Graphic Design

Album cover, Sound, 1966; Designed by Laini Abernathy (American) for Delmark Records (Chicago, Illinois); Lithograph on folder paper; 31.8 × 31.8 cm (12 1/2 × 12 1/2 in.)

Why Cooper Hewitt Is Seeking Works by the Innovative Black Graphic Designer Laini Abernathy

Cooper Hewitt is collecting album covers designed by this important designer, who contributed to the Black cultural scene in the late 1960s

Xavier Viramontes, Boycott Grapes, Support the United Farm Workers Union, 1973, offset lithograph on paper

Curators Weigh In on the Making of the Landmark Exhibition 'Printing the Revolution!'

Exploring the origins of the exhibition that combines innovative printmaking practices with social justice

A whimsical bag designed to look like a European horse chestnut, made by contemporary British designer Emily Joe Gibbs

How the Handbag Became the Ultimate Fashion Accessory

An exhibition at the V&A in London traces the long history of the purse, from Elizabeth I's court to "Sex and the City"

One of Tyrus Wong's popular holiday cards.

How Tyrus Wong's Christmas Cards Captivated the American Public

The unlikely Hollywood visionary of 'Bambi' fame designed what would become some of the most popular holiday stationery of all time

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Hollywood Africans, 1983

How Jean-Michel Basquiat and His Peers Made Graffiti Mainstream

A new exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston explores how a network of young artists in 1980s New York City influenced hip-hop's visual culture

A view of the Dujiangyan Zhongshu bookstore

See a Stunningly Surreal Bookstore in China

Dujiangyan Zhongshu features gravity-defying staircases and infinite bookshelves

This month's picks include Mantel Pieces, The Dead Are Arising and A Series of Fortunate Events.

How the Alphabet Got Its Order, Malcolm X and Other New Books to Read

These five October releases may have been lost in the news cycle

Milton Glaser's Dylan poster was inspired by Marcel Duchamp's 1957 self-portrait. "The history of visual things in the world," says Glaser, "is my playpen."

How Milton Glaser Came to Design the Iconic Poster of Bob Dylan

The 1966 illustration of the folk-rock icon captured the psychadelic dazzle of the flower-power era

Some maintain that two spaces between sentences make paragraphs easier to read; others vehemently disagree.

Why Microsoft Word Now Considers Two Spaces After a Period an Error

Traditionalist "two-spacers" can still disable the function

Herbert Bayer, (above in a 1928 card by the designer) became one of the most influential graphic designers of his time.

The Pioneering Work of Graphic Artist Herbert Bayer

The Bauhaus-trained artist revolutionized the field of graphic design, but he tarnished his legacy by working with the Nazis

The $9,500 digital dress

Designers Are Selling Expensive Clothes That Don’t Exist—and People Are Actually Buying Them

Earlier this year, a digital-only dress sold at auction for $9,500

Flight map of Air India destinations from 1962.

The Sleek History of Airline Maps

A new book explores the evolution of cartography throughout more than a century of commercial air travel

Susan Kare designed pictorial symbols that enabled non-technical users to operate a computer, a great contrast to previous screens with “command line” interfaces that required knowing code.

How Susan Kare Designed User-Friendly Icons for the First Macintosh

The graphic designer is receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from Cooper Hewitt for her recognizable computer icons, typefaces and graphics

Inside Poster House

The U.S. Is Now Home to Its First Poster Museum

Poster House, which just launched in New York, seeks to ‘cover posters from all over the world and time periods,’ its director says

Helvetica Now marks the typeface's first redesign since 1982's Helvetica Neue

The Helvetica Typeface Has Been Redesigned for the Digital Age

Helvetica Now is the first update to the sans serif typeface in 36 years

Walter Gropius' Dessau Bauhaus building

Five Events to Watch For as Germany Celebrates 100 Years of the Bauhaus Movement

Bauhaus 100 looks back—and forward—to the movement that united formal art and craftsmanship in functional, streamlined designs

Close up on Atlanta University's "City and Rural Population. 1890" data visualization

W.E.B. Du Bois’ Visionary Infographics Come Together for the First Time in Full Color

His pioneering team of black sociologists created data visualizations that explained institutionalized racism to the world

Saturated invites visitors to contemplate the essence of color, and the fascinating ways in which different hues interact.

How Newton, Goethe, an Ornithologist and a Board Game Designer Helped Us Understand Color

A new exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum explores the kaleidoscope of figures who shaped color theory

For some Manhattan sybarites, the department store's 1982 bag spelled Christmas.

Finding the Sacks Appeal in a Collection of Holiday Shopping Bags

The Cooper Hewitt's collection of some 1,000 bags reveals a few with some very cheery holiday scenes

Ivan Chermayeff (June 6, 1932-December 2, 2017)

Designer of the Smithsonian Sunburst Logo Dies

Ivan Chermayeff was a brilliant designer, a gifted artist and the purveyor of a unique visual language, says Smithsonian curator Ellen Lupton

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