History

Steven Heller|Essays

User-Friendly Paul Rand

Paul Rand did not coin the term “user-friendly.” He would have hated its trendy sound.

John Foster|Accidental Mysteries

Postcards from the Trenches

Hand-painted postcards from WWI sent home in 1915 and 1916 by a 23-year old German soldier named Otto Schubert.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Audrey Real Helfand: Designer Manquée

Fifty years ago, my mother Audrey was a prolific visual maker: today, she’d be running her own studio.

Jessica Helfand|Essays

Logocentrism

For Paul Rand, a modern mark was a simple mark, and the secret to making things last lay in keeping them simple.

Jessica Helfand|Chronicles

The Pipeline

A Personal History as Told Through a Straight Line

Rick Poynor|Exposure

Exposure: License Photo Studio by Walker Evans

The building as camera

Adam Harrison Levy|Essays

Hiroshima Lost and Found

The lack of visual evidence of the atom bomb’s effect has helped us to forget its devastating impact. To see is to remember.

Rick Poynor|Exposure

Exposure: Rayograph with Gun by Man Ray

The poetry of the cameraless photo

Rick Poynor|Exposure

Exposure: Assicurazioni Generali by Tošo Dabac

The textual unconscious of Zagreb

Rick Poynor|Exposure

Exposure: Motion Efficiency Study by Frank Gilbreth

The ghost in the grid

Rick Poynor|Exposure

Exposure: Ford Motor Plant by Charles Sheeler

The cathedral of industry

Rick Poynor|Exposure

Exposure: Adamanese Man by Maurice Vidal Portman

Photography for anthropologists