Explore the work of designers Lella and Massimo Vignelli through their own words, from 1960s Italian science and technology encyclopedias through decades of art, architecture, and design journals
A+U Manual of Graphic Standards and Guidelines for basic magazine layouts: A+U Manual of Graphic Standards and Guidelines for basic magazine layouts: (1990) by Vignelli, Massimo and Vignelli AssociatesVignelli Center for Design Studies
"We strongly believe in the permanence of the printed word as a witness to the culture of our time."
Galileo: Enciclopedia Della Scienze E Della Techniche (1963) by Vignelli, MassimoVignelli Center for Design Studies
"Words and images interact to create feelings, to expand our perception, and to enrich our knowledge."
A+U (Architecure + Urbanism) no. 250 (1991) by Vignelli, Massimo and Vignelli AssociatesVignelli Center for Design Studies
"To design a book or a magazine means to control the emotions of the reader by manipulating the visual content, pacing the images, playing with the white space, choosing the most appropriate typeface ad size, and scaling the pictures to obtain the desired effect.
ANY: Architecture New York 2 (1993) by Vignelli, Massimo and Vignelli AssociatesVignelli Center for Design Studies
"The choice of paper, inks, printing method, binding technique, and materials plays a vital role in carrying the desired expression."
Galileo: Enciclopedia Della Scienze E Della Techniche #1 (1963) by Vignelli, MassimoVignelli Center for Design Studies
Galileo, 1963
"Early works in publication design
Milano 1960/65.
For the Italian publisher Sansoni, we designed science and technology encyclopedias on weekly installments sold by newsstands."
Galileo: Enciclopedia Della Scienze E Della Techniche #111 (1966) by Vignelli, Massimo, Fioravanti, Emilio, and Unimark InternationalVignelli Center for Design Studies
"The production time requirements was a most useful training toward effective and expressive design choices."
Dot Zero 3 (1967) by Vignelli, Massimo and Unimark InternationalVignelli Center for Design Studies
Dot Zero, 1967
"Here are some examples of magazine we have designed from 1967 on..."
Industrial Design 14/9 (1967) by Vignelli, Massimo and Unimark InternationalVignelli Center for Design Studies
Industrial Design, 1967
"...trying to stay away from trendy solutions as much as possible."
American Ceramics 2/4 (1984) by Vignelli, Massimo and Vignelli AssociatesVignelli Center for Design Studies
American Ceramics, 1984
"In the course of our life we designed the format and the graphic structure for many magazines..."
Guggenheim Magazine Fall 1992 (1992) by Vignelli, Massimo and Vignelli AssociatesVignelli Center for Design Studies
Guggenheim Magazine, 1992
"...most of the time related to design or architecture..."
Glass Magazine 55 (1993) by Vignelli, Massimo, Bierut, Michael, and Vignelli AssociatesVignelli Center for Design Studies
Glass, 1993
"... in each of them we attempted to achieve appropriateness and identity."
Zodiac 1 (1988) by Vignelli, Massimo and Vignelli AssociatesVignelli Center for Design Studies
Zodiac, 1988
"These magazines are just three examples of architectural magazines we designed in the last twenty years."
A+U (Architecure + Urbanism) no. 239 (1990) by Vignelli, Massimo and Vignelli AssociatesVignelli Center for Design Studies
A + U, 1990
"Designing an architectural magazine, means to devise a structure..."
Architectural Record 3/1991 Architectural Record 3/1991 (1991) by Vignelli, Massimo and Vignelli AssociatesVignelli Center for Design Studies
Architectural Record, 1991
"...and a system flexible enough to accommodate different contents, as well as to provide a strong identity to the publications."
Thank you to Massimo and Lella Vignelli for having the vision to preserve such a rich and complete archive of your design and for giving it to the world for inspiration.
The quoted text and artifacts featured here are part of the "Design: Vignelli" exhibition on view at the Vignelli Center for Design Studies. The exhibition was designed, written, and curated by Lella and Massimo Vignelli. It is the last of their exhibition designs still open to the public.
This virtual exhibition was created by Jennifer Whitlock, Archivist at the Vignelli Center for Design Studies. Over the course of three years, she digitized nearly every artifact, wrote metadata descriptions, and curated this exhibition.
And to the student Archives Assistants at the Vignelli Center for Design Studies who helped with photographing the galleries, gathering artifacts, transcribing the gallery text, scanning, and moral support. Thank you, Alexandra Serpikov, Emily Sharp, Claire Popoli, Leah Green, and Carmen Lopez.
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