Number Seventeen (design)

Last updated

Number Seventeen was a Manhattan-based graphic design studio formed by Emily Oberman and Bonnie Siegler, in operation from 1993 to 2012. The studio specialized in graphics for print, film, and television media. Their clients included Saturday Night Live, Jane Magazine (among many others). They were also responsible for creating the iconic Will and Grace opening titles. [1]

Before forming Number Seventeen, Oberman worked with Tibor Kalman at M&Co. Siegler was a design director at VH1. [2]

Number Seventeen was featured in Eye magazine (No. 39, Vol. 10, Spring 2001) in an article by Steven Heller. In that article Siegler is quoted:

“Everything is storytelling,” Siegler says, “and what we are always trying to do is communicate an idea, be it an abstract solution or a narrative one. Always inherent in the idea is an emotional component that we hope will work on a more subconscious level.” [3]

Related Research Articles

Irreducible complexity (IC) is the argument that certain biological systems with multiple interacting parts would not function if one of the parts were removed, so supposedly could not have evolved by successive small modifications from earlier less complex systems through natural selection, which would need all intermediate precursor systems to have been fully functional. This negative argument is then complemented by the claim that the only alternative explanation is a "purposeful arrangement of parts" inferring design by an intelligent agent. Irreducible complexity has become central to the creationist concept of intelligent design (ID), but the concept of irreducible complexity has been rejected by the scientific community, which regards intelligent design as pseudoscience. Irreducible complexity and specified complexity, are the two main arguments used by intelligent-design proponents to support their version of the theological argument from design.

Commander Keen is a series of side-scrolling platform video games developed primarily by id Software. The series consists of six main episodes, a "lost" episode, and a final game; all but the final game were released for MS-DOS in 1990 and 1991, while the 2001 Commander Keen was released for the Game Boy Color. The series follows the eponymous Commander Keen, the secret identity of the eight-year-old genius Billy Blaze, as he defends the Earth and the galaxy from alien threats with his homemade spaceship, rayguns, and pogo stick. The first three episodes were developed by Ideas from the Deep, the precursor to id, and published by Apogee Software as the shareware title Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons; the "lost" episode 3.5 Commander Keen in Keen Dreams was developed by id and published as a retail title by Softdisk; episodes four and five were released by Apogee as the shareware Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy; and the simultaneously developed episode six was published in retail by FormGen as Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter. Ten years later, an homage and sequel to the series was developed by David A. Palmer Productions and published by Activision as Commander Keen. Another game was announced in 2019 as under development by ZeniMax Online Studios, but was not released.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rites of Spring</span> American punk rock band

Rites of Spring was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in late 1983. Along with Embrace, and Beefeater, they were one of the mainstay acts of the 1985 Revolution Summer movement which took place within the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Designers Republic</span> British graphic design studio

The Designers Republic is a British graphic design studio based in Sheffield, England, founded in 1986 by Ian Anderson and Nick Phillips. They are best known for electronic music logos, album artwork, and anti-establishment aesthetics, embracing "brash consumerism and the uniform style of corporate brands". Work by tDR is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Nelson (designer)</span> American industrial designer (1908–1986)

George Nelson was an American industrial designer. While lead designer for the Herman Miller furniture company, Nelson and his design studio, George Nelson Associates, designed 20th-century modernist furniture. He is considered a founder of American modernist design.

<i>Bust</i> (magazine) American womens lifestyle magazine founded in 1993

Bust is a women's lifestyle magazine that is published four times a year. The magazine was started by Debbie Stoller and Laurie Henzel and is currently published by Street Media LLC. Bust covers music, news, crafts, art, sex, and fashion from an independent ("indie"), third wave feminist perspective. The magazine's slogan is "For women with something to get off their chest."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracy-Ann Oberman</span> English actress, playwright, writer and narrator (born 1966)

Tracy-Ann Oberman is an English actress, playwright and narrator. She is known for roles including Chrissie Watts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders and Valerie Lewis or "Auntie Val" in the Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner (2011–2020).

Critical design uses design fiction and speculative design proposals to challenge assumptions and conceptions about the role objects play in everyday life. Critical design plays a similar role to product design, but does not emphasize an object's commercial purpose or physical utility. It is mainly used to share a critical perspective or inspire debate, while increasing awareness of social, cultural, or ethical issues in the eyes of the public. Critical design was popularized by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby through their firm, Dunne & Raby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentagram (design firm)</span> International design studio

Pentagram is a design firm. It was founded in 1972, by Alan Fletcher, Theo Crosby, Colin Forbes, Kenneth Grange, and Mervyn Kurlansky at Needham Road, Notting Hill, London. The company has offices in London, New York City, San Francisco, Berlin and Austin, Texas. In addition to its influential work, the firm is known for its unusual structure, in which a hierarchically flat group of partners own and manage the firm, often working collaboratively, and share in profits and decisionmaking.

Robert Charles Gill was an American illustrator and graphic designer.

The European Design Awards, also known as the ED-Awards, are annual awards presented to European designers for outstanding work in the communication design field. The ED-Awards is a joint initiative of design magazines from across Europe and endorsed by the International Council of Design. The ED-Awards are judged by a panel of representatives from fifteen European design magazines, while the winning submissions are featured in the ED-Awards Catalogue.

<i>War Babies</i> (Hall & Oates album) 1974 studio album by Daryl Hall & John Oates

War Babies is the third studio album by American pop music duo Daryl Hall & John Oates. The album was released in October 1974, by Atlantic Records. It was their last of three albums for Atlantic Records before moving to RCA Records. The album was produced by Todd Rundgren. Rundgren and other members of Utopia, his then-recently-formed prog-rock band, perform on the record.

Graphic Thought Facility is a London-based graphic design agency.

Malcolm Leslie Garrett is a British graphic designer, and Creative Director of Images&Co, a communications design consultancy based in London, UK. He is Ambassador for Manchester School of Art and co-founder of the annual Design Manchester festival, which has run since 2013.

<i>Straight No Chaser</i> (magazine) British music magazine

Straight No Chaser is a British music magazine based in London. Originally published between 1988 and 2007, it restarted publishing in mid-2017 in a limited edition format, released once a year. The magazine covers various forms of black music and electronic music.

<i>Private Eye</i> British satirical and current affairs magazine

Private Eye is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised for its prominent criticism and lampooning of public figures. It is also known for its in-depth investigative journalism into under-reported scandals and cover-ups.

Patrick Swift (1927–1983) was an Irish painter who worked in Dublin, London and the Algarve, Portugal.

Bonnie Siegler is a New York-based graphic designer.

Emily Oberman is a New York-based multidisciplinary designer and a partner at design studio Pentagram. Formerly, Oberman was a co-founder of design studio Number Seventeen and a designer at Tibor Kalman's studio M & Co.

Scott Merrill Siegler, an American television executive and media investor who participated in the startup of TriStar Television studio, Netscape Communications, Pandora Media, and Granada America, was one of the first Hollywood broadcast executives to anticipate the entertainment potential in digital media. In 1993 he formed a partnership with James H. Clark, a.k.a. Jim Clark, departing CEO of Silicon Graphics and founder of Mosaic Communications, the forerunner of Netscape Communications.

References

  1. Eye, Number 39, Volume 10, Spring 2001.
  2. Eye, Number 39, Volume 10, Spring 2001.
  3. Eye, Number 39, Volume 10, Spring 2001.