How Posters Work

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Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.; This is more than a standard exhibition catalogue. Conceived as a useful and illuminating primer in visual thinking, it explores principles of design through a range of historical and contemporary works, uncovering ideas relevant not just to the design of posters but to 2D design more generally. Publisher Marketing: With its unique focus on visual language, Ellen Lupton's "How Posters Work" is more than another poster book. Rather than provide a history of the genre or a compilation of collectibles, the book is organized around active design principles. Concepts such as "Simplify," "Focus the eye," "Exploit the diagonal," "Reverse expectations" and "Say two things at once" are illustrated with a diverse range of posters, from avant-garde classics and rarely seen international works to contemporary pieces by today's leading graphic designers. Illustrated with over 150 works from the collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, "How Posters Work" provides a stunning education in seeing and making, demonstrating how some of the world's most creative designers have mobilized principles of layout, composition, psychology and rhetoric to produce powerful acts of visual communication. Ellen Lupton (born 1963) is an acclaimed writer, curator and graphic designer. She is Director of the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, where she also serves as Director of the Center for Design Thinking. As Curator of Contemporary Design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum since 1992, she has produced numerous exhibitions and books, including "Mechanical Brides: Women and Machines from Home to Office" (1993), "Mixing Messages: Graphic Design and Contemporary Culture" (1996), "Letters from the Avant-Garde" (1996), "Skin: Surface, Substance + Design" (2002) and-most recently-"Beautiful Users: Designing for People "(2014). Lupton is a 2007 recipient of the AIGA Gold Medal, one of the highest honors given to a graphic designer or design educator in the US.

Contributor Bio:  Lupton, Ellen Ellen Lupton is the author, coauthor, or editor of 13 books with PAPress, including Design Culture Now; Skin: Surface, Substance + Design; Inside Design Now; Thinking with Type; D. I. Y.: Design It Yourself; and D. I. Y. Kids. She is Curator of Contemporary Design, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York and Director, Graphic Design MFA Program, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore. she is hte recipient of numerous awards including I. D. Forty, 1992; Chrysler Design Award, 1996; and AIGA Gold Medal, 2007.