Picture of author.

Steven Heller (1) (1950–)

Author of Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design

For other authors named Steven Heller, see the disambiguation page.

187+ Works 5,275 Members 37 Reviews

About the Author

Steven Heller is senior Art Director for the New York Times & author of over seventy books on art, culture, & design. He lives in New York City. (Bowker Author Biography)

Series

Works by Steven Heller

Paul Rand (2020) 133 copies
Typography Sketchbooks (2011) 100 copies
Jackets Required (1995) 68 copies
Japanese Modern (1996) 49 copies
100 Illustrators (2013) 46 copies
Man Bites Man: Two Decades of Satiric Art (1981) — Editor — 42 copies
The Graphic Design Reader (2002) 39 copies
Graphic Design History (2001) 35 copies
Artists' Christmas Cards (1979) 32 copies
American Typeplay (1994) 23 copies
Design Dialogues (1998) 23 copies
Graphic Design USA: 20 (2000) 19 copies
Graphic Design USA: 7. (1986) 17 copies
Menu Design in America (2018) 16 copies
Menu Design in Europe (2022) 14 copies
Type Tells Tales (2017) 13 copies
Magazines: Inside & Out (1996) 12 copies
School Days (1992) 11 copies
Stencil Type (2015) 11 copies
New Modernist Type (2012) 10 copies
Milton Glaser, POP (2023) 10 copies
Design School (2011) 8 copies
Typeplay (1994) 7 copies
Typographic Universe (2014) 6 copies
Type Deck: Index Cards (2017) 4 copies
Design Cult (2013) 3 copies
Art of Newsletters, The (1995) 2 copies
The Illustrator (2023) 1 copy
For the Love of Design (2022) 1 copy

Associated Works

Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey (2001) — Contributor — 717 copies
Mid-Century Ads: Advertising from the Mad Men Era (2011) — Introduction — 84 copies
Fritz Kahn (1605) — Preface — 64 copies
Art Young's Inferno (2020) — Introduction — 17 copies
Guess Who?: The Many Faces of Noma Bar (2007) — Introduction — 8 copies
Images 34 : best of British illustration 2010 (2010) — Foreword — 5 copies
Varoom 04 (2007) — Contributor — 2 copies
Varoom 07 (2008) — Contributor — 2 copies
Varoom 01 (2006) — Contributor — 2 copies
Varoom 03 (2007) — Interviewer — 2 copies
Varoom! 10 (2009) — Contributor — 2 copies
Norman Ives : Constructions & Reconstructions (2020) — Foreword — 1 copy
Eye 7, 1992 (1992) — Contributor — 1 copy
Eye 22, Autumn 1996 (1996) — Contributor — 1 copy
Eye 24, Spring 1997 (1997) — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

This fascinating and full-color volume presents a superb collection of 270 jackets promoting a wide range of books--from high-brow novels and biographies to mass-market romances and mysteries--while showcasing the talent of some of the era's most exciting illustrators and designers.
 
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petervanbeveren | 2 other reviews | Nov 19, 2023 |
I was interested to read this as Heller was on the ground at a time in design history when significant change was happening. Call it the first-wave of the Democratization of Design. Photo-type and press-type (Letraset) opened the doors to the public’s ability to “set” type without the need for traditional (costly professional) sources.

That written, I will admit I have not finished it.

A comment on the design. It’s an odd set of choices. Strictly from a book design standpoint, the stingy margins seem at once to be expected –get as many words on a page as possible to keep the page-count down– but also a flaw given that this is a book at least tangentially, about graphic design. Following on to that, and more problematically, it appears the text is set in 8- or 9-point Centaur. Rather small for running text. Further to that, and perhaps most curious, it’s being set in Bruce Rogers’ famous Bible face which seems incongruous given the title. In the very least BR’s “white letter Venetian” is designed to be read best from maybe as small as 12- to better at 16-point. Couple that very traditional, arguably “fine press” choice of faces with a forgettable sans serif display (one of Adobe’s wood types?) and it’s a weird look. Iirc, Heller didn’t have anything to do with the design. It was done by someone on Louise Filli’s staff (Filli is Heller’s spouse). Writing as a book designer, I can’t say it’s success. It tired my eye to read which is why I bailed. That written, tons of color photos and examples of work. So there’s that in the plus column.

What I did read was fascinating enough. It certainly described the possibilities for self-invention in a not-yet-entirely “financialized” New York in the late 60s/early 70s. There was still transgressive grit, protest on the right side of history, a nascent punk rock scene, ground zero for art and opportunity before the computer leveled the landscape of possibility and everyone’s tool became a brushed aluminum enclosure and a screen of various dimension. (Ick.) Imagine the pre-digital world with thousands of different ways of making design and illustration, dozens of ways of getting ink on paper, and myriad possibilities untethered to a SaS subscription.

Interestingly, Heller was mentored by, and at times teamed with, the illustrator Brad Holland whose work I’ve been familiar with since the early 80s pouring over back-issues of “Communication Arts” as an ad intern. I’m probably in the 2% that would recognize that Holland it seems was a fan of Leonard Baskin. Several of his illustrations shown in the book are less a “nod” to Baskin’s line work, than direct stylistic copies of LB’s grotesque, chimeric imagery. Huh.

Well, so maybe Centaur makes sense? Baskin and the Western Mass. Fine Press scene at the same time were heavily reliant on Centaur, and certainly Gehenna was (along with Palatino). Is there a thread there? Eh, probably not.

Anyway, there you go. Interesting content if poorly presented. Lots of good pictures.
… (more)
 
Flagged
interrobang918 | 1 other review | Jul 6, 2023 |
Awful unless you're a supporter of Screw and this egocentric person.
 
Flagged
froxgirl | 1 other review | Feb 13, 2023 |

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Associated Authors

Edward Gorey Illustrator
Véronique Vienne Contributor, Author
Seymour Chwast Author, Interviewee
Jessica Helfand Contributor, Editor
Natalia Ilyin Contributor, Interviewee
Ellen Shapiro Contributor
Ralph Caplan Contributor
Ross Macdonald Contributor
Forrest Richardson Interviewee, Contributor
Phil Patton Contributor
Paul Lukas Contributor
Roy R. Behrens Contributor
Michael Barson Contributor
Stefan Sagmeister Interviewee, Contributor
Warren Lehrer Interviewee, Contributor
Richard Saul Wurman Interviewee, Contributor
David Vogler Contributor
Francis Levy Contributor
Eric Zimmerman Contributor, Interviewee
Elmer A. Lundberg Illustrator
Ivan Chermayeff Contributor
Jerry Kelly Contributor
Mike Hicks Contributor
Jennifer Kabat Contributor
Massimo Vignelli Contributor
Martha Scotford Contributor
Dan Friedman Contributor
Larry Keeley Contributor
Kevin Lyons Contributor
Paul Saffo Contributor
Steff Geissbuhler Contributor
Chuck Byrne Contributor
Jeffery Keedy Contributor
Rhonda Rubinstein Contributor
Moira Cullen Contributor
Brad Holland Contributor
Lorraine Wild Contributor
Rudolph de Harak Contributor
James Victore Contributor
Gunnar Swanson Contributor
Peter Fraterdeus Contributor
Frances Butler Contributor
Fath Davis Ruffins Contributor
Philip B. Meggs Contributor
Matthew Butterick Contributor
Matthew Carter Contributor
Stuart McKee Contributor
Christiaan Vermaas Contributor
Julie Lasky Contributor
Victor Margolin Contributor
Dugald Stermer Contributor
Paul Rand Contributor
George Lois Contributor
Rosemary J. Coombe Contributor
Gordon Salchow Contributor
Daniel Drennan Contributor
Milton Glaser Contributor
Paula Scher Contributor
Michael Anderson Contributor
Robin Kinross Contributor
Janet Fairbairn Contributor
Tony Hendra Contributor
Sven Birkerts Contributor
Ellen Lupton Contributor
Randall Rothenberg Contributor
Leo Lionni Contributor
Alina Wheeler Contributor
Michael Bierut Contributor
Richard Hollis Contributor
Gary Benzel Interviewee
Remo Guiffré Interviewee
Marlene McCarty Interviewee
Margaret Martinez Interviewee
Constantin Boym Interviewee
Marty Neumeier Interviewee
David Salanitro Interviewee
David Small Interviewee
Maira Kalman Interviewee
Sandra Higashi Interviewee
John Maeda Interviewee
Chip Kidd Interviewee
David C. Baker Contributor
Edwin Schlossberg Interviewee
Rich Roat Interviewee
John Martinez Interviewee
Mel Byars Interviewee
Karin Hibma Interviewee
Joshua Berger Interviewee
Todd St. John Interviewee
Joseph Holzman Interviewee
David M. Kelley Interviewee
Marshall Arisman Interviewee
Saxton Freyman Interviewee
Rudy VanderLans Interviewee
Peter Girardi Interviewee
Josh Glenn Interviewee
Stephan VanDam Interviewee
David Lai Interviewee
Yves Behar Interviewee
Richard McGuire Interviewee
Mies Hora Interviewee
Gary Baseman Interviewee
Alexander Isley Interviewee
Dan Nadel Contributor
Erik van Blokland Interviewee
Clement Mok Interviewee
Jay Vigon Interviewee
Byron Glaser Interviewee
Sandy Chilewich Interviewee
Anthony Leone Interviewee
Marian Bantjes Contributor
Rob Trostle Contributor
Amanda Bowers Contributor
Robert Grossman Contributor
William Drenttel Contributor
Nick Currie Contributor
Colin Berry Contributor
David Barringer Contributor
David Jury Contributor
Rick Meyerowitz Contributor
Ken Garland Contributor
Henry Petroski Contributor
Debbie Millman Contributor
Allan Chochinov Contributor
Alissa Walker Contributor
David Womack Contributor
Peter Blegvad Contributor
Veronique Vienne Contributor
Ben Kessler Contributor
Ina Saltz Contributor
J. D. Biersdorfer Contributor
Ralph Ginzburg Contributor
Katie Salen Contributor
Piet Schreuders Contributor
Johanna Drucker Contributor
Max Bruinsma Contributor
Peter Hall Contributor
Michael Dooley Contributor
Laura Frost Contributor
Kim McCarten Contributor
Mary Domowicz Contributor
Shem Friedlander Contributor
Martin C. Pedersen Contributor
Mike Salisbury Contributor
Deb Margolin Contributor
Tobias Frere-Jones Contributor
Jack Krause Contributor
Art Paul Contributor
Teal Triggs Contributor
Elliott Earls Contributor
Nancy E. Bernard Contributor
Nyier Abdou Contributor
Nancy Nowacek Contributor
Elena Gorfinkel Contributor
Pamela A. Ivinski Contributor

Statistics

Works
187
Also by
16
Members
5,275
Popularity
#4,722
Rating
3.9
Reviews
37
ISBNs
317
Languages
8

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