6/3/2020 Massimo Vignelli and the Institute

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Massimo Vignelli: Oppositions, Skyline and the

Institute
Vignelli’s graphic design work for the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, the
legendary Manhattan design forum of the 1970s.

KIM FÖRSTER SEPTEMBER 2010

Studying the social, intellectual and cultural history of the Institute for Architecture and
Urban Studies — the non-profit education and research organization founded by Peter
Eisenman in 1967 — you can’t overlook the contribution of Massimo Vignelli. From 1973
on, until the Institute’s closing in 1985, Vignelli was responsible for the graphic design
not only of its journal Oppositions but also of its other publications and various printed
matter, including posters, stationery and catalogues. Certainly the graphic identity that
Vignelli created influenced how the Institute presented itself and how it was perceived.
Still, it is somewhat surprising that in retrospect Vignelli characterizes the Institute as a
communicative invention.

From its earliest days — when it was affiliated with the Museum of Modern Art and
supported by Cornell University — the Institute was aware of the need for a coherent and
recognizable graphic identity and for a public relations strategy. In the very early years,
the graphic look was created in-house; the Vitruvian homo ad quadratum was used for
the logo and featured on leaflets, posters, t-shirts and even doors. Before Vignelli,
Institute fellows and friends designed posters (Emilio Ambasz), covers for research
reports (Robert Slutzky) and exhibition catalogues (Kenneth Frampton). On pamphlets,
stationery and posters, Helvetica was the typeface of choice (it had earlier been
introduced in the United States by Unimark, the graphic firm Vignelli had worked for).

By the early 1970s Vignelli had started his own office and worked on the high-profile
redesign of the New York City subway map. His first Institute project was Oppositions,
which became a forum in which intellectually ambitious fellows and other contributors

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debated issues of design and theory. Having studied architecture (at the Politecnio di
Milano), Vignelli was interested not only in the design but also in the content of the
journal. The modernist graphic design of Oppositions would ultimately help to shape the
public face of the Institute, which increasingly presented itself as a think tank and public
forum. (It also became an exclusive club: release parties for issues of Oppositions were
invitation only, and limited to sponsors, a group that included Vignelli.)

Vignelli was eventually asked to create the graphic identity for the Institute. As with his
work for other organizations, he promoted a systematic approach. For all Institute
printed matter, he designed a template, using large titles — all caps, bold, sans serif
lettering for logotypes — applying grids, and limiting text layouts to certain typefaces
and sizes; thus he extended the visual language established for Oppositions. For posters,
Vignelli would first sketch by hand, in meetings with Institute fellows at his office. The
layouts and final mechanicals were then produced by Institute staff. Vignelli was not
interested in controlling the whole production, and since he did not work on the entire
process, his designs were not always realized as he intended: typefaces and sizes and
other graphic devices were not consistently applied.

Given his increasing involvement in the workings and culture of the group, Vignelli often
worked for free, out of friendship with Eisenman. In appreciation, the work of Massimo
and Lella Vignelli was exhibited at the Institute in the spring of 1975, and in 1977 Vignelli
was made a trustee. He felt personally honored, yet this had the effect of formalizing his
relationship with the organization. As a trustee, Vignelli was not expected to contribute
money; rather he continued to refine the graphics. At the end of the 1970s, he added to
his portfolio of Institute publications, taking on the design of the magazine Skyline, of
the exhibition catalogues, and of Oppositions Books.

Slideshow

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

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6/3/2020 Massimo Vignelli and the Institute

The introductory text and the captions in the related slideshow are based on an
oral history I conducted in 2010 with Massimo Vignelli, Michael Bierut and former
Institute fellows and staff, as part of a PhD project on the history of the Institute for
Architecture and Urban Studies.

Thanks to Mimi Taft for the images of the mock-up model of Skyline and copies of
the original posters for City as Theater and Open Plan. Thanks to Andrew MacNair
for allowing me to borrow his Skyline issues.

 CITE

Kim Förster, “Massimo Vignelli: Oppositions, Skyline and the Institute,” Places Journal,

September 2010. Accessed 03 Jun 2020. https://doi.org/10.22269/100916

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kim Förster

Kim Förster is an architectural

historian and theorist. He is
Associate Director of Research at
the Canadian Centre for
Architecture in Montréal.

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