November 14, 2008

Graphic Design: Erik Nitsche


About our new blog header.
I want to make it perfectly clear that the original design is not by me (if anyone thought it was) but by graphic designer Erik Nitsche. It was the cover of an 1950s -1960s internal report of the defense conglomerate General Dynamics Corporation. I found it here, cropped it, removed the background, removed and changed the text and symbols. That was it. I think it looks pretty good but I wouldn't be surprised if I changed it again soon. We'll see.

I quote a quote about Nitsche found in Monoscope:

"Eric Nitsche may not be as well known today as his contemporaries, Lester Beall, Paul Rand, or Saul Bass, but he is their equal. Almost 90 years old, this Swiss born graphic designer is arguably one of the last surviving Modern design pioneers. Although he never claimed to be either a progenitor or follower of any dogma, philosophy, or style other than his own intuition, the work that earned him induction last year into the New York Art Director’s Club Hall of Fame, including the total identity for General Dynamics Corporation from 1955 to 1965 and the series of scientific, music, and world history illustrated books, which he designed and packaged during the 1960s and 1970s, fits squarely into the Modernist tradition."
- Erik Nitsche: The Reluctant Modernist by Steven Heller

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