Massimo Vignelli

Like most designers I know, when the 90 minute documentary Helvetica came out, I found myself watching it religiously back to back countless times. I was absolutely enthralled by how much discussion could be had over a font face. If you haven’t seen the movie, to give you a brief description, it’s a documentary filmed by Gary Hustwit telling a brief history of graphic design, type design, the birth of Helvetica, and the future of design itself. The film also interviews some of the most influential people in the design industry over the last decade.

One of the men interviewed is none other than Massimo Vignelli. Upon seeing the movie for the first time, I was immediately captured as soon as Massimo began speaking. I would probably call him the “Grandfather of Design” due to the fact that he’s probably one of the most tender hearted yet easily one of the most knowledgeable people in the field to this day. To hear Massimo speak on design, it’s as if he and design were old war buddies. I could listen for hours.

Earlier today, I discovered a brief, 6 minute documentary on Massimo that Shelby White (Wanken) posted. There are many things to take away from it, but one of my favorite quotes from it is:

“You have to train yourself to have vision, courage and determination. These three things to me are very important… At the same time you should not have a fear of failure… Instead you have to have courage not to fail or courage even to fail.” - Massimo Vignelli

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