1. Paula
Scher’s
GUIDE
TOTHETYPOGRAPHIC
universe
written
by
Poppy
Pearce
HOW
IMPORTANT IS “PLAY” IN
DESIGN?
PS: Design that wasn’t play to begin
with generally feels stiff and boring.
YOU OFTEN REFER TO RUSSEL
BAKER’S THOUGHTS ON
“SERIOUS” VS “SOLEMN”. WHICH
OF THE TWO ARE YOU?
PS: I am
both. Interviews are
solemn. Design is serious.
FAVORITE FONT OF ALL TIME?
PS: No favorite. My default font is
Aksidenz Grotesk, or things that look
like it which is essentially Helvetica
with some character.
WHAT DOES DIRTY MEAN TO
YOU?
PS: My apartment, right at this
minute. We are renovating.
PaulaScher’sGUIDETOTHETYPOGRAPHICUNIVERSEwrittenbyPoppyPearce
Disrupting boredom with our eyes at-
tached to some square screen is where
we are going wrong says Paula Scher.
Paula, an American graphic designer,
painter and art educator in design stud-
ied at the Tyler School of Art, Elkins
Park, Pennsylvania and earned a Bach-
elor of Fine Arts in 1970. From there
on she only moved forward designing
record covers, launching her own busi-
ness and last but not least teaching,
she has done it all.
I never drew very well, so my ability to
communicate feeling through typog-
raphy became really important.” Once
I started to see type as something
with spirit and emotion, I could really
manipulate it. This led her to develop
a typographic solution based on Art
deco and Russian constructivism.
Paula approaches work from what she
would describe as a populist viewpoint:
Designing things that mixed in popular
culture with the goal of engaging people
in the interest of buying the product.
“My favourite projects are the ones that
I haven’t finished yet: I think they will
be the best thing I’ve ever done before
they get screwed up” she laughs. Living
for the moment in the beginning of a
project when anything is possible.
“I don’t think of design as a job. I think
of it as—and I hate to use this term for
it—more of a calling. If you’re just doing
it because it’s a nice job and you want
to go home and do something else,
then don’t do it, because nobody needs
what you’re going to make.”
Bibliography
Lynch, E. (2015, October 11). An
Interview with Paula Scher. Retrieved
November 2, 2015, from AIGA Portland
: http://aigaportland.org/an-interview-
with-paula-scher/
Persoff, A. (n.d.). PAULA SCHER:
DESIGNING THE WORLD WE KNOW.
Retrieved November 2, 2015, from
Dirty Mag : http://dirty-mag.com/
v2/?p=5208
Walters, J. D. (2010, Autumn 10).
Reputations: Paula Scher. Retrieved
November 2, 2015, from Eye Magazine
: http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/
article/reputations-paula-scher
R285.00