Louise Fili

Last updated
Louise Fili
Louise fili by table.jpg
Born (1951-04-12) April 12, 1951 (age 73)
Nationality American
Known for Graphic design
Spouse Steven Heller
AwardsArt Directors Club Hall of Fame (2004), Art Directors Club Gold Medalist, Art Directors Club Silver Medalist, Society of Illustrators Gold Medalist, AIGA Medal (2014), Type Directors Club Medal of Excellence (2015), SVA Master Series Award and Exhibition (2016), Frederic W. Goudy Award (2021)
Website www.louisefili.com

Louise Fili, born on April 12, 1951, is an American graphic designer known for her use of typography. Her artistic inspiration derives from modernism and European art deco styles, and she blends historic typography with contemporary colors and compositions. Commencing her career in the publishing industry, Fili crafted nearly 2,000 book jackets during her time with Random House. Upon establishing her own design studio, she has directed her focus towards restaurant identity, food-related logos, and packaging.

Contents

Early life

Fili was born on April 12, 1951, in Orange, New Jersey to Italian immigrants, both schoolteachers. Fili has said that she was “interested in design before [she] even knew what it was” [1] and as a child, carved letterforms into her walls, designed book covers, and created illuminated manuscripts of Bob Dylan lyrics. [1] [2] When she was 16, Fili taught herself calligraphy using a Speedball guide and an Osmiroid pen. [3]

Education

Fili attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York to study studio art. [4] In 1973, she received a Bachelor of Science in studio art from Skidmore College. Her senior project was an Italian hand-lettered cookbook. [3] Fili moved to New York City in 1973, interning at the Museum of Modern Art and finishing the last semester of her degree at the School of Visual Arts. [4]

Career

After graduating, Fili began her career as a freelance designer on special project books at Alfred A. Knopf from 1975-76. [2] At 25, she was hired as a senior designer for Herb Lubalin, where she remained from 1976–78. She found type to be an expressive tool, which set the foundation for her later work. [4]

In 1978, she joined Random House as the art director at Pantheon Books, where she eschewed standard fonts in favor of creating typographic treatments for each book jacket. Her approach extended to the physical surface treatment as well; Fili rejected the standard shiny finishes and foil-stamping on book jackets in favor of matte, laminated coatings which proved softer and more durable. [5] "I was on a mission to prove that you didn’t have to shout to capture someone’s attention. The cover that I did for The Lover, by Marguerite Duras, was probably the best example of that." [6] The success of her jacket for Marguerite Duras's bestseller, The Lover , in 1984 allowed her increased creative freedom at Pantheon. [3] Fili designed close to 2000 books during her tenure at the publisher. [4]

In 1989, she opened her own studio, Louise Fili Ltd, specializing in the design of restaurant identity, food-related logos, and packaging. [3] She sought to "change the accepted formulas of food packaging" by pursuing designs that were quiet and subtle, believing that "one does not have to shout to be noticed." [7] During that time, there were few female-run companies, so she knew naming the company after herself could be a liability. She sent the message: "If you have a problem with my being female, then I don’t want you as a client.” [3] She has designed identities for many New York City eateries such as Pearl Oyster Bar, Picholine, Artisanal, The Mermaid Inn, and Via Carota, and has created packaging for Sarabeth's jam, Tate's cookies, and Bella Cucina. [8] Her geometric, often Cubist-like designs show an affinity to European Modernism, particularly the work of Lucian Bernhard, A.M. Cassandre, Jean Carlu, and Italian posters of the 1930s.

In 2000, she received three James Beard Award nominations, [9] and since 1998, she has been an elected member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale. [10] In 2004, Fili was inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. [2] In 2015, she received the medal of lifetime achievement from the Type Directors Club. [11]

In 2009, she redesigned the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for its 100th anniversary.

In 2014, Princeton Architectural Press published Grafica della Strada, a compilation of her Italian sign photographs. This was followed in 2015 by Graphique de la Rue: The Signs of Paris.

Fili has authored and co-authored over twenty books, many of them with her husband, the design historian Steven Heller. A monograph of her work, Elegantissima, was published in 2012.

In 2021, she was recognized for her contributions to typography with the Frederic W. Goudy Award, one of the highest honors in the field of typography. [12]

Fili taught at the School of Visual Arts for over twenty year, in both the undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as the SVA Masters Workshop in Rome every summer. She has also taught at the New School, New York University, and Cooper Union. [2]

Books authored and co-authored

Typefaces

Honors

Permanent collections

Fili's work is held in the following permanent collections:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emigre Fonts</span> American type foundry

Emigre, Inc., doing business as Emigre Fonts, is a digital type foundry based in Berkeley, California, that was founded in 1985 by husband-and-wife team Rudy VanderLans and Zuzana Licko. The type foundry grew out of Emigre magazine, a publication founded by VanderLans and two Dutch friends who met in San Francisco, CA in 1984. Note that unlike the word émigré, Emigre is officially spelled without accents.

<i>Emigre</i> (magazine) American graphic design magazine (1984–2005)

Emigre was a (mostly) quarterly magazine published from 1984 until 2005 in Berkeley, California, dedicated to visual communication, graphic design, typography, and design criticism. Produced by Rudy VanderLans and Zuzana Licko, Emigre was known for creating some of the first digital layouts and typeface designs. Exposure to Licko's typefaces through the magazine lead to the creation of Emigre Fonts in 1985.

Zuzana Licko is a Slovak-born American type designer and visual artist known for co-founding Emigre Fonts, a digital type foundry in Berkeley, CA. She has designed and produced numerous digital typefaces including the popular Mrs Eaves, Modula, Filosofia, and Matrix. As a corresponding interest she also creates ceramic sculptures and jacquard weavings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seymour Chwast</span> American graphic designer

Seymour Chwast is an American graphic designer, illustrator, and type designer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paula Scher</span> American graphic designer and painter

Paula Scher is an American graphic designer, painter and art educator in design. She also served as the first female principal at Pentagram, which she joined in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Heller (design writer)</span> American art historian

Steven Heller is an American art director, journalist, critic, author, and editor who specializes in topics related to graphic design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Lupton</span> American graphic designer

Ellen Lupton is a graphic designer, curator, writer, critic, and educator. Known for her love of typography, Lupton is the Betty Cooke and William O. Steinmetz Design Chair at Maryland Institute College of Art. Previously she was the Senior Curator of Contemporary Design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City and was named Curator Emerita after 30 years of service. She is the founding director of the Graphic Design M.F.A. degree program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), where she also serves as director of the Center for Design Thinking. She has written numerous books on graphic design for a variety of audiences. She has contributed to several publications, including Print, Eye, I.D., Metropolis, and The New York Times.

Edward Fella is an American graphic designer, artist and educator. He created the OutWest typeface in 1993. His work is held in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, the Brauer Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art. He was the recipient of the 2007 AIGA Medal. He was also the recipient of a Chrysler Award in 1997. Curt Cloninger called Fella "the contemporary master of hand-drawn typography."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marian Bantjes</span> Canadian graphic designer

Marian Bantjes is a Canadian designer, artist, illustrator, typographer and writer. Describing her work as graphic art, Marian Bantjes is known for her custom lettering, intricate patterning and decorative style. Inspired by illuminated manuscripts, Islamic calligraphy, Baroque ornamentation, Marian Bantjes creates detailed work, often combining the forms of her disparate influences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debbie Millman</span> American writer, educator, artist and designer

Debbie Millman is an American writer, educator, artist, curator, and designer who is best known as the host of the podcast Design Matters. She is the chair and co-founder of the Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, with Steven Heller and President Emeritus of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and chair.

Jennifer Morla is an American graphic designer and professor based in San Francisco. She received the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Award in Communication Design in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lita Talarico</span> American graphic designer

Lita Talarico is a co-founder and co-chair of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design Program in New York City. She also co-founded the SVA Masters Workshop in Italy, an ongoing summer program. She also teaches and lectures on design entrepreneurism around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah Sussman</span> American environmental graphic designer

Deborah Sussman was an American designer and a pioneer in the field of environmental graphic design. Her work incorporated graphic design into architectural and public spaces.

Louise Sandhaus is an American graphic designer and design educator. She is a professor at the California Institute of the Arts and is the principal of Louise Sandhaus Design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Hische</span> American artist

Jessica Nicole Hische is an American lettering artist, illustrator, author and type designer. She was one of the first of a new generation of letterers and the present-day flourishing of the lettering arts can in part be traced back to her emergence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gail Anderson (graphic designer)</span> American graphic designer

Gail Anderson is an American graphic designer, writer, and educator known for her typographic skill, hand-lettering and poster design.

Anne Quito is a design reporter and architecture critic based in New York City. A former reporter at Quartz, she is also the founding director of Design Lab, the in-house design team for Family Health International (FHI). In 2017, Quito won the inaugural Steven Heller Prize for Cultural Commentary from the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). In 2018, a story she co-authored received a silver medal in the Malofiej Infographic Awards.

Jennifer Kinon is an American graphic designer.

Poster House is the first museum in the United States dedicated exclusively to posters. Located in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City, on 23rd Street between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, the museum opened to the public on June 20, 2019.

Michael Schwab is an American graphic designer and illustrator, he is the Principal at Michael Schwab Studio in San Anselmo, California. He was one of the founders of the San Francisco Bay Area postmodern movement in graphic design, that later became known as the "Pacific Wave".

References

  1. 1 2 "Design pioneer Louise Fili on gastronomic passion and gangster clients". 10 April 2014. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Louise Fili". ADC • Global Awards & Club. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "2014 AIGA Medalist: Louise Fili". AIGA. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Eye Magazine | Feature | Reputations: Louise Fili". www.eyemagazine.com. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  5. Kirkham, Pat (2000). Women Designers in the USA, 1900-2000: Diversity and Difference. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 367. ISBN   0300087349.
  6. "An interview with Louise Fili". Logo Geek. 2018-10-27. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  7. "AGI : Archive Articles : AGI Dialogue: One Does Not Have To Shout To Be Noticed". 2012-03-23. Archived from the original on 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  8. Shapiro, Amanda (November 14, 2016). "Meet the Woman Behind The Tate's "T" and Other Food Logos You Love".
  9. 1 2 "Awards Search | James Beard Foundation" . Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  10. "Members". AGI. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  11. 1 2 "TDC Medalist Louise Fili: Typography Animated by a Passion for the Past - The Type Directors Club". The Type Directors Club. Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  12. Byrne, Peter. "Goudy Award Presentation and Lecture". Rochester Institute of Technology. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  13. 1 2 3 "Type Design". Louise Fili Ltd. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Louise Fili - MFA Design". design.sva.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  15. "School of Visual Arts | SVA | New York City > The Masters Series". www.sva.edu. Archived from the original on 2018-03-31. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  16. "Library of Congress Online Catalog - System Error 500" . Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  17. "Louise Fili | People | Collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum". collection.cooperhewitt.org. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  18. Fili, Louise (1998–1999). "BnF Catalogue général". catalogue.bnf.fr (in French). Retrieved 2018-04-23.

Further reading