April

Greiman
 “April,
you can’t
fake
the
cha-cha.”
 1948
Born in Rockville Center, NY

“The Flying Greimans”

“The original astronaut” - father
Renee - mother
Kitty - great aunt

Early Life
 1966-1970
BFA Graphic Design
Kansas City Art Institute
(minor in Ceramics)

Allgemeine Kunstgewerbeschule
1970-1971

Basel, Switzerland

Studied under
Wolfgang Weingart and
Armin Hofmann
School Years
POST-MODERNISM
Dates: 1970-2009

- From Swiss International Style.

- Too much of an emphasis on pure formalism and functionalism
- Wolfgang Weingart and Dan Friedman, April Greiman, Rudy
Vanderlans and David Carson

- Typography was pushed beyond its traditional norms of legibility

- Inspired by the emergence of new forms of electronic media
- Created a language of hybrid imagery with encoded messages

- 1982, Émigre by Rudy VanderLans and Zuzana Licko

- Layered compositions that frequently had indecipherable meaning

New Wave Style

 1976
Moved to Los Angeles

1982-1984
Head of design department at
California Institute of the Arts
(Cal Arts)
1977

Established design house

“April Greiman”

Professional Work
 1984
Completed a poster
for Ron Rezek titled
“Iris Light”

1984

Purchases first Mac

Professional Work
 “It makes sense if you give it
sense.” — Wittenstein

“I love this notion which exists in physics as

well — that the observer is the observed, and
the observed is the observer. The tools and
technologies begin to dictate what and how
you see something, or how the outcome is
predictable. These ideas bring back the kid in
Asked to design
1986

me, that very pure curiosity.”

Design Quarterly #133
“Does It Make Sense?”

Professional Work
 1990
Published a book
“Hybrid Imagery: The Fusion
of Technology and Graphic
Design”

1995
Commissioned by the US
Postal Service to design a
commemorative stamp for
the 19th Amendment

Professional Work
 1997
Became co-owner of
Miracle Manor Retreat
in Joshua Tree

Published a book

2001
“Something from
Nothing”

Published a book
“April Greiman:
1998

Floating Ideas into

Time and Space”

Professional Work
 2002
Forms a multi-disciplinary
design firm “Made in Space”

2003
AIGA Fellowship

Professional Work
 SCI-Arc Admissions

Cal State Sacramento

Think About What You Think About

Selected Works
April Greiman @ UCLA Summer Sessions Pacific Design Center / Westweek
Arc en Reve, Centre 3D Poster with glasses
d’Architecture
Bordeaux, France

Selected Works
Pikes Peak Big Fishy

CalArts
The Modern Poster, MOMA

Walker Art Center -

Graphic Design in America

Selected Works
 Vertigo Logo, Business Cards

Accenture Tower
Environmental, Signage
Inventing Flight
Selected Works Dizin
“Design must
seduce, shape,
and perhaps
more importantly,
evoke an
emotional
response.”