Massimo Vignelli Dies at 83

Massimo Vignelli, arguably the modern era's greatest designer, died in Manhattan last Tuesday. Many of his projects are landmarks in the history of design, e.g. the corporate-identity program for American Airlines (1967), the graphics for the U.S. National Parks Service (1977), the design of St. Peter's church in New York (1977), and the original subway map for MTA (1970). His work is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Montreal, and Die Neue Sammlung in Munich. [NOTE: The NY Times has a lovely video of Vignelli reading letters of appreciation from people inspired by his work shortly before he died; image above by Gary Hustwit].