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April Greiman S U M M E R 2 0 2 6A R T - G D 1 3 A N D H E R I N F L U E N C E S O N G R A P H I C D E S I G N
DESIGNER BACKGROUNDBorn in New York City, she was brought into a world of possibilities. Her parents, a dancer and a computer scientist, helped her discover herself through technology and art as she grew up.
EDUCATIONRhode Island School of Design Kansas City Art Institute: Earned her undergraduate degree! Basel School of Design California Institute of the Arts Director
TIME PERIODAs technology and computers were being newly developed, there was much public unease about incoporating it into graphic design. Swiss modernism was a recognized set of graphic design ‘rules’. It valued order through grids, no layering or visual clutter, perfect text, and no designer as a part of it. The 1970's-80's were also a very colorful time with the rise of the disco.
STYLEHer designs went against every rules that the Swiss modernism sent. She used bright, chaotic colors and did not stick to a grid. She has scattered, spaced out photography, and used her own image in her designs.
CONTRIBUTIONSWhile working as the California Institue of the arts director, she changed it from She won the AIGA award in 1998 for her revolutionary integration of technology into design. to GRAPHIC DESIGN VISUAL COMMUNICATION The Macintosh was still new technology, so her use of it legitimized it as an entry way to the future.
EXAMPLESdoes it make sense? -1986, April Greiman for the Design Quarterly Journal. objects in space -1982, April Greiman
EXAMPLESThe Modern Poster -1988, April Greiman
CRITIQUESEXTREMELY abstract and can be hard to determine the point of the art. Could almost be seen as an overreliance on technology throughout her career Indecency and put herself too ‘out there’ by using images of her own naked body in one of her designs.
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