Massimo Vignelli was an Italian designer who created in the design arenas of packaging, housewares, furniture, environmental and graphics. He co-founded Vignelli Associates with his wife Lella in 1960. Some of his famous graphic design work was creating identities for Knoll and American Airlines. His design for the New York City subway signage in 1970 has become an iconic part of the metropolis as well as a stunning early example of information design. Vignelli, who studied and taught architecture, believed in the simplicity of the grid as the ultimate basis of graphic design. This guiding principle is most evident in his Stendig calendar of 1966, which the Museum of Modern Art purchased for its design collection.
I took the photo of the 2020 Stendig calendar below in a cool letterpress studio shop called Typehouse, located on Wentworth Street in Charleston, SC. Every December I look forward to finding the next year’s Stendig calendar for my studio. As I tear off each month, I can’t bear to throw away the cool, giant numbers in alternating black on white, white on black pages. Now what to create with all those calendar pages…
