Steven Heller

Steven Heller|Essays

Wilhelm Deffke: Modern Mark Maker

Hansa und BrandenburgishenThe modern corporate logo was born in Germany shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, the direct descendent of burgher crests, coats of arms, trade and factory marks. In the 1920s members of the Bauhaus …

Steven Heller|Essays

What's In A Name?

In Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare wrote a "rose by any other name would smell as sweet," suggesting the meaning of something is more important than what it is called. By extension, the content of a blog post or comment is more …

Steven Heller|Essays

It's Easy to Criticize. . . Not

Convention was disrupted last Thursday night in New York City at Designism 2:0 when the sometimes "self-congratulatory" nature of the Art Director Club's social conscience-raising event was upended by Vanity Fair media critic Michael …

Steven Heller|Essays

Curse of The "D" Word

Do you make things look nice? Do you spend more time worrying about nuance and aesthetics than substance and meaning? Do you fiddle with style while ignoring the big picture? If your answers are yes, yes, or yes, then you are a decorator.

Steven Heller|Essays

Topanga, I Hardly Knew Ye

NutriSystem Advertisement, The New York Times Magazine, October 7, 2007Being a design snob, I've always wondered why anyone with taste would pay thousands of dollars to publish one of those text-heavy, type-awful, full-page magazine …

Steven Heller|Essays

Decorative Books: The End of Print

65 Ways to Decorate with Books in Your Home, 1956, illustrator unknownWhen ink on paper finally goes the way of the Dodo (or the eight track), as certain dodos have predicted, heaps of printed papers will remain on earth. So the question …

Steven Heller|Essays

The Designer As Gumshoe

Near Union Square on Fourteenth Street, photograph by Nicolas Heller.During the Beatles' first U.S. tour in 1964, John Lennon marveled at how New York's sidewalks were paved with diamonds. He was referring, of course, to sparkling …

Steven Heller|Essays

Confessions of a Book Catalog Reader

Thames & Hudson catalog cover, Fall 2007.I read publishers' seasonal catalogs the way some people go to the movies, in part to watch the trailers for coming attractions. You get the gist — if not the best parts — but don't …

Steven Heller|Essays

Leon Friend: One Teacher, Many Apostles

Leon Friend. Photo by Alex Rosenberg, 1969.Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York, is not as famous as the Bauhaus, ULM or Cranbrook — nor is it even especially well known among most New Yorkers, despite the appearance of …

Steven Heller|Essays

Silas H. Rhodes, Founder of SVA

Silas H. Rhodes, chairman of the School of Visual Arts in New York City, died last Thursday at 91. He was a progressive educator who established a uniquely collaborative learning environment that delicately balanced creative independence …

Steven Heller|Essays

Martin Weber in the Third Dimension

Pages from "The Weber Process," promotional brochure for the Martin J. Weber Studio, c. 1952When he died on June 9, Martin J. Weber was 102. You may not know his name. I didn't. Like other toilers in the art service bullpens of New York …

Steven Heller|Essays

The Nazi Triangle

Chart of concentration camp badges worn in Dachau, c. 1936.If the canard that Adolf Hitler was a superb art director is meant to glorify the art directorial profession, think again. Although historians say he was the "art dictator" of …