The New York School

The New York school is the first sign of America having its own original design style. Even though most concepts were borrowed from european designers, American designers added new forms and concepts to their designs. This step towards a original american modern design style came from the unique circumstances of the culture found in America. The country was full of capitalistic values and a diverse ethnic group of civilians. Paul Rand is just one of many influential designers that helped create a image for American modern design. He used freely invented shapes that were both expressive and symbolic, and he used these shape to successfully communicate an idea. He set up the guidelines for this revamped modern style by using unexpected playfulness keeping each design visually dynamic. His contribution towards influencing future designers came from his book entitled "Thought of Design" which gave eighty examples of his work. Rand also set up this concept of engaging the audience by using universal symbols to portray a idea. Visual contrast became a must in design during this period, leading to eye catching designs.

During the mid-20th century a Yale began its graphic design school. Albers and Eisenman were the main players involved with heading up this school. They both held this fascination with type and typography, making it a huge aspect of the schools teachings. The school included a faculty of famous designers and would often have guest speakers that were famous designers include Jan Tschichold. This led to top designers coming from the Graphic Design school at Yale. 

One major aspect of design in America is found in the editorial magazines. During the 50's the three major magazines were Vogue, Fortune, and Harpers Bazaar. This period of editorials gave way for new concepts, including the rise of women designers. Pineles was the first woman to be admitted to the New York directors club. Leo Leonni is a design that was known for his innovative use of photography while working for Fortune. Many designers during the period were influenced by a designer by the name of Brodovitch, including Storch who work for Bazaar magazine. He was known for unifying typography with photographs. Henry Wolf was known for utilizing white space and large photographs. The end of the editorial boom was due to the publics need for more information and less visually appealing magazines because of the war going on in Vietnam. 

After the decline of this market designers had to change their design approach in order to satisfy the publics demand for more text filled magazines. Graphic designers would start to focus on controlled layouts and standard grids. They also turned to formal typography in order to create a design that is easy to read. Bernbach was a major influence on this new approach towards editorial design, and he create visual and verbal syntax. This meant that both words and images would work together in order to convey an idea/concept.