Paula Scher defines herself as an artist and designer in New York but is best known as being a typography designer. She was born in 1948 in Washington DC. As the granddaughter of a photographer, Scher grew up exposed to the art world. Her father was an employee for the US Geological Survey, which caused her to appreciate maps and somewhat inspired her to produce her current project (Group).
Scher received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Tyler School of Art and Doctor of Fine Arts Honoris from Corcocoan College of Art and Design (About). Scher started out as an illustrator “but soon excelled at designing book and record covers, magazines and packaging” (Group). Prior to becoming a partner at Pentagram Design, Inc. in 1991, Scher served as an art director for CBS Records and founded her own design firm, Koppel & Scher in 198
4 (Group). She also worked for a brief time for Atlantic Records designing album covers (Scher). In addition to her design career, Scher has taught for over two decades at the School of Visual Arts. She has held teaching positions at Cooper Union, Yale University and the Tyler School of Art. Furthermore, she is an active member of the Art Commision of the City of New York (About).
As a partner at Pentagram Design, Inc, Paula Scher has become to be regarded as “one of the world’s leading graphic designers” (About). She is known for designing the famous and pervasive Citibank umbrella logo. Scher often tells the story of how she sketched the logo on a napkin in an early client meeting. The design represents the merger of Citigroup and Traveler’s. The “t” in the Citibank logo is used as a stem to the umbrella that was used in the originial Traveler’s logo (Tischler).
In addition to her impressive work at Pentagram, Paula Scher has been showcased in many solo exhibitions and group shows including the “Collection d’Affiches les Silos, la Maison du Livre et de l’Affiche” in Chaumont, France in 2005, the “The Master Series: Paula Scher” at the Visual Arts Museum at the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2002 and the “D.I.Y.” at the Maya Stendhal Gallery in New York in 2009 (About). Scher’s most recent exhibitions, The Maps in 2006 and Recent Paintings in 2008, are inspired by map making and include large-scale acrylic map paintings. Both of these exhibitions are displayed at the Stendhal Gallery in New York City.
The Maps exhibition includes large-scale paintings that are composed of boundary lines, place names and information relevant to the location. “The hum of information overload, the fullness of the overwritten surface of the canvas, and a suggestion of wistful wanderlust bring a hint of thaw, but the icy disjunct between the land in question and its treatment remains absolute—and more informative than any depiction could be” (McClister). Scher produced the maps to include color palettes and a feel of the trips she made to these locations or the second-hand experience she has had with these locations. Each painting has a handmade quality to it that compliments the lack of exact mapping precision (McClister). Scher sets outs to create a balance of including major and minor information on each map to give each map a personality and tell a story about the current lifestlye within a certain location. This representation is best seen in her “Florida 2000” painting. In this painting, the state is mostly red but has hints of blue to represent the brusing of the state that was a result of the natural disasters the state faced that November. Furthermore, the surrounding ocean is made up statistics and facts that resulted from the hurricane (McClister). The largeness of the paintings allow for veiwers to properly critique the paintings and understand all the details of the paintings and what they represent.
The Maps exhibition is further continued by Scher’s exhibition Recent Paintings. This exhibition also includes large-scale paintings of locations such as Manhattan, Israel and India. These maps have been described as “instantly recongnizable” but “highly interpretive.” “The colors and graphic styles allude to loose, mostly media-fed impressions” (Liese). The strength behind these paintings in the fact that the source Scher uses to build these are bonified maps of locations. However, Scher only uses actual maps as references. She does not do any sort of transfering or copying.
Overall, Scher’s maps painting are created as a way to visually represent the culture and geopolitical information of a certain location. This is done by stretching important and relevant text all over the entire composition. The information is coded by use of color, font choice and size resulting in an emotional connection to each painting and location. “Without actually painting any thing, Scher presents a way to think about a country, a continent, a world” (McClister).
I think Scher’s map-making series is incredible. Scher takes familiar, geological material and represents them in a way that is interesting, emotional and encourages the viewer to really think about the culture and lifestyle of the location. Beyond being information, the maps are incredibly beautiful. The color and style of the maps allows for great aesthetic. Now more than ever, artists and designers are trying to find new ways to present data and basic information in an interesting way. I think Scher’s maps are successful in doing so. While they are content heavy, the maps are great to look at. The compositions and interesting way in which the content is presented really draw the viewer in and holds their attention.
Scher’s large-scale maps have been collected by print lovers from around the world and can be found in the collections of companies such as Microsoft, JP Morgan Chase and HSBC (Liese). Her paintings have been featured and reviewed in publications such as the New York Times, Esquire Magazine, The New Yorkker, and Art in America.
Overall, Scher’s work expands across lots of mediums. I have chosen to discuss her most recent work but her overall style has evolved from project to project. Scher has made headway in the brand identity world and beyond that. Her thinking and design process is inspiring. Her breathtaking styles and representation of data and information paves the way for other designers to push their own boundaries.
Bibliography:
Liese, Jennifer. “Paula Scher: Mapping the Age of the ‘Sort of Right’.” 11 October 2006. www.stendhalgallery.com. 15 February 2010.
McClister, Nell. Paula Scher Limited Edition Prints. www.stendhalgallery.com. 15 February 2010.
Scher, Paula. Make It Bigger. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002. Print.
Supon Design Group. International Women in Design. New York: Madison Square Press, 1993. Print.
Tischler, Linda. Design-The Wordsmith. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/109/open_design-wordsmith.html. 1 October 2006. 1 March 2010.
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