Vignelli Associates
{{Short description|Modernist design firm founded by Massimo and Lella Vignelli}}
{{Tone|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Vignelli Associates
| industry = Design
| founded = {{Start date |1971}}
| founder = Massimo Vignelli, Lella Vignelli
| defunct = {{End date|2014}}
}}
Vignelli Associates was a design firm co-founded and run by Massimo and Lella Vignelli in New York City, from 1971 to 2014.{{cite web|last=Conradi|first=Jan|date=18 September 2010|title=Looking Back, Thinking Forward: A Narrative of the Vignellis|url=http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/looking-back-thinking-forward-a-narrative-of-the-vignellis/15308/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130121113802/http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/looking-back-thinking-forward-a-narrative-of-the-vignellis/15308/|archive-date=21 January 2013|publisher=Design Observer}}{{cite web|title=Lella & Massimo Vignelli|url=http://www.helleronline.com/designers/lella-massimo-vignelli|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311223011/http://www.helleronline.com/designers/lella-massimo-vignelli|archive-date=March 11, 2012|url-status=dead|publisher=Heller Online Inc.}}{{cite web|title=Lella Vignelli|url=http://www.designnet.org/b_of_d/Lella.html|publisher=Designnet.org}}{{cite book|last1=Vit|first1=Armin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EX6fxDG2Kl4C&pg=PA160|title=Graphic Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic Design|last2=Gomez Palacio|first2=Bryony|publisher=Rockport Publishers|year=2009|isbn=9781592534470|page=160}} They worked firmly within the modernist tradition, stressing simplicity by using basic geometric shapes and a limited range of typefaces.{{cite web|last1=Bierut|first1=Michael|title=Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Typeface|url=http://designobserver.com/article.php?id=5497|access-date=12 February 2015|website=Design Observer}} Their design work, encompassing graphic design, branding and corporate identity, architecture and interiors, and industrial design is considered among the most influential of the 20th century.{{Cite web|last=Dunne|first=Carey|date=2014-05-27|title=R.I.P. Massimo Vignelli, One Of The Greatest 20th Century Designers|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3030621/rip-massimo-vignelli-one-of-the-greatest-20th-century-designers|access-date=2021-12-19|website=Fast Company|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Eye Magazine {{!}} Feature {{!}} Reputations: Massimo Vignelli|url=https://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/reputations-massimo-vignelli|access-date=2021-12-19|website=www.eyemagazine.com}}{{Cite web|title=Vignelli Legacy {{!}} Vignelli Center {{!}} RIT|url=https://www.rit.edu/vignellicenter/vignelli-legacy|access-date=2021-12-19|website=www.rit.edu}}
Founding
In 1965, Massimo Vignelli co-founded the corporate design consultancy Unimark International with Bob Noorda, and Ralph Eckerstrom.{{cite book|last1=Woodham|first1=Jonathan M.|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmode00wood|title=Dictionary of Modern Design|date=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780192800978|edition=1st|url-access=registration}} In 1971, Vignelli resigned from Unimark, in part because the design vision which he supported became diluted as the company grew, diversified, and increasingly emphasized marketing, rather than design.{{cite book|last=Conradi|first=Jan|title=Unimark International: The Design of Business and the Business of Design|year=2010}} Lars Müller Publishers. {{ISBN|978-3-03778-184-5}} Soon after, Massimo and Lella Vignelli founded Vignelli Associates,{{cite web|title=Massimo Vignelli|url=http://www.art-directory.info/design/massimo-vignelli-1931/index.shtml|access-date=August 4, 2012|publisher=Art-directory.info}}{{citation|title=Profiles|url=http://www.graphis.com/profiles/individual/?id=28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080924090842/http://www.graphis.com/profiles/individual/?id=28|publisher=Graphis Portfolios|access-date=May 29, 2014|archive-date=September 24, 2008}} opening offices in New York, Paris, and Milan.{{cite book|last1=Ockman|first1=Joan|title=Design Vignelli|date=1981|publisher=Amilcare Pizzi S.p.A.|isbn=0-8478-0373-2|location=Milano-Italia|page=5}}
Work
File:American Airlines B-747 01.jpg
Some of their most well-known designs involved brand identity for major clients including Knoll International (1965), for which they led a comprehensive review of the company's visual presence, American Airlines (1967), for which they designed the airline's logo, and the New York City Subway, for which they designed the signage and wayfinding systems and map first at Unimark and then as Vignelli Associates.{{cite book|last1=Woodham|first1=Jonathan M.|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmode00wood|title=A Dictionary of Modern Design|date=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780192800978|edition=1st|url-access=registration}}
In later years, the couple's noteworthy commissions included the corporate identities for Bloomingdale's department store (1972) and for automobile and motorcycle manufacturers Lancia (1978) and Ducati (1992), as well as the signage system for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (1997). Their significant furniture designs included the Handkerchief chair for Knoll International (1982), the Serenissimo table (1985) for Italian manufacturer Acerbis, and the Magic coffee table (1990) for Acerbis's lower-priced Morphos label. Other Vignelli designs have also included retail layouts for Artemide, jewelry for Cleto Munari, and glassware for Venini and Steuben Glass Works.
Former Vignelli Associates employee Michael Bierut wrote that "it seemed to me that the whole city of New York was a permanent Vignelli exhibition [around 1981]. To get to the office, I rode in a subway with Vignelli-designed signage, shared the sidewalk with people holding Vignelli-designed Bloomingdale’s shopping bags, walked by St. Peter’s Church with its Vignelli-designed pipe organ visible through the window. At Vignelli Associates, I felt I was at the center of the universe."{{cite web|last1=Bierut|first1=Michael|title=Massimo Vignelli, 1931-2014|url=http://designobserver.com/feature/massimo-vignelli-1931-2014/38336|access-date=12 February 2015|website=Design Observer}}
Vignelli Associate's work was recognized by Compasso d'Oro awards (in 1964 for their Heller stacking dinnerware and 1998 for the graphic identity of COSMIT),1964 Compasso d'Oro{{Cite web |title=Vignelli Compasso d'Oro |url=https://www.adi-design.org/massimo-vignelli.html |access-date=2023-02-07 |website=ADI - Associazione per il Disegno Industriale}} and with a shared AIGA Gold Medal (1983) for their accomplishments and contributions to design. AIGA described their design output together as "prodigious in quantity, far-ranging in media and scope and consistent in excellence."{{Cite web|title=1982 AIGA Medalist: Massimo and Lella Vignelli|url=https://www.aiga.org/medalist-massimoandlellavignelli|access-date=2021-03-07|website=AIGA {{!}} the professional association for design}} In addition, Lella and Massimo were each individually honored with a wide range of awards and honorary degrees over the course of their lives and careers.
Archives and legacy
Massimo and Lella Vignelli agreed to donate their entire design collection to Rochester Institute of Technology in 2008. The Vignelli Center For Design Studies, designed by Lella and Massimo Vignelli, houses the archive. The building, which completed in September 2010, offers exhibition spaces, classrooms, and offices among its numerous amenities. Massimo Vignelli had this to say about it:
The Vignelli Center for Design Studies will house our comprehensive archive of graphic design, furniture and objects, under the direction of R. Roger Remington, the Vignelli Distinguished Professor of Design at RIT, the center will foster studies related to Modernist design with programs and exhibitions on our work as well as other related subjects.{{cite web|title=RIT Holds Groundbreaking for Vignelli Center for Design Studies on Oct 7|url=http://www.rit.edu/news/?v=46332|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601210324/https://www.rit.edu/news/?v=46332|archive-date=2010-06-01|publisher=Rochester Institute of Technology}}Massimo Vignelli died on May 27, 2014, in New York City, at the age of 83.{{cite web|last=Montgomery|first=Angus|date=April 20, 2006|title=Massimo Vignelli dies aged 83 | News|url=http://www.designweek.co.uk/news/massimo-vignelli-dies-aged-83/3038509.article|access-date=May 28, 2014|publisher=Design Week}}{{cite news|last=Williams|first=Keith|title=Massimo Vignelli, who once designed the New York City subway map and created the Bloomingdale's "brown bag," died at 83 - WSJ.com|newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=28 May 2014 |url=https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303627504579557753616910982?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303627504579557753616910982.html|access-date=May 28, 2014|publisher=Online.wsj.com}}{{Cite news|last=Martin|first=Douglas|date=2014-05-27|title=Massimo Vignelli, Visionary Designer Who Untangled the Subway, Dies at 83|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/28/business/massimo-vignelli-a-modernist-graphic-designer-dies-at-83.html|access-date=2021-12-19|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|last=Quito|first=Anne|title=A legendary Italian designer designed his own funeral, and he didn't miss a detail|url=https://qz.com/692791/design-legend-massimo-vignellis-last-grand-project-was-his-own-funeral/|access-date=2021-12-19|website=Quartz|date=27 May 2016 |language=en}} Lella Vignelli died in her home in Manhattan on December 22, 2016, at age 82, from dementia.{{cite web|date=28 December 2016|title=Lella Vignelli, a Designer With a Spare, Elegant Style, Dies at 82|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/business/lella-vignelli-death.html|access-date=28 December 2016|work=The New York Times}}{{Cite web|date=2016-12-23|title=Pioneering designer Lella Vignelli dies aged 82|url=https://www.dezeen.com/2016/12/23/lella-vignelli-designer-dies-aged-82-obituary/|access-date=2021-12-20|website=Dezeen|language=en}}
References
External links
- [https://www.domusweb.it/en/from-the-archive/2014/05/27/massimo_vignelli.html Domus Magazine] article by Michael Bierut including photographs and plans of Vignelli Associates office (originally Domus 835, March 2001)
Category:Defunct companies based in New York City
Category:Graphic design studios
Category:1971 establishments in New York City
Category:2014 disestablishments in New York City