The Greatest Designers of our Age #6: Massimo Vignelli
Helvetica & Bodoni. Forever
Massimo Vignelli was one of a handful of graphic designers that was able to break through into widespread public recognition. This is no doubt largely due to his 1972 redesign of the New York subway map. One of the most populated and high profile cities in the world, it was a project that would no doubt push whoever designed it into the public eye. He regarded it as one his finest designs.
Vigenelli also cemented his reputation by primarily using only 5 fonts during his celebrated career: Helvetica, Bodoni, Garamond, Bodoni, Baskerville. And so, his work was readily identifiable and became part of his “brand”. Most tributes to Vignelli generally utilise a Helvetica Bold design with his traditional bright red colouring – a style Vignelli often used.
His devotion to Helvetica and these 5 fonts (“What matters is the typographical structure, not the typeface!” he would say), allowed many of his designs to become instantly recognisable, and leave his designs influencing many over the years during, and after, his long and illustrious career.
Vignelli embraced variety. His motto, “If you can design one thing, you can design everything.” was his belief and the driving force behind his work in a variety of areas including environmental design, graphic design, furniture design, product, and package design. (The “Design everything” quote is something I have resorted to in many job interviews over the years. I don’t think anyone has ever believed me though, as I generally didn’t get the job.)
Early work
After studying architecture at the Politecnico di Milano and the Università di Architettura Venice, Massimo Vignelli came to New York and established his new design firm Unimark International. This company slowly established its reputation and eventually worked with blue chip clients – eventually designing the pioneering identity of one of the world’s most recognizable brands, American Airlines – at the time a trailblazing accomplishment. Between the the 1970s to 80s, Vignelli worked on the signage of the New York City Subway system. His passion for transport led him to create the wayfinding system and signage of DC metro. Interestingly, the word “Metro” was not common parlance then, but the name was suggested by Massimo and it grew to become immensely popular.
Vignelli Associates
As time passed and Unimark Designs evolved and diverted from his design vision (into marketing), Vignelli eventually resigned and in April 1971, founded Vignelli Associates along with his wife Lella Vignelli. This company, unlike the Unimark Designs, followed his beliefs on modernity and bold typography and was under his complete creative control. Clients included high-profile companies such as IBM, Knoll, Bloomingdale’s and American Airlines.
Gary Hustwit, a filmmaker who created the documentary “Helvetica”, interviewed Vignelli about the font and how he was influenced by it, its functionality and his eternal admiration for this legendary font.
Helvetica remains a polarising subject. To some, it is simply a utilitarian font, bereft of any character or depth. To others, (like yours truly) it remains an elegant, beautifully simple masterpiece, performing heroic functionality at minuscule and colossal sizes, all the while creating a beauty and clarity unmatched in other fonts. (I’m currently working for a bank who’s brand is based on Helvetica. It’s really a dream come true.) If it wasn’t for Helvetica, I daresay I may never have even began studying typography. More on this later.
Gary Hustwit, a filmmaker who created the documentary “Helvetica”, interviewed Vignelli about the font and how he was influenced by it, its functionality and his eternal admiration for this legendary font.
The NY Subway Map.
Vignelli’s Magnum Opus, the NY subway map, remains arguably Vignelli’s masterpiece. Built on one of his many loves, Helvetica, it is indeed a tribute in many ways to Max Medinger and his magnificent font. Using the bold version throughout, it’s brutal simplicity and stark design remains one of the era’s modern masterpieces.
The outdated signage, 52 million new visitors every year and structural change of the Subway system were the three main reasons behind the new map Vignelli created in August 1972. From the first moment the map appeared on the station, it became a landmark. Typically, it arrived to mixed reviews. Such masterpieces rarely manage to accumulate one unified voice of approval. Over time of course, through use and familiarity, people get used to certain things, and eventually, you wouldn’t be able to tear it out of their hands. Such is the case with the New York subway map, now regarded as a classic and an integral part of your average New Yorkers life. (Interestingly, the map had to change from a white background to a black background in the eighties, due to the proliferation of graffiti in the underground. I’m sure they had coloured paint though, even in the eighties.) After Vignelli’s original design was introduced, it underwent several changes over the years from different designers, but the original DNA remained.
The map is a signature of modernist designs – minimal, simple and easy to understand. Instead of looking cluttered with information, the map was rather appealing to the eyes. Easy to understand and functional with its bold type and colour coding. It did, of course, owe a huge debt to the London Underground map, designed in 1931 by our beloved by our beloved Harry Beck. Although Beck’s design evolved through the ages, in 1960 it was firmly established in Londoner’s eyes, and no doubt Vignelli’s as well. (The gill sans of the London map is changed of course, to Vignelli’s helvetica, but the influence remains. How could it not? Beck’s design was flawless. In fact it was so radical initially that the London Underground refused to show it to anyone.)
In 2007, he had to make a few alterations to the map design, with the addition of more information. The updated map was not as minimal as its previous version but Vignelli still manages to make it look aesthetically pleasing.
Your Bodoni, Our Bodoni
In 1989, Vignelli Associates was asked to re-design Bodoni. “When Bert Di Pamphilis asked us to design a new typeface, we told him we do not believe in ‘new’ typefaces, but that there was room for improvement on existing, classic typeface designs. We consider the ratio between upper and lower-case Helvetica letters to be the best there is. We wanted to redesign Bodoni using a similar ratio between the cases, with short ascenders and descenders, and articulate the type in four weights: light, regular, medium, bold.” (Massimo Vignelli). I understand where Vignelli was coming from, and you can see it in his designs. The original sizing of Bodoni didn’t fit in with the upper and lower cases of Helvetica – and needed to be resized, to become the perfect partner. You can see the results in Vignelli’s designs when he sets Helvetica up against the new (Our) Bodoni. It just looks great – and achieves something the original Bodoni never could – a perfect visual partnership.
Vignelli though, was not just a designer – he loved the profession and wanted to help others who were interested in learning about design. In 2007 he published a book, Vignelli: A to Z. This book consisted of a series of alphabetically-organized essays describing and explaining the concepts behind “all good designs”. This book was not the only thing he did for students and the design community – for several years he taught a course at Harvard School of design and architecture. Lucky them.
Vignelli said that in the new age of the computer, the type manipulations and proliferation of typefaces represent another level of visual pollution that threatens our culture. From a thousand typefaces, we need only a few that are essential and that the rest were “trash”. I couldn’t agree more. In the digital age, not only is there a tsunami of bad taste and informational overload, we struggle to find truth within the disinformation. Personally, I only ever use about 10 fonts. There is no need for more. You need a handful sans-serifs fonts, a couple of nice serif fonts and a couple of headline fonts. Anything else is wasteful – of your time. You can create everything you could possibly need, with just a few fonts. Don’t be overwhelmed with all the data. Master a few fonts and you’ll be fine. It’s a lifelong love affair, really – once you find the one you love
Vingnelli’s designs were simple, bold and minimal. He used simpler typefaces to create extraordinary designs. His works included Helvetica, Garamond No. 3, Century Expanded, and Bodoni – a particularly classic font. These are all you need, too.
For a game that was played on Feb 2, 2014, at the MetLife Stadium, the MTA asked Vignelli’s Associates to create an extended metro map for them. Both New York and Jersey were on the map which made it a particularly unique occasion. It would be Massimo’s final map for New York. I love the little football! So damn cute.
But awards do not fully reflect the achievements of the man. Locals now consider designs by Vignelli the landmarks. His books and creations are still helping many young designers create beautiful designs and influencing the world in so many ways. I recommend the Vignelli Canon also – a very interesting read.
There are very few designers (one of the few we can include is Jonny Ive, more on him later) who’s reputation and name can pass into the mainstream, such is the relatively unknown niche of this particular pursuit. Vignelli managed it though, with his omnipresent designs touching the lives of so many. Including Bloomingdale shoppers.
In 2008 he donated all of his archived work to Rochester Institute Of Technology. The archives are now present at The Vignelli Centre Of Design studies, a building that Mossimo and Lella Vignelli designed themselves. I thoroughly recommend a visit, and pay homage to the late, great Massimo Vignelli.
You can learn more about Massimo here and here. Oh, what the hell – here as well!
Thank you Massimo. Without you, the kids here at Zenn, wouldn’t be the same without you. Neither would Helvetica!
“If you can design one thing, you can design anything.” Massimo believed anything was possible – and so it was. Saint Peter’s Church in New York, designed by Massimo and his wife, Lella.
Massimo could lend his incredible skill sets to any design problem he was asked to solve, fearlessly in his approach and unwavering in his belief of his own capabilities. Here we have the perfectly poised Serenissimo Table for Acerbis. Like something from Blade runner, but even more incredible.
Originally studying architecture, Vignelli realised that the process was too slow, so quickly moved onto more immediate mediums. A table lamp from 1950.
1955-venini-fungo.webp147.25 KB Everything he touched, he turned effortlessly into style. Here we have the Intervista, a series of armchairs for Poltrona Frau, 1989.
Work. I never knew Massimo designed this until I started doing some research for this article. I’ve seen this all over the world, since my very early teens. I think I’ve loved it, since the moment I set eyes on it, even as a young boy. I’ve never liked Benetton clothes particularly, in fact I’ve never bought anything from them. I’ve never liked gill sans much either, in fact I wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole. (As a young designer at college, I realise now looking back, it represented to me the 'old-school' - the kind of font my design lecturers loved - so I immediately loathed it.) But when I was a young boy, seeing this design layout, there was something about it that touched my very soul. That simple typography, all upper case set in white on that beautiful, lush natural green. Top left, with equal spacing around the top and the side of the “U”. And all that extra space around the right and bottom. Wow. Perfection.
