Downtown Cleveland is a place that looms large in my
memories. My father started a business in 1951 and operated out of the Caxton
Building on Huron Road. Morgan Studio focused on art, advertising and
photography. It is because of him that I pursued a career in advertising. His
clients over four decades included an impressive list of blue chip businesses
like Ohio Bell Telephone, Youngstown Steel Door, Lake Erie Screw Corporation,
Mooney Chemical, Bonne Bell Cosmetics. He was influenced heavily by a year he
spent a Pratt Institute in NYC after he completed college at John Carroll
University and before he was compelled to join the war effort (WWII).
My dad was bold enough to suggest Morgan Studio
offered Architects of the Printed Page
in a building named for William Caxton, the mid 15th century
printing pioneer. He was in business throughout the era celebrated in the Mad
Men television series. It was in this context, I became passionate about
design, typography and illustration.
Recently I checked out a book from my local library
entitled Graphic Design, A New History
© 2007 by Stephen J. Eskilson and published by Yale University Press. The
retrospective may be somewhat revisionist. However, in recognizing the origins
of typography and graphic design it honors the proud history of the printed
word from the Gutenberg Bible and design from Art Nouveau, Dada, De Stijl,
Bauhaus, Deco, International Style and Post Modernism.
Upon reflection of my own career journey and
influences, it is impossible to separate this somewhat orderly view of
Eskilson’s History of graphic design while scratching my head as I wonder how
we will reconcile the impact of what some are calling the digital disruption. I
love the tone and outrage of Bob Hoffman in his blog and book The Ad Contrarian ©
2012. I cannot help thinking that some time needs to pass before we can really
make sense of what it means for the businesses we know and love.
