. Oddly out of place in this suburban neighborhood, the building

is the perfect manifestation of the union of two dis-tinct yet complimentary artistic

visions. The house, which is also a design studio, belongs to Nancy Skolos and Tom We-

dell, a dynamic husband-and-wife creative team who met at Cranbrook Art Academy

in the mid–1970’s. After receiving their degrees, they made the move from the Midwest

to New England in 1980 and formally established their partnership and studio. During

the early 1980’s, I was engaged in developing my design curriculum while also absorb-

ing the character of the local graphic design and advertising scene for inspiration. I

noticed Skolos and Wedell’s work immediately-I had not seen anything like it from any

other studio in the area. Their work was unabashedly modernist, suggesting a notion of

three-dimensional illusion and momentum within its two-dimensional surfaces. Their

signature style materialized a few years later when they began to merge the vocabularies

of design and photography to produce experimental, surreal images using collage, tex-

turing and layering. Often referred to as Techno-Cubist, their style has been inspried by

many sources, including modern painting, architecture and the daily practice of teach-

ing design on the college level at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.

Both Nancy and Tom are quick to admit that teaching informs their own creative work

in terms of both its form and content. Over the years, Nancy, Tom and I have shared a

love for teaching and design. The rain pelts the roof of the cavernous house, the sound

echoes through the spare interiors, punctuating a conversation which has spanned the

three decades we have known one another.

Nancy Skolos & Tom Wedell: In Tandem

Graphis: This house is amazing. Can you describe the process of designing and build-ing the house and studio?

Nancy Skolos: The most critical part of the

process was deciding to do it in the first place, to

realize that it was okay to have our work and

our lives completely intertwined.

Tom Wedell: It was such a long process, it would

require a separate interview to describe. Being

the client instead of the designer was the most dif-

ficult task. We were a little too hands-on. We knew

what we wanted-even the materials.

Nancy Skolos: The architects were clients of ours,

Jon McKee and Mark Hutker of the Lyceum

Fellowship Committee. They took our require-

ments and really brought the idea to life. The way

the house sits on the site and the massing of the

structure to create high monitor windows to catch

the light is so magical. Amazingly, many visitors

to the house have picked up on the visual similar-

Lyceum Fellowship Student Competition 2004

35 1/2 x 50 3/8 in.


35 1/2 x 50 3/8 in.

Nancy Skolos & Tom Wedell: In Tandem 1�

ity between our home/studio and our work. When

you are in the structure, there is a sense of surface,

light and dimension that makes it seem as if you

are walking through one of our posters. Essentially

our work is the material evidence of our relation-

ship. We must get along really well if we can make

something this harmonious.

Graphis: Of all the work you made togeth-er, what is your favorite project?

Tom Wedell: The house of course! No actually,

it isn’t the house. Our favorite project of all time

is our marriage. It’s our life, it’s what we do every

day. Our greatest project is our relationship.

Graphis: What were the circumstances that brought the two of you together?

Nancy Skolos: That’s our favorite story. We met

on my first day at Cranbrook. Tom was a second-

year graduate student in photography and I was

one of a handful of undergraduate students. He

spotted me walking toward the dorm, clutching

my American Tourister luggage. Having just come

from the University of Cincinnati with 30,000 stu-

dents, I felt sure that if I put my bag down some-

one would steal it. I think he felt sorry for me, so

he came up to me and said, Cheer up, it will get

worse. That was how we first met 27 years ago.

Graphis: Cranbrook Academy of Art is not widely known for its undergraduate graphic design program, or its graduate photog-raphy program. Did you find the program challenging?

Nancy Skolos: Yes. At the time, I was one of two

undergraduate students in graphic design. In nine

departments combined, there were 150 students

at Cranbrook. Out of the 150 I think there were

about five undergraduates. The undergraduate

program no longer exists. They eliminated the

program soon after I graduated.


35 1/2 x 50 3/8 in.


35 1/2 x 50 3/8 in.

Berkeley Typographers 1986

25 x 25 in. First and second in a

series of three posters for a photo-

typesetting company


Graphis: Why did they accept so few undergraduates?

Nancy Skolos: Undergraduate students could apply after finishing

their freshman and sophomore year at a reputable design school

and transfer to Cranbrook to do their junior and senior year-in the

two-year graduate program. We did the same projects as the gracl

students, so it put me on a fast-track, which was very fortunate. All of

the other students were more educated and more experienced so

they were wonderful teachers. I learned the most from the other

students because they didn’t worry about being diplomatic. At Cran-

brook the critiques were brutal. At the first crit, I was told that

I had the most god-awful sense of color they had ever seen, and

my friend who was also an undergraduate was told that her project

looked like something you would collage together in junior high. The

two of us used to spend a lot of time after the crits at Baskin-Robbins

putting down one ice cream cone after another-as if we were at a bar.

Tom Wedell: The photography program was brand new in 1975. Ev-

erything was in its formative stage. We built the darkrooms and the

spaces. In my second week at Cranbrook, I ran into Kathy McCoy

who needed some photos taken. That’s how I started working in the

design department taking photos, first for Kathy and Mike McCoy,

and then for everyone else. I became very involved in the design

department. After I received my master’s degree in photography,

I decided to stay an additional year and work in graphic design. The

school was so fluid and flexible that it would allow these things to

happen. I didn’t feel like a photographer or like a designer: I felt

I was a hybrid.

Nancy Skolos: The design department itself was completely inter-

disciplinary. Students could participate in 2–D and 3–D assignments

and the cross-fertilization among the interior, product and graphic

design students led to mutual understanding of design problems. The

best part about it was that the McCoys constantly reinvented the

theoretical constructs. They never stopped searching and thinking.

They created an environment and attitude that has stayed with most

of us throughout our entire careers and lives.


35 ½ x 50 ³⁄8 in. Annual call for entries for Archi-

tecture students. 2007 Program was the design of

a hybrid marketplace in Mexico City.

Graphis: When did you begin to collaborate?

Nancy Skolos: We were together for a couple of years

before we ever tried to work together. We didn’t begin

working together until I graduated from Cranbrook

and went to graduate school at Yale where I got a com-

mission to design the Yale Symphony posters. Every

few weeks I’d have to make a poster. If Tom wanted to

spend time with me, we would have to work together.

After we began working together on the posters, we

realized it was really fun.

Graphis: Nancy, why did you choose Yale for graduate school? Why not continue on studying at Cranbrook?

Nancy Skolos: Because I had come to Cranbrook with

a background in industrial design and had had such

freedom to study various design disciplines at Cran-

brook, I decided to go to Yale to get a hardcore educa-

tion in graphic design.

Graphis: Tom, how did you end up at Swain School of Design in New Bedford?

Tom Wedell: I wanted to teach photography. But back

then it was extremely difficult to find a teaching job

in the fine arts. There were 300 to 400 applicants for

every teaching position-it was just absurd. My lucky

break came when a first year graduate design student at

Cranbrook, from Swain School of Design in New

Bedford, suggested I talk to Tom Corey, one of his

teachers. It was close to New Haven so I took the job.

Graphis: After graduate school, what factored into your decision to open a design studio in Boston?

Tom Wedell: Nancy and I really wanted to stay on the

East Coast. We considered moving to New York, but

we had some friends from Cranbrook who were here in

Boston and Boston seemed more accessible to us since

we were transplanted Midwesterners.


Boston Acoustics Loudspeakers 1980 21 x 30 in. Poster to launch Boston Acoustics loudspeaker company and A200 speakers. This was Skolos/Wedell’s first client.

Graphis: I recall the name of your studio then was Skolos, Wedell + Raynor? Who was Raynor?

Tom Wedell: Ken Raynor is still a very good

friend of ours and a person I grew up with from

about eighth grade on. He was at the Univers-

ity of Michigan when I was an undergraduate,

and we always hung around together. He came to

Cranbrook our last year and when we moved to

Boston I invited him to come and assist on photo

shoots. After he graduated, he became a partner

and stayed until 1989. He and his wife Laura

decided to move back to Michigan to be closer to

both of their families.

Graphis: Who were your early clients?

Tom Wedell: Our first client was Boston Acous-

tics. One of our friends from Cranbrook, their

product designer, helped us make that connection.

We were fortunate to work with them for 10 years.

Nancy Skolos: Another one of our friends who

had been a painter at Cranbrook ended up being

an art director at Houghton Mifflin. She also

helped connect us to Little Brown and as a result

we ended up designing a lot of textbook cov-

ers and promotional brochures for marketing.

Another friend of mine from the University of

Cincinnati helped us get work from Digital Equip-

ment Corporation and eventually we also worked

for Wang, Prime Computer and others.

Graphis: It sounds primarily high tech?

Nancy Skolos: Yes, that’s why our work started

looking really high tech because it grew naturally,

organically from the subject material that we were

dealing with.

Graphis: In the design press your style has been referred to as Techno-Cubist. What does that mean?

The Skolos & Wedell Home/Studio

4,000 square feet. The Boston Society of

Architects (BSA) recognized the Skolos/Wedell

residence with a prestigious 2003 Honor Award

for Design Excellence.


I thought it was cool to be called a Techno-Cubist be-cause I have always looked to the Cubists for inspira-tion to create really dynamic two-dimensional spaces.

Nancy Skolos: That term was coined by Mike Hicks, who wrote an

article on us for Eye magazine. I thought it was cool to be called a

Techno–Cubist because I have always looked to the Cubists for inspi-

ration to create really dynamic two-dimensional spaces.

Graphis: What cubist artists in particular do you look to for this inspiration?

Nancy Skolos: Primarily Picasso and Braque and also Naum Gabo

who was more associated with the Constructivists.

Tom Wedell: The term Techno-Cubist also refers to fragmentation,

which is a 20th-century development. We tend to fragment the con-

cept, present it from different points of view; multiple viewpoints are

represented, if not literally then conceptually.

Graphis: How large did your business grow before the recession in 1990?

Nancy Skolos: We had nine people. Tom, Ken, myself, three design-

ers, a production manager, a receptionist, an office manager, and

a bookkeeper who would come in once a week. We just got bigger

and bigger because that’s what we thought back then–just growth,

growth, growth! We were making a lot of money, but we just kept

putting it back into the business to create a better facility-buying

more and more equipment and hiring more people.

Graphis: What led to your decision to downsize your studio?

Tom Wedell: Well, the recession helped.

Graphis: You were quoted in Hugh Aldersey-Williams’ book New American Design: Products and Graphics (Rizzoli 1988) that one important key to your partnership is that we do un-finished works and combine them. How do you communicate with one another?

Tom Wedell: Almost by telepathy. Sometimes when we lecture together, people com-

ment on how hard we must have rehearsed in order to present the lecture together-

even though we haven’t. This describes the way we work together. We don’t rehearse, we

just start working. I have the peculiar ability to draw upside-down, which sort of helps

when Nancy is sitting across from me. I tend to work in real-time, i.e., what’s happening

this second, whereas Nancy tends to plan ahead and work in another time zone.

Nancy Skolos: You know, a designer has to plan.

Graphis: So you’re not spontaneous?

Tom Wedell: Nancy is not really spontaneous, but as a photographer, I am. However,

that is the perfect combination-half and half. The rule is that Nancy has the final say

on design and typography issues, and sometimes color, and I make the final decision on

photo issues, film emulsions and lighting.

Graphis: How about image generation, the concept behind the image?

Nancy Skolos: That can go either way, although most of the time it’s Tom’s idea. He’s

Mr. Concept. As a designer, I tend to think in bits and pieces and then rearrange them

into ideas. Whereas Tom thinks in real time, sequentially, like a narrative.

Tom Wedell: I like storytelling, and Nancy is very good at forming those elements into a

system that is clear and accessible. Into this structure, I can add narrative elements that

I think are necessary symbols.

Nancy Skolos: If you look at any of our pieces, each seems to have a different balance

of power. We just talked back and forth, asking each other what we thought about each

idea. We often use collage to generate ideas. We are also very inspired by the process of

making our work. It started early on when I would be cutting up little waxed pieces of

type to make mechanicals. Tom would come by, and I’d ask him if he liked what I was

working on and he’d always be more interested in the little waxed strips of paper piled

up at the side of my drawing board. That made us start to pay attention to accidents

and watch for things to just happen. I know there are many other influences. We have

always been influenced by architecture.

Tom Wedell: One of the advantages of being at Cranbrook was experiencing the

architecture.

Nancy Skolos: The Art Academy and also Cranbrook School for Boys, where we would

go for lunch, was a very eclectic complex of buildings designed by Saarinen, Every

time you walked through an interior space like the dining hall or an exterior space like

the courtyard, you would see something you hadn’t noticed before. The leaded-glass



35 1/2 x 50 3/8 in.Annual call for entries for Architecture students. 2002 program

was the design of a nature observatory for two.

windows were laid out so rationally that you assumed they were

identical, but after a while you would notice that each had a slightly

different design within it. I’m sure this was one of the biggest influ-

ences on the so-called Cranbrook aesthetics, because as students we

realized there was no limit to the amount of involvement you could

have with a piece of design.

Tom Wedell: That is assuming we chose them!

Nancy Skolos: Right. We were never that choosy actually. A couple

of times we went after clients that we wanted, and we succeeded. But

almost all of our jobs seemed to come from word-of-mouth.

Graphis: The First Things First Manifesto 2000 has stimu-lated a much-needed dialogue within the design community. People have been arguing both sides. For designers and advertising people, it could suggest cutting off the hand that feeds you.

Tom Wedell: It’s not bad to have a stated consciousness about what

you are doing. It seems to me that the Manifesto contained all the

right buzz words but there was something inherently wrong with it.

Nancy Skolos: For me, the most obvious problem is the title– First

Things First. The first thing is creativity. Yesterday they were play-

ing Mozart’s 41st Symphony on the classical station, and the radio

announcer noted that by the time Mozart wrote it, he wasn’t getting

commissions-there wasn’t much call for another Mozart symphony.

The radio announcer went on to speculate that Mozart wrote the

symphony for himself. And I imagine that’s who he did all of his

work for. One of the things I’ve always liked best about design is how

it brings the ideals of high art into everyday things. Commissions

are just the vehicles to infiltrate the everyday with the otherworldly.

Design is very subversive in that way.

Graphis: Do you think it is a designer’s social and ethical responsibility to create meaningful forms?

Nancy Skolos: In a recent lecture, Stefan Sagmeister quoted Kathy

McCoy as saying, Design never rises above its content. I completely

agree with that. I think you only cheat yourself if you do work that’s

really superficial. This semester I was putting together a slide tray of

my favorite posters from around the world to show my poster-design


students at R.I.S.D. As I was looking through this selection of seem-

ingly beautiful posters, I began to see them in a more critical way.

Most of them were just about nothing-a design show, a department

store, a printing company-they were just really easy subjects, nothing

challenging. That led me to a serious reevaluation of our own work.

We really do need to value and include a higher level of content in

our work.

Tom Wedell: You can say you want to put in more content, but my

interest is to put more meaning into things we make-to create and

direct relationships among the various symbols within a piece in order

to have a richer experience with the content. It means more thought

is given to the material presented, its sequence and how we put that

together.

Graphis: How has the profession of graphic design changed since you opened your practice in 1980?

Nancy Skolos: Way more than I would have thought. I never thought

‘communication’ would become such a hot commodity. The skills we

have as graphic designers to shape and direct communication put us

in a very powerful position, one I never would have anticipated. That

is the biggest surprise, but I’m disappointed that technology hasn’t

changed our work that much. I hope someday it will. Perhaps we will

come up with a visual language to express our time much like the

Cubists did. As much as I would like to come up with a new vision

based on technology, I have found that aesthetic changes have to

come from within. You have to just wait until your mind senses some-

thing new. Another thing that has changed since 1980 is that there is

much less hero-worship than when we were in school. The world is

so big, it is hard for students to imagine having a single-handed im-

pact on things, and they also realize that a lot of the really innovative

work is being done now by teams.

Graphis: Nancy, I recall a conversation we had in the ‘90s when you seemed ambivalent about your teaching part-time. What influenced you to make a full-time teaching commit-ment at RISD.?

Nancy Skolos: I’m not really a natural-born teacher. I never feel that

I know enough. I don’t feel like I’m a real authority on anything. It’s

just not my nature to expound on things. I think that’s probably why

I felt ambivalent. The class I always taught at RISD was an elective

course in poster design for seniors and grad students. One year I was

Light of Hope for Indonesia

35 1/2 x 50 3/8 in. Invitional poster project to

support tsunami victims in Indonesia.


35 1/2 x 50 3/8 in. 2008 program was the design of

Intergenerational Housing.


35 1/2 x 50 3/8 in. 2007 Program was the design

of a hybrid marketplace in Mexico City.

Documenting Marcel Exhibition Poster 1996

24 1/2 x 36 in. NY Promotional ephemera from

all of Marcel Duchamp’s gallery exhibitions


asked to fill in for a sophomore course. The more teaching I did, the

more rewarding it was because I could see the students progress from

sophomores to seniors; I really enjoyed the whole nurturing aspect of

the job. Since I took the full-time position, I’ve learned more than I

experienced in my whole college education. I almost feel guilty that

they pay me. My mind hasn’t been this happy in a long time. It’s fun

at my age to try something so new and see that you can grow. I now

get an almost bigger thrill out of designing a really successful assign-

ment for my students than I do from designing a project of my own.

Graphis: As students, you experienced Cranbrook, a school with a rather distinctive personality. How would you describe the atmosphere in the graphic design program at RISD?

Nancy Skolos: It’s totally different than Cranbrook. At Cranbrook,

you are so focused and isolated, it’s almost like entering a monastery.

RISD seems to have a lot to offer. There is a tremendous wealth of

knowledge and experience among the ten full-time graphic design

faculty. When I have a crisis, like hating all of my favorite posters, I

can go to them and get amazingly valuable insight and inspiration.

Tom Wedell: I would say that the RISD graphic design program is

unique in its emphasis on teaching the students to make meaningful

work. We are training analytical designers with very sophist-

icated communication skills. Slickness and craft take a back seat

to serious thinking.

Graphis: Do you feel you have a responsibility to teach traditional methods and values to your students, or should you engage in teaching new paradigms?

Nancy Skolos: As you know, this is always a balancing act. I tend to

focus my energy on getting students excited about the possibilities of

visual communication, and those come from everywhere: past, pres-

ent and future. I find that after students are engaged in the potential

of graphic design, they become much more interested in the history

and traditions, such as the rules of typography. If you come down

too hard with the rules and traditions at first, it becomes arbitrary

and stifling.

Lyceum Fellowship Student Competition

20 x 32 in. 1995 program was to design buildings

and a site fitting the context of the weather and

ecology of Bainbridge Island.

Graphis: Do you find theory valuable in the teaching of

graphic design to undergraduates?

Tom Wedell: We don’t teach theory in a true academic sense, but use

it as a way to evaluate the cause and effect of problem-solving. We

construct assignments with variables that require decisions from the

students about what type of communication will be effective for what

audience and subject. Very often the students choose their own topics

within the framework of an assignment. This encourages them to

be more open to seeing the possibilities and to create visual solutions

from the inside-out.

Graphis: To teach is to engage in a very giving activity. Has teaching broadened your perspective on your own design practice?

Nancy Skolos: For sure. It has made me better at listening and that

has extended to listening to my clients. I always thought I was very

attentive, but now I have an even stronger attention span.

Graphis: One of my favorite Kathy McCoy dictums is: An educator’s measure of success must ultimately be her graduates. I find enormous gratification in my students’ career progress and achievements. Do you agree with this?

Nancy Skolos: Yes, I’m sure that is gratifying. I can’t wait to see what

some of our graduates will accomplish.

Lella and Massimo Vignelli are the founders of Vignelli Assocates

design studio. They started the Vignelli Office of Design and

Architecture, based in Milan, in 1�5�. Vignelli Associates started in

1��1, with Lella as the president. Lella was born in Udine, Italy and

studied architecture, becoming a registered architect in 1�62. She

regularly lectures at universities and has recieved numerous design

awards including, but not limited to the AIGA Gold Medal in 1�83

and the Visionary Award from the Museum of Art and Design in

2004. Massimo was born in Milan and also studied architecture.He is

widely known for his work designing subway signage, most notably

in New York and also for his work designing the American Airlines

corporate identity. He has also recieved many awards and has had

his work exhibited around the world. Both of the Vigenlliis continue

to work for their studio, which is based in New York.

The Vignelli’s work is minimalist and relies heavily on typography.

Their work is simple, clean, and elegant. Massimo has described

his style as essential, intellectually elegant, strong, and timeless.

Thier beautiful typography can best be seen in their work for IBM,

Brookstone, Bloomingdales, and Heller. These works are composed

completely from type and color, with virtually no imagery at all.

Their work also has a largely modern feel, with sans serif typefaces

preferred in very simple but elegant layouts. Their modern style is

mirrored in their furniture design, which is made up of bold and

interesting geometric shapes.

Lella and Massimo Vignelli

Vignelli, Massimo Looking Closer Allworth Press 1994

Massimo Vignelli: Long Live Modernism! 33

I was raised to believe that an architect should be able to design everything from a spoon

to a city. At the root of this belief is a commitment to improve the design of every-

thing that can be made-to make it better. To make it better not only from a functional

or mechanical point of view, but to design it to reflect cultural and ethical values,

ethical integrity. Integrity of purpose, materials, and the manufacturing process.

Ducati Corporate Identity 1998

The Vignellis chose to change the previous cartoon style identity to a new, cutting

edge and high tech look.

35

Long Live Modernism!

Massimo Vignelli

Integrity of purpose implies a severe analysis of

what the problem is; its meaning, what the possi-

bilities for a range of solution are: solutions which

have to be sifted through to determine the most

appropriate for the specific problem. The solutions

to a problem are in the problem itself. To solve

all the questions posed by the problem, however,

is not enough. The solutions should reflect the

approach taken, and by virtue of its configuration,

stimulate cultural reactions in the viewer, rather

than emotional titillation. In this process, nothing

is taken for granted, no dogmas are accepted, no

preconceived ideas are assumed or adopted with-

out questioning them in the context of the project.

Fassati Wines Italy 1994

The name on the bottles was run vertically be-

cause of the length. The bottle was reflected onto

the package to give it a mass display when on

the shelf of a store.

36

I was raised to believe that, as a designer, I have the responsibility

to improve the world around us, to make it a better place to live, to

fight and oppose trivia, kitsch, and all forms of subculture which are

visually polluting our world. The ethics of Modernism, or I should

say the ideology of Modernism, was an ideology of the fight, the

ongoing battle to combat all the wrongs developed by industrializa-

tion during the last century. Modernism was a commitment against

greed, commercialization, exploitation, vulgarization, cheapness.

Modernism was and still is the search for truth, the search for integ-

rity, the search for cultural stimulation and enrichment of the mind.

Modernism was never a style, but an attitude. This is often misun-

derstood by those designers who dwell on revivals of the form rather

than on the content of Modernism. From the beginning, Modernism

had the urgency of utopianism: to make a world better by design.

Today we know better. It takes more than design to change things

But the cultural thrust of the Modernist belief is still valid, because

we still have too much trash around us, not only material trash,

but intellectual trash as well. In that respect, I value, endorse, and

promote the continued relevance of the Modern movement as the

cultural mainstream of out century.

I Vini Dei Feudi Di San Gregorio 1994

The solutions to a problem are in the problem itself

Massimo Vignelli: Long Live Modernism! 3�

The cultural events of the last twenty years have expanded and deepened the issues and

values promoted by the Modern movement. The revision of many of the Modernist

issues have enriched our perception and have contributed to improving the quality of

work. The increased number of architects and designers with good training has had a

positive effect on our society and our environment. Much still has to be done to con-

vince industry and government that design is an integral part of the production process

and not a last-minute embellishment.

Brookstone Packaging Program 1992

Plain craft paper was used to show the store’s no-nonsense philosophy.

Massimo Vignelli: Long Live Modernism! 3�

Heller Packaging Program 1968

The Vignellis kept the type the same size on all boxes, regardless of the

box size. The design was meant to convey design conciousness.

Bloomingdales Grapic Program 1972

Logo design (including 3 weights), and the pack-

aging made up of 8 bright colors

IBM Packaging and Manuals 1984

This was the packaging for IBM’s first PC, meant to convey technical elegance

The cultural energy of Modern movement is still

burning, fueling intellects against shallow trends,

transitory values, superficial titillation brought for-

ward by the media, whose very existence depends

on ephemera. Many of the current modes are cre-

ated, supported, and discarded by the very media

that generates that change and documents it to

survive. It is a vicious circle. It has always been,

only now it is bigger than ever.

As seen in broad historical perspective, Modern-

ism’s ascetic, spartan look still has a towering posi-

tion of strength and dignity. Modernism’s inherent

notion of timeless values as opposed to transient

values still greatly appeals to my intellectual being.

Pitagora Theather System, Poltrona Frau 1995

Massimo Vignelli: Long Live Modernism! 41

The best architects in the world today are all Modernists at the core,

and so are the best designers. The followers of the Post-modernist

fad are gone, reduced to caricatures of the recent past. Post-modern-

ism should be regarded at best as a critical evaluation of the issues

of Modernism. None of us would be the same without it. However,

the lack of a profound ideology eventually brought Post-modernism

to its terminal stage. In the cultural confusion provided by pluralism

and its eclectic manifestations, Modernism find its raison d’être in

its commitment to the original issues of its ideology and its energy to

change the world into a better place in which to live.

Long live the Modern movement!

Bernini Desk 1998

A very geometrical piece. The red L is a filing cabinet on one side and the glass top is actu-

ally shaped like a piano.

43

Each of the teams are dynamic and have their own strengths. The Vignellis are the cleanest of the 3 couples with their simplistic style that is touched upon in some of the McCoy’s work. This style is contrasted by artists like Stefan Sagmeister, who uses type in a much more confusing and hard-to-read way. The McCoys use many geometric shapes both in their graphic and product design. Although these shapes are present in some of the Vignelli’s work, their design is much more focused on typography and it’s careful positioning. Other pieces of the McCoys, Katherine in particular, go completely against that simplistic style.

The deviant team out of the 3 is clearly Skolos/Wedell, being the only ones that incorporate a large amount of photography in their work. Their posters can be compared to the Vignelli’s work in that type plays a large role, but that is likely where the comparisons will end. The type holds a very different job when used by Skolos and Wedell. It is used to compliment the deep, entrancing photography and is often not very clear and instantly readable, instead being used more as an image. You often have to search for the type within the dense, 3-dimensional compositions. This is somewhat similar to a lot of Paula Scher’s work such as the poster for Metropolis’ Net@Work conference. They are also comparable to Scher because of the ex-perimental nature of their work. The Vignellis and Michael McCoy share a similar product design feel, with futuristic and modern-look-ing pieces. This shares a similar style to Jonathan Ive, whose futuristic design has helped Apple become a leading technological company with his design of products such as the iMacs and the iPhone. All three of these couples have their own areas of excellence. The Vignellis implement a near perfect use of typography. Skolos/Wedell’s work is simply mind-blowing and will probably conjure up a great deal of envy from anyone who has ever struggled with the balance of image and type. The McCoys excel both in their use of shapes and color both in their graphic and product design. Regard-less of the similarities and differences, all three of these married couples are extremely dynamic in the design field. They have all accomplished much more than most designers coud ever hope to and all create amazing work. They are great inspirations and any designer can surely learn valuable lessons by studying their work.

Summary, Comparisons and OpinionsRobert Sadler

McCoy, Katherine. Looking Closer:Critical Writings on Graphic

Design. Allworth Communications, 1��4. 4�.

Resnick, Elizabeth. “Nancy Skolos & Tom Wedell: In Tandem”.

Graphis Magazime 2003.

Skolos, Nancy. “Skolos-Wedell Chronological Poster Portfolio.”

<http://www.skolos-wedell.com/>.

Vignelli, Massimo. Looking Closer:Critical Writings on Graphic

Design. Allworth Communications, 1��4.

45

Bibliography

4�

Colophon

This book was made by Robert Sadler. It was a

project for Jan Fairbairn’s Typography 3 course

at Umass Dartmouth.

Date Completed: December 15, 2008

Fonts: Baskerville & Futura

Paper: Staples Double Sided Matte Paper 61lb

Printer: Canon MP600

Software: Adobe InDesign

designing duos

Documents

design department

design community

katherines design

design styles

mccoy design firm

years of industrial

earliest years of design

varied style of design