Paula Scher (b.1948)
Born in Virginia on October 6th, 1948, Scher lived her childhood years in Philadelphia and Washington DC, later attending the Tyler School of Art in Pennsylvania. She eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1970 and soon moved to New York City to jump-start her career in design as a layout artist.
Often, Paula’s design solutions draw influences from the Art deco movement and Russian constructivism, mainly evident in her implementation of typographic elements. Scher has also designed environmental supergraphics, perceiving and transforming the urban scene into dynamic design works.
Paula Scher is often referred to as a “master conjurer of the instantly familiar,” agreeably a valid notion, as she has worked in the design industry for roughly 50 years. Since then, she has designed for companies such as Microsoft, Coca-Cola and CBS Records.
Scher has taught at Yale University, Tyler School of Art, Cooper Union, and at the School of Visual Arts in New York for at least 37 years, where she bore witness to the evolution of technology and its growing involvement in graphic design.
Although she acknowledges its convenience, she believes that it is not the technology that makes good design, but the designer.
WORKS CITED
- FamousGraphicDesigners.org. “Paula Scher: Biography, Designs and Facts.” Famous Graphic Designers, FamousGraphicDesigners.org, 2020, www.famousgraphicdesigners.org/paula-scher.
- Long, Molly. “Paula Scher: ‘It Took Me 20 Years to Realise I Was Good at My Job.’” Design Week, Centaur Media Plc, 27 Nov. 2019, www.designweek.co.uk/issues/25-november-1-december-2019/paula-scher-profile/.
- Pentagram. “Paula Scher.” Pentagram, Pentagram, www.pentagram.com/about/paula-scher.
Images obtained from
- https://blog.logodesignguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/paula-scher-min-1280×720.png
- https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/25-november-1-december-2019/paula-scher-profile/
- https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/02/designer-paula-scher-makes-beautifully-skewed-hand-painted-maps-of-u-s-data.html
- https://www.semipermanent.com/articles/interview-paula-scher
- http://www.artnet.com/artists/paula-scher/europe-Tr1fJfe6IQqcnH402WbCCg2
