Massimo Vignelli 

January 10, 1931 - May 27, 2014

Vignelli was born in Milan, Italy. He is a multi-disciplinary designer specialising in areas ranging from package design through house ware design and furniture design to public signage and showroom design. He established the Vignelli Associates together with his wife, Lella Vignelli in 1971. He studied at Politecnico di Milano. He is a huge fan of using typeface Helvetica which is why it is in all his work. His working style is focused on simplicity through the use of basic geometric forms. An avid fan of modernism, his works are clear and concise with no clutter or unnecessary materials. 

 In 1966, He joined Unimark International, one of the largest designs firm in the world. He majors in identity and branding. He has designed for many famous corporate identities including American Airlines, Bloomingdale's, Knoll and IBM. Vignelli designed the iconic New York City Subway Map and it became a landmark in Modernist design. 

After the New York City Subway Map was introduced, complaints flooded in. Many stations seemed to be in the wrong places. Water surrounding the city was coloured beige, not blue. As for Central Park, it appeared to be square, rather than an elongated rectangle and 3 times bigger than what it appears on the map. The map was riddled with anomalies, but that was the point. Massimo Vignelli had sacrificed geographical accuracy for clarity. He reinterpreted New York's tangled labyrinth of subway lines as a neat diagram. Each station is represented by a dot and is linked to its neighbours by colour-coded routes running at 45 or 90 degrees. 

'' It seemed to me that the whole city of New York was a permanent Vignelli exhibition.'' said by Vignelli's former employee Michael Bierut. 

Massimo Vignelli's works:

NYC Subway Map 

NYC Subway Signage

Bloomingdale's Logo

Bloomingdale's Paper Bag Packaging  

American Airlines Logo

Knoll International Graphic Program Logo

Handkerchief Chair for Knoll Studio

Paperclip Table for Knoll Studio

Heller Dinnerware Packaging 

Heller Dinnerware Set

If you're wondering how an iconic designer's memorial look like: 

Memorial Day in a Church Designed by himself.

Massimo Vignelli's Crematory Urn Designed by himself (again...)

Memorial Invitation Cards Designed by himself 

When his health began deteriorating, he developed a vision of his funeral. Vignelli's memorial is a farewell that he personally designed down to the last detail.It was his last grand project. From choosing the location, the program, the music, the speakers, the guest list to a custom-made crematory urn. He has always imagined his funeral to be grand and even remarked on how much he wants to be there to see it. 

" If you can design one thing, you can design everything. " 

                                                                            -Massimo Vignelli 

 ISO 200, 1/80, F5.6

2)

 ISO 200, 1/80, F8.0

3)

 ISO 200, 1/80, F11

4)

 ISO 200, 1/80, F16

5)

 ISO 200, 1/80, F22

Exercise 2a.2: Aperture Controls Depth of Field

1)

 ISO 200, 1/1600, F4.0

2)

 ISO 200, 1/800, F5.6

3)

 ISO 200, 1/400, F8.0

4)

 ISO 200, 1/200, F11

5)

ISO 200, 1/100, F16

6)

 ISO 200, 1/40, F22

Screenshots: 

Feedback: 

Mr. Vinod commented on my exercise 2a.2. He said that the reason why it does not show much of a difference might be because it was not focusing in the middle and I might be using a wide angle to shoot. To prove that aperture does affect depth of field by showing that the background gets blurrier , we should not use a wide angle. We were asked to add in a screen grab of questions and answers from the forum into our blog posts. References can also be added into our blog posts. Mr. Vinod asked me to not only write the exercise number but also label the exercise which I had already corrected. 

Reflection: 

Experience 

Today was our first practical session. After the lecture on aperture, Mr Vinod asked us to take our cameras out and start adjusting the aperture, ISO and shutter speed. First, we shot pictures of Mr. Vinod using from the lowest f-stop to the highest f-stop. At the beginning of the exercise, we struggled a bit on the camera settings and so we had to retake the pictures but slowly we got the hang of it. Secondly, we shot pictures of the railing but this time we changed the f-stops and shutter speed. 

It was quite confusing for me to understand how the f-stops works so I had to note everything down then refer back to the notes I wrote during the lecture. I would say it was overwhelming as there were so many things to process on the first practical session for ITP module. 

Observation

During the session, I realised that there are many measures taken to take a picture like positioning the tripod, camera settings and lighting. I find the second exercise more challenging because it doesn't show much difference. I also realised that it is harder when you actually apply what you have learn in class into a practical exercise. I observed that each camera has different lowest f-stop and highest f-stop. 

Findings

After today's class, I learned that exposure is affected by 3 components: aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Aperture controls the amount (quantity) of light entering the lens. This is controlled by the opening and closing of aperture leaves (diaphragms) to create bigger or smaller holes. It is influenced by f-stops (numbers). A smaller f-stop means overexposure and a bigger f-stop means underexposure. The bigger the f-stop, the smaller the hole and vice versa. I also learned that aperture affects depth of field (clarity of foreground and background). When the foreground and background becomes blur but the subject matter is clear, this means it is a smaller f-stop and bigger hole. The bigger the f-stop is, the wider the depth of field. After doing exercise 2a.2, I realised that there is no obvious differences between the pictures and it might be the angle that I shot at wasn't easy to identify. I understand that we should describe as clear and not sharp when it comes to depth of field. 

Before the next lecture, I learned that I must read the slides or reading materials provided by the lecturer on TIMeS so that I would come prepared and roughly know what to expect for the next lecture.