It isn’t possible to tell who the best graphic designer is, as they all have different styles and qualities.
So, I am hereby listing a few graphic designers that are well known in the industry.
01. Chip Kidd
Based
in New York City, Chip Kidd is best known for his stunning book jackets
– most notably for seminal publishing house Alfred A. Knopf.
Kidd has worked for writers such James Elroy, Michael Crichton and Neil Gaiman (among many others).
Jurassic Park is one of his most notable book covers.
02. Rob Janoff
Rob Janoff designed the Apple Logo.
Janoff masterminded possibly the most famous mark in the world today while at ad agency Regis McKenna back in 1977.
And
although it’s been tweaked, the basic form has remained the same ever
since – a testament to its simplicity and longevity (and it was created
in only two weeks).
03. Peter Saville
Peter
Saville is best known for his record sleeve designs for Factory Records
artists – think Joy Division and New Order (Unknown Pleasures,
Transmission, Blue Monday and more).
In
2004 he became creative director of the City of Manchester; he has
worked with fashion’s elite including Jil Sander and Stella McCartney;
and in 2010 he designed the England football home kit.
Born in 1955, Saville is still going strong – he recently redesigned the Burberry logo.
04. Michael Bierut
Designer
and educator Bierut has been a partner for 27 years now and has won
hundreds of design awards (he’s also got permanent work in MoMA). Before
Pentagram, Bierut worked for 10 years at Vignelli Associates.
The
designer's projects at Pentagram include identity and branding for
Benetton, the New York Jets, Walt Disney and design work on Billboard
magazine.
Bierut is also a senior critic in graphic design at the Yale School of Art.
05. Massimo Vignelli
Massimo Vignelli died in 2014, taking with him a legacy of some of the most iconic design work of the past 50 years.
Counting
IBM, Ford, Bloomingdale’s (his ‘Brown Bag’ designs are still in use
today), Saks, American Airlines and many more as clients, and counting
Micheal Bierut among his protégés, Vignelli’s legacy lives on.
At
the time of his death in 2014, web designer Justin Reynolds wrote an
in-depth guide for us on what we can all learn from Vignelli’s design
principles.
06. Jonathan Barnbrook
As David Bowie’s latter-career go-to designer, Jonathan Barnbrook has become even more prominent in recent times.
But Barnbrook’s work is far deeper than Heathen, The Next Day and Blackstar.
Before
Bowie, he was perhaps best known for his influential type design –
Exocet becoming the most pirated font on the web shortly after release
in 1991.
07. Kate Moross
Kate Moross has worked with everyone from TFL to One Direction.
Kate
Moross – creative director of Studio Moross – is an art director and
designer from London who came onto the scene in 2008 with their
trademark typography and energetic, fluid drawing style.
Moross
has since become one of the UK’s most sought-after and successful
designers, creating a myriad of album covers, magazine covers, branding,
video and even live visuals for One Direction.
Moross designed bus and tube pass holders for Transport for London.
08. Carolyn Davidson
There aren’t many logos that are more recognised the world over than Nike’s iconic swoosh.
Graphic
designer Carolyn Davidson designed the logo as a student at Portland
State University in 1971 – and was paid $35 for it by Nike founder Phil
Knight.
The
tick-like logo was seen as a symbol of positivity, but it’s actually
the outline of the wing of the Greek goddess of victory whom the brand
was named after.
As Nike grew in the 1980s, Philip Knight gave Davidson an undisclosed amount of Nike stock.
09. George Lois
In terms of magazine design, George Lois was perhaps the original maverick.
From
1962 to 1972 he enjoyed an incredible 10 years at US Esquire magazine,
designing some of the most iconic, and perhaps controversial, covers in
history – including April 1968’s Muhammed Ali cover.
As
well as a successful magazine designer, Lois was also a top figure in
the world of advertising, working for a raft of huge clients including
MTV, VH1, ESPN and Tommy Hilfiger.
10. Saul Bass
It sounds like hyperbole, but Bass was probably the most important graphic designer of the 20th century.
His
work transcended graphic design, poster design, film titles, logos and
more – with perhaps his most iconic work being opening sequences for
Hitchcock.
In
fact, his opening credit work spanned five decades – right up to his
death in 1996. Some of his last work was for Martin Scorcese on
Goodfellas and Casino.
As
a logo designer Bass was also prolific, designing the marks for
AT&T, Kleenex, United Airlines, Minolta and many, many more.
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