“In 1960 I graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York with a degree in Industrial Design. At that time graphic design was a European influence that was just being introduced in American universities at the graduate level. When I met a student who studied logo design with Paul Rand at Yale, I knew I wanted to design logos.”
— Lance Wyman
Quoted from a case study in webesteem magazine.
“The logo for the Industrial Design School of the University of Mexico (UNAM) combines the letters ‘D’ and ‘I’ to suggest a stone age axehead, one of humankind’s first product designs.”
“The logo for the Sandra Berier Gallery of Photography suggests image framing and the letters ‘S’ and ‘B’.”
Lance Wyman. One of the great graphic designers of our time.
Comments
Brilliant collection. Very much my kind of thing. It’s great to come across new names. The guy was obviously big Mexico.
Big in Mexico I meant.
Its amazing to see how the stone axehead translated into the logo for the Industrial Design School of the University of Mexico
Lance Wyman is awesome! I remember seeing him a while back. He seems like a great guy in general.
I need to show some of my clients these logos. I think there is something to be said for subtly in logo design. Not everything has to be in your face and readily apparent. I love looking at logo and finding things I had never seen before. The logo for the Sandra Berier Gallery is truly inspiring.
That is a whole slew of some amazing stuff, we can only hope to get to that point in our careers at some point.
And I am absolutely diggin the designs with simple shapes the most. It so sweet how he can fit squares, circles, and triangles together in so many different and creative ways.
I grew up in Mexico City, and no matter where you go, you will see his work. Especially in the Metro, that’s the best way to travel in the city, where all the icons are easy to understand and clearly take up on the location they represent. If you name one stop, I am able to describe the icon, that’s how memorable and functional they are.
Now, if only I could ask him some questions about his experience working on the Mexico 1968 olympics branding… I think I would be set. But that might be a lit bit controversial. So, I’ll just stick to enjoying his awesome work.
The Logo designed from the Axe head is ingenius, it takes real talent to see something like that. They often say not to use cliches and go for the obvious but sometimes the obvious is the best option and not a cliche but a vision that not everyone can see until it’s pointed out like this.
Even though he isn’t mexican, he is like the godfather of modern design in Mexico. One of my heroes :)
Took a class on signage with Lance Wyman a while back in art school. His sensibility is astounding but not as much as his simplicity. He is a wealth of knowledge and always reminded us to go back to our roots for inspiration.
I did not know about the logo for the Industrial Design School (first one) and I study there! That’s amazing.
My great school: http://www.cidi.unam.mx/
Today is a very good day to think of you, Olympics will do that. I should be in New York in September, let’s reminisce.
Un abrazo Jan.
Fortunate to have Lance Wyman and Peter Harrison as instructors at Parsons School of Design. Both amazing!