push pin studios

key terms:
milton glaser
edward sorel
seymour chwast
reynold ruffins
push pin almanak --> push pin graphic
the push pin style: exhibition, 1970
rebus

• swiss style's objectivity couldn't last forever
• 1954: pushpin studio tries to re-infuse vibrancy, warmth, humanity into design

• worked on a journal & self published- called it pushpin almanac
• sorel & chwast fired from jobs & used the money for the journal

• mailed out some journals to art directors
• morphs into push pin graphic

mast head for push pin graphic
not clearly readable

push pin graphic:

-colorful

-illustrations

-experiments in design

-confrontation (in issues)

-free borrowing

having fun trying to revitalize old styles

• sorel & ruffins leaves push pin & pursue other careers
• glaser & chwast spearheaded push pin studios

people that worked at push pin studios at some point

• rejected convention to revitalize old styles
• didn't know numbing repetition of swiss style

resonance of art nouveau's whiplash
colorful & eclectic
borrows freely from other styles
wanted to be expressive & edgy

chwast
how to be edgy? addressed difficult issues (emmett till)
pointing out racism in the south, juxtaposing the candy colored scene of south
they were not neutral (politically)

prompted by bombing of hanoi, vietnam
using uncle sam figure spreading bad stuff

• 1975: glaser left pushpin studios
• 1980: push pin studios ceases publication
• chwast wants to keep addressing social issues so he directs a journal called the nose

-works w steven heller

chwast experiments w type design
a lot of his type was used for record covers

• 1970: exhibition for push pin style at the louvre

-popular exhibition, met w critical acclaim
-broadcasted american design across the world
-milestone in graphic design

milton glaser:
-constantly invented, reinvented; creative solutions

-won national medal for the arts (from obama)- first graphic designer to win this

suggested narrative
borrowed from high renaissance painting

COMPARED TO:

bob dylan cover & poster- glaser
dylan's profile as silhouette
psychedelic hair- art nouveau influenced?
glaser's typeface

glaser
1975
NY was a gritty place, near bankruptcy
needed a way to boost morale & reputation

came up w the design on the way to the meeting in the back of a taxi
the heart is a rebus

manipulates his own image after 9/11
the burn on the heart is where NY was attacked

1960s counterculture

glaser + matthew weiner (creator of man men)