Steven Heller, Co-chair of the MFA Designer as Author program at The School of Visual Arts, speaks with AIGA Philly on the outpouring of posters for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Heller also compares today’s political graphics to the campaign posters of a previous generation, and the relationship between democracy and design. Produced by Peter Camburn & Craig Schlanser for AIGA Philadelphia

I recently came across this rare 3 part interview with Graphic Designer Pioneer Paul Rand. I have written on the “Godfather of Graphic Design” here on this site and like any designer consider him one of my many heroes. What I was not expecting to learn was that the gentleman interviewing Rand, Miggs Burroughs, was by definition a graphic design icon himself.

Saul Bass was a graphic designer best known for his work on motion picture title animations. He worked with the greats like Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho), Otto Preminger (The Man with the Golden Arm) and Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange) among others. You have probably seen much of his design and film work and never thought about where it might have come from.

A couple months ago, naturally being a graphic designer, a child of the 80′s and of course a semi-passive Star Wars fan, I started looking into the the Star Wars logo and the designer behind the work. To my surprise, I soon learned of some of the controversy not only behind this logo, but behind it’s use of Helvetica (which comes with the territory if you choose to use it to this day).

Today, posters are used less often than they have been for well over a century. Posters have a special place in the history of graphic design. They were one of the first commercial opportunities to explore design and its impact. They’ve also been with us for over 300 years, serving as a canvas for generations of graphic designers. While the poster may not be the primary method of message …

Mr. Glaser’s work with Push Pin, NYM and Milton Glaser, Inc has earned him a spot as the most notable American graphic designers to date. In recognition of his contributions to the industry, he has received the Lifetime Achievement award from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in 2004. In 2009, President Obama presented him the National Medal of Arts.

AIGA was originally founded in 1914 under the name of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and it has grown to become one of the largest professional organizations for those that work in design. The organization has gone from its humble origins to one with 66 chapters and over 22,000 members. The development of this organization has a strong mission statement.

After it’s debut at the South by Southwest Film Festival in 2007, “Helvetica” has grown in popularity. It has presently been shown and presented in more than 300 cities in some forty countries. “Helvetica” opens the big picture and details the power that simple typefaces like Helvetica have on our world in general. The typeface is used almost exclusively in advertising mediums, especially in urban spaces.

This documentary, the regular use of Helvetica, and the impact that these images have on our world show that Max Miedinger’s legacy is going to be with us far into the future. He has changed our society, and the way we view graphic design and communication forever.