#manualsmonday

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It’s Manuals Monday!

Manuals Monday is back! Most Mondays we feature an excerpt from a graphics standards manual from the archives.

Today’s manual features Massimo Vignelli’s sketched mockup draft for the Washington DC Metro graphics program recently discovered in the archives.

Here is the project described in the Vignellis’ own words from our design: Vignelli exhibition label:

"Washington MetroTransportation Graphic Program1968The architect of the Washington Metro is Harry Weese. When he asked us to design the signage for his majestic subway stations, he specified that he did not want anything to be attached to the walls or to interfere with the architectural statement, so we decided to make use of some freestanding outdoor pylons inside the station platforms: one element only, at the point of need, to carry all the required information. The whole system was so well designed that there was very little need for graphics. However, someone finally found a way to clutter it with redundant signs. Tremendous discipline is required to implement and protect a mass-transportation sign system, and very few cities seem to have the ability to overcome a laissez-faire attitude."

We have shared other DC Metro artifacts from the archives: https://vignellicenter.tumblr.com/search/wmata 

You can also view some artifacts in our Digital archives: https://artsandculture.google.com/search?q=vignelli%20wmata 

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It’s Manuals Monday!

(almost) Every Monday we feature an excerpt from a graphics standards manual from the archives.Today’s manual is the Visual Identity System and Preliminary Signage Concept for ferry company Hovercraft.

In 1998, after a successful graphic identity and train interiors for GNER (Great North Eastern Railroad), their parent company, Sea Containers, asked Vignelli Associates to look at the identity of another division: Hoverspeed. 

Hoverspeed operated numerous ferries across the English Channel from 1981 to 2005. The “hover” part of their name comes from their hovercraft fleet. According to Design Week UK in 1998, Hoverspeed carried 500 million passengers a year across the Channel. 

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It’s Manuals Monday! Every (almost) Monday we feature an excerpt from a graphics standards manual from the archives.

Today’s featured manual is for the Italian clothing company, United Colors of Benetton. The corporate identity program was designed by Vignelli Associates in 1995 to create a comprehensive graphic program “from logo to labels, packaging to signage.”

An introduction text describes the importance of this manual:

“The meaning of this Manual goes beyond a simple standardization of the components of United Colors of Benetton Corporate Identity. The aim of this manual is to communicate to everyone belonging to the United Colors of Benetton Group in the world, the Company’s will to avoid stylistic fragmentations in order to strengthen in every detail the identifications of United Colors of Benetton and its companies on the world market. The advanced image established for many years by the company, not finds in this manual the instrument for a progressive implementation based on precise structures which can be consistently applied to any situation. These structures represent the grammar around which our language evolves, allowing creativity to be articulated within a recognizable identity.” 

See even more Benetton from the archives:  https://vignellicenter.tumblr.com/search/benetton

Or check out a few pages in high resolution at our new digital archives: https://g.co/arts/cMNnjqSmNDLRgU868

United Colors of Benetton Corporate Identity Manual, 1995 Massimo and Lella Vignelli papers Vignelli Center for Design Studies Rochester, New York

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It’s Manuals Monday! Every (almost) Monday we feature an excerpt from a graphics standards manual from the archives.

With the US Presidential election tomorrow, we thought we would share some design for the US Federal Government. Today’s featured manual is for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This Graphics Standards Manual for Publications was designed by Massimo Vignelli and Rebecca Rose of Vignelli Associates in 1995. 

Vignelli Associates was no stranger to doing design for the USA government. The well-known National Park Service Unigrid program won the US Presidential Design Award in 1985. Massimo Vignelli also wrote a guide “Grids: Their Meaning and Use for Federal Designers” which gave a fresh look to government publications. 

See more federal designs from the archives: https://vignellicenter.tumblr.com/search/national+park and https://vignellicenter.tumblr.com/search/federal 

US Fish and Wildlife Service Graphics Standards Manual for Publications Box 1101, Massimo and Lella Vignelli Papers Vignelli Center for Design Studies Rochester, New York

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It’s Manuals Monday! Every Monday we feature an excerpt from a graphics standards manual from the archives.

“Owing to the company’s enormous size, this project took a tremendous amount of time—domestic and international trips, presentations, changes, reviews, training seminar, top-level crisis meetings, low-level crisis meetings, and anything else you can add to it. It had a precarious life of good to bad implementations. The basic project was designed with a collaboration of the firms of Jay Doblin Associates and Jack Hough Associates. The project would have died a thousand times had it not been for the remarkable efforts of John Rutkus of Xerox, whose commitment kept it alive and progressing.” p. 53, design: Vignelli.

From 1985 to 1989, Vignelli Associates worked on this series of manuals for Xerox. The final versions are a set of spiral bound manuals contained in a box. Today we’re focusing on the Facilities and Signs or Volume 7.0 of the set. 

Hmmm, i spy the Handkerchief chair in the training room configuration drawing. The Handkerchief chair was designed by Lella and Massimo Vignelli with David Law for Knoll and had just hit the market when this Xerox project started in 1985.

We’ll feature more from the other volumes in the near future. Stay tuned!

Advertising Guidelines Vol. 1 https://vignellicenter.tumblr.com/post/171568907117/manualsmonday-vignelli-xerox-advertising

Here’s a showroom project for Rank-Xerox from the 1960s: http://vignellicenter.tumblr.com/post/165448932227/vignelli-sevendecades-1960s 

Xerox Integrated Design System Guidelines, Vol. 7.0 Facilities and Signs Guidelines, 1985-1989 Massimo and Lella Vignelli papers Vignelli Center for Design Studies Rochester, New York

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It’s Manuals Monday! Every Monday we feature an excerpt from a graphics standards manual from the archives.

Today’s manual is for the Italian car manufacturer, Lancia, by Vignelli Associates, 1978. The manual has 4 volumes, but here is just a taste from volume four.

Introduction text:  The scope of this manual is to relate the LANCIA identity program to the signage needs of the Organization. In order to facilitate the implementation of the program, no dimensional or structural changes have been made. Within these limits, all primary elements of the identification program such as logotype, symbol, chromotype, and typography, have been applied. This document offers to the members of the Organization the possibility of planning the signage along the elaborated criteria of the whole program for a clear identification of the LANCIA organization.

We also shared some excerpts from Volume One, Two and Three: https://vignellicenter.tumblr.com/search/lancia

Lancia Corporate Identity Program. Manual of Graphic Standards. Part Four: Signage, 1978 Box 313, Massimo and Lella Vignelli papers Vignelli Center for Design Studies Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY

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It’s Manuals Monday! Every (almost) Monday we feature an excerpt from a graphics standards manual from the archives.

Today’s manual is for The New Yorker magazine designed by Vignelli Associates, circa 1999. The magazine was celebrating their 75th anniversary in February 2000.

From the press release for the 75th anniversary issue: “The design team was led by Caroline Mailhot of The New Yorker, and Massimo Vignelli, Lella Vignelli, and Yoshiki Waterhouse of Vignelli Associates.” And the press release also states that Vignelli Associates is “one of the world’s most important design firms.” 

Just weeks before this press release, editor of The New Yorker David Remnick wrote Massimo Vignelli in letter and said, “...just a word of thanks for all you have done. Not least, the sensitivity to the magazine as a breathing thing. It really is inspiring to listen to you and watch you work.”  The New Yorker Manual of Graphic Standards. 1999 Massimo and Lella Vignelli papers Vignelli Center for Design Studies Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY

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It’s Manuals Monday! Every Monday we feature an excerpt from a graphics standards manual from the archives.

Today’s manual is the draft for the corporate identity for Galerías, a department store chain in Madrid, Spain. Designed by Vignelli Associates, 1994.

The introduction says:

“The following pages outline the basic concept for the Galerías Corporate Identity Program. 

Our aim is to design a simple graphic program that is easy to implement, strong, memorable and will provide long-lasting value. 

The program, which includes all communications with the public, will express the new era of Galerías, and will help to reposition Galerías stores in the marketplace.” 

The identity uses the typeface Futura for the symbol and logotype, in black and white, and in two versions, extra bold and light, with a modified “G.”

On a previous Manuals Monday we shared a mockup of the Galerías identity program: https://vignellicenter.tumblr.com/post/172534169587/vignelli-galerias-manual-mockup

Galerías corporate identity manual draft, 1991 Massimo and Lella Vignelli papers Vignelli Center for Design Studies Rochester, New York