April Greiman, The Texture of Technology

APRIL GREIMAN THE TEXTURE OF TECHNOLOGY

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THIS PAGE: Vertigo Identity design, April Greiman, 1979 OPPOSITE PAGE: Montage of a portion of Design Quarterly Poster “Does it Make Sense” by April Greiman, 1986 and a portrait of April Greiman by an unknown photographer, 1993

“at the heart of the concept of

HYBRID IMAGERY

is a recognition that, in inventing new technologies, we reinvent ourselves.”

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pril Greiman was a pioneer of the New Wave. Not only was she on the forefront of the move towards using more technology in design in the form of the original Macintosh computer, but she led the charge bringing design culture to LA in the mid seventies, when LA was a design desert. In fact, Greiman found the desert to be a perfect allegory for the evolution taking place in the design world through the seventies and eighties. “The desert is its own educational vehicle,” she says. “While most processes occur at an invisible or microscopic level, the desert reveals its evolution in its very existence. I felt as if, for the first time, my eyes were wide open to the process of evolution, to growth, to change.”

With open eyes, Greiman was the best designer to lead the way for other designers through the process of evolution taking place during Pacific New Wave.

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THIS PAGE: Poster design, April Greiman, 1983 OPPOSITE PAGE: Poster design, April Greiman, 1988

“We’ll probably make mistakes along the way, but then, I’ve built an entire career on ‘mistakes’.”

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reiman was hired in 1982 to direct the CalArts Graphic Design program.

She convinced the school to rename the program “Visual Communications,� which she thought better embodied the direction that design was taking and incorporated other mediums into the work. Greiman herself liked to explore multiple mediums, and video played a strong role in her design aesthetic. Her work has also included collaborating with architects on spaces and environments, poster design for the 1984 Olympics, identity design for the LA businesses China Club and Vertigo, among others, and a poster for CalArts that she worked on with photographer Jayme Odgers three years before her position at CalArts.

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FULL SPR E A D: CalArts poster design, April Greiman and Jayme Odgers, 1978 OPPOSITE PAGE: China Club identity design menu, April Greiman, 1980

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reiman was raised immersed in the arts in New York, surrounded by strong, independent women and a curious and adventurous father. Strong role models freed her to explore and question the world, and always be open to adventure. She began her design career with a strong footing, studying first at Kansas City Art Institute under Inge Druckrey, Hans Allemann, and Chris Zelinsky. Greiman earned her MFA studying design at Basel School of Design in Switzerland. Her professor, Wolfgang Weingart, a Swiss designer credited to being the “father� of New Wave, encouraged her to explore working

out side

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THIS PAGE: WET magazine cover design, April Greiman, 1979 OPPOSITE PAGE: Poster design, Wolfgang Weingart, 1984

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asel grounded her with a solid education in Swiss design, as well as prepared her for her role in the design world as an innovator. Greiman embraced technology and was one of the few designers of her era that saw the potential that computers brought to design.

She was always interested in tool use, and she saw the computer as yet another tool to play with. Her sense of play brought about great work, as she wasn’t afraid to make “mistakes.”

Itae debitat evel ipsumquid magnam unt etur? Andae estions edisit quos apiciis rem ut faccus denem estibus THIS PAGE: Personal letterhead design,vit qui officiliate Aprilduntis Greiman, 1979, 1982

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OPPOSITE PAGE: Poster design, April Greiman and Jayme Odgers, 1978

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Designed and written by Ariel Ferrel Composed in Chicago, Acier BAT and Georgia Printed from a Kyocera TASKalfa 3252ci onto 60# Hammermill Copyright Š 2019 Ariel Ferrel; Portland, Maine, Maine College of Art