Paula Scher
the Legendary Designer
Life and Career
Paula Scher was born in Virginia On October 6, 1948. She grew up in Philadelphia and
Washington DC. She is an illustrator, painter, graphic designer, and art educator based in New York.
Her unabashed and iconic
images found their way into American vernacular. Paula Scher is undeniably an internationally
recognized celebrity, who is awarded more than 300 awards by several international associations,
AIGA, the Package Design Council and The Type Directors Club. Her style of design communicates
with contemporary audiences through the use of pop iconography, music and film.
In 1991, Scher became the first female principal in Pentagram, the distinguished international design
consultancy. Scher has developed identity and branding systems, promotional materials,
environmental graphics, packaging, and publication designs for a broad range of major
corporate and institutional clients including, among others,
Case studies such as: The Museum of Modern Art, New York City Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, Jazz at
Lincoln Center, the New York Philharmonic, Bloomberg L.P., Citibank, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Shake Shack,
Tiffany & Co. and the Sundance Film Festival as well as the Public Theater and
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
The Public Theater
Scher is credited with the new identity creation of The Public Theater. Her promotional graphic system for the program became highly influential in theatrical promotion. The technique she employed to attract a more diverse crowd’s attention involved the juxtaposition of street typography and graffiti.
Achievement First Endeavor Middle School
Scher created a program of environmental graphic that helps school interiors to become a better learning environment. She created a vibrant space with bold typography font of Rockwell and simple paint to change the life of its students.
Graphic Design: Banding
An appropriate scale and careful cropping were developed to make the identity more recognizable and powerful, and to create an attitude that modernizes the institution's image. A strong grid has been established for the uniform placement of elements. Images of artworks appear whole or are cropped for effect.
"The new system employs prominent use of the MoMA logo as a graphic device, dramatic cropping and juxtapositions of artwork, and a brighter color palette to create a bold, contemporary image."
Inspiration:
The high Line
Identity
A community based non-profit organization that advocated for the preservation and reuse of the structure as a pedestrian promenade.
Simple
"The designers created a simple, unique and highly recognizable identity for the group that subsequently became the logo for the park itself."
Quotes
"Ninety percent of what I do is teach people how to see," she explained. She schools them
on why typeface matters, how form conveys a certain message, and describes it in relation
to the client" so that you are making the design another adjective to express them,"
Scher explained.
"I think in terms of being excited by ideas," Scher recently explained over the phone." Sometimes I see something that triggers a thought of something I want to attempt."
"My output seems to come from a physical and emotional sense of activity," she explained, "and usually optimism." At times in life, she's been brimming with ideas, while at other points, she's drawn a blank. But the key, she explained, is to accept both circumstances and run with the ideas when they strike.