D&AD President's Lectures: Making It Big with Paula Scher

When The Clash first visited New York, they said when they looked out the car window it was like seeing a movie. And as a kid raised on American cop shows in the 70's, I can understand that (favourite show: Hill Street Blues). But what about the influence of NYC on graphic design?

As most Graphic Communication students may tell you, I bang on a lot about european design; I think of myself as very much a european designer. But what about american design? Well, when ever I imagine the design consumed by the cast of Seinfeld or the officers in blue on the Hill, it was always the work of Paula Scher (with great respect to Milton, Bob and Paul). I was really excited to hear Paula talk about her work, especially in her irresistible accent. And she did not disappoint.

This will please fans of The Beatles - her earliest influence was the cover of 'Revolver' and its swirly illustration by Klaus Voormann. And that is significant as she describes her work as decorative and the exact opposite to the precision of 'boring' swiss design. Although her talk was mostly a greatest hits resume of her career, I liked the fact she is not defined by her earliest work, when she was fancy free in her twenties. And she designed record covers back then, freely admitting that while designing 150 covers a year for CBS - she only felt six truly represented her true potential. But she found the creative freedom and confidence to create good work at Pentagram.





Paula likes BIG type - it literally shouts of the page. Her poster work for The Public Theater is jammed with information. But just as designing simply is more difficult than it looks, going for typo overload also takes great skill and control.

She has a hang-up about helvetica. Her design communication is guided by a social and political conscience. But let's hear from Paula herself. Environment is also important - here she is on NYC:





Paula is constantly going forward and excited at the prospect of what she will create in her sixties. So there's hope for all of us woeful late developer's out there.