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Often known as Canada’s first design guru, Allan Fleming was a key designer in bringing Modernism to the country. He’s most well-known for his logo for the Canadian National Railway, or CN, which was acclaimed as one of the top 50 corporate logos at one point. His first breaking point as a designer was the… Continue reading Allan Fleming: Canada’s First Design Guru

When thinking about the pioneers of the Psychedelic Design, it’s often the male forefront that comes into people’s mind, like Wes Wilson. Women designers during this era were less well-known, however, this didn’t stop Bonnie McLean from standing out. She, later on, stepped into the ‘Big Five’ group in 1967. Before then, she was deeply… Continue reading Bonnie McLean: Women in Psychadelic Design.

While only lasted for a short 7 years, the Memphis Milano, commonly known as the Memphis Group, defined what ‘80s design looked like. Compared to the minimalist styles in mid-century modern, the group aimed to bring ornamental style, trying to design objects more than their intended purpose. Founder Ettore Sottsass perfectly explained it, even, saying… Continue reading The Group that Defined the 80’s Style.

Architects often praise the rule ‘less is more,’ a famous phrase written by Mies van der Rohe in support of minimalism in design. This wasn’t the case for Robert Venturi. He flipped this phrase around and used ‘less is bore’ as the main philosophy in his architectural works, especially reflected in his book ‘Complexity and… Continue reading Robert Venturi’s Fight Against Minimalist Architecture

In the 1950’s, Graphic Designer and Filmmaker Saul Bass was highly well-known for his title sequences. As some would describe him, he was the ‘Picasso of commercial artists.’ He worked on many films, most notably The Man with a Golden Arm, Anatomy of a Murder, Psycho, and more. Although he also created well-known logos for… Continue reading Saul Bass: The Multi-Media Artist Who Invented Film Title Sequences

Georges Seurat pioneered many of the techniques used in Pointillism, which eventually highly impacted the Post-Impressionist movement. Seurat derives much of his inspiration from Ancient Egypt art to the Italian Renaissance frescos. Growing up, he was exposed to the works of Raphael and Poussin, which greatly impacted his work in later years. Seurat was highly… Continue reading Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: Georges Seurat