Muriel Cooper
Encyclopedia
Muriel Cooper was a digital designer, business woman, researcher, and educator.
Cooper received her BA from Ohio State in 1944, and a BFA in Design and a BS in Education from Massachusetts College of Art
. After her graduation, Cooper moved to New York City and attempted to find a position in advertising. She met Paul Rand
who was influential to her way of life typography
.
In 1952, Cooper became the first art director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
office of publication originally known as Design Services, which later became MIT Press
. After teaching at MIT for six years, Cooper left in 1958 to take a Fullbright Scholarship in Milan
; this allowed Muriel Cooper to lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields, and to participate in seminars.
When Cooper returned in 1963, she opened an independent graphic studio in Boston, Massachusetts. The MIT Press was among Cooper's various clients, leading to her design of its trademark logo, an abstracted set of seven vertical bars with a play on the vertical strokes of the initial letters. The logo has been called a high-water mark in twentieth century graphic design . As the longtime art director of MIT Press, she promoted the Bauhaus
-influenced, modernist look of their books and other publications. Cooper also recruited graphic designer and fellow MassArt alumna Jacqueline Casey to her own lengthy career at MIT, where Casey designed many posters and smaller publications in a modernist style.
In 1967, Cooper returned to a fulltime position at the MIT Press. In addition to being the founder of the office of publications, Cooper took on the position of being the first director of design and media. Having influenced the design of the iconic book Bauhaus (published by MIT Press in 1969), she also made a film rendition of the book. The film attempted to give a speedy version of translating interactive experiences from a computer to paper. This endeavor was her response to the challenge of turning time into space.
Cooper maintained her position with the MIT Press until 1974, and oversaw the release of a series of titles in architecture
, economics
, biology
, computer science
and sociology
that formed a critical discourse around systems, feedback loops and control.
At 49 years old in 1973, Cooper was already well known in the design industry. Cooper left MIT Press to become one of the co-founders of the MIT Media Lab
., where she taught interactive media design as the founder and head of the Visible Language Workshop
(VLW). Cooper was recognized as a pioneer in designing and changing the landscape of electronic communication.
In 1994, at the TED
5 conference in Monterey, California, Cooper presented a collection of work that had been recently done by her students in the VLW. The demos demonstrated experiments in dynamic, interactive, computer-based typography, themes which Cooper had been exploring through much of her career.
In addition to Cooper's involvement in the VLW and TED5, she also worked with groups such as Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction of the Association for Computing Machines (SIGCHI).
Professor Muriel Cooper died of an apparent heart attack in 1994 at the age of 68, on May 26 at the New England Medical Center. At the time of her death, she was still serving as a professor at the MIT Media Lab. About a year later, a retrospective exhibition at the Media Lab reviewed her life and career.
Cooper received her BA from Ohio State in 1944, and a BFA in Design and a BS in Education from Massachusetts College of Art
Massachusetts College of Art
Massachusetts College of Art and Design is a publicly-funded college of visual and applied art, founded in 1873. It is one of the oldest art schools, the only publicly-funded free-standing art school in the United States, and was the first art college in the United States to grant an artistic degree...
. After her graduation, Cooper moved to New York City and attempted to find a position in advertising. She met Paul Rand
Paul Rand
Paul Rand Paul Rand Paul Rand (born Peretz Rosenbaum, (August 15, 1914 — November 26, 1996) was an American graphic designer, best known for his corporate logo designs, including the logos for IBM, UPS, Enron, Westinghouse, ABC, and Steve Jobs’ NeXT...
who was influential to her way of life typography
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
.
In 1952, Cooper became the first art director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
office of publication originally known as Design Services, which later became MIT Press
MIT Press
The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts .-History:...
. After teaching at MIT for six years, Cooper left in 1958 to take a Fullbright Scholarship in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
; this allowed Muriel Cooper to lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields, and to participate in seminars.
When Cooper returned in 1963, she opened an independent graphic studio in Boston, Massachusetts. The MIT Press was among Cooper's various clients, leading to her design of its trademark logo, an abstracted set of seven vertical bars with a play on the vertical strokes of the initial letters. The logo has been called a high-water mark in twentieth century graphic design . As the longtime art director of MIT Press, she promoted the Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
-influenced, modernist look of their books and other publications. Cooper also recruited graphic designer and fellow MassArt alumna Jacqueline Casey to her own lengthy career at MIT, where Casey designed many posters and smaller publications in a modernist style.
In 1967, Cooper returned to a fulltime position at the MIT Press. In addition to being the founder of the office of publications, Cooper took on the position of being the first director of design and media. Having influenced the design of the iconic book Bauhaus (published by MIT Press in 1969), she also made a film rendition of the book. The film attempted to give a speedy version of translating interactive experiences from a computer to paper. This endeavor was her response to the challenge of turning time into space.
Cooper maintained her position with the MIT Press until 1974, and oversaw the release of a series of titles in architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
and sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
that formed a critical discourse around systems, feedback loops and control.
At 49 years old in 1973, Cooper was already well known in the design industry. Cooper left MIT Press to become one of the co-founders of the MIT Media Lab
MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a laboratory of MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Devoted to research projects at the convergence of design, multimedia and technology, the Media Lab has been widely popularized since the 1990s by business and technology publications such as Wired and Red Herring for a...
., where she taught interactive media design as the founder and head of the Visible Language Workshop
Visible Language Workshop
The Visual Language Workshop founded by Ron MacNeil and co-founded by Muriel Cooper. Cooper pursued a constant examination of graphic production in multiple media. The visible language workshop...
(VLW). Cooper was recognized as a pioneer in designing and changing the landscape of electronic communication.
In 1994, at the TED
TED (conference)
TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
5 conference in Monterey, California, Cooper presented a collection of work that had been recently done by her students in the VLW. The demos demonstrated experiments in dynamic, interactive, computer-based typography, themes which Cooper had been exploring through much of her career.
In addition to Cooper's involvement in the VLW and TED5, she also worked with groups such as Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction of the Association for Computing Machines (SIGCHI).
Professor Muriel Cooper died of an apparent heart attack in 1994 at the age of 68, on May 26 at the New England Medical Center. At the time of her death, she was still serving as a professor at the MIT Media Lab. About a year later, a retrospective exhibition at the Media Lab reviewed her life and career.
External links
Sources
- http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1994/cooper-0601.html
- http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-murielcooper
- Muriel Cooper's Legacy
- http://www.artandculture.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/ACLive.woa/wa/artist?id=205
- http://www.chrysler.com/design/design_influences/design_awards/1994/mcooper.html
- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/style/tmagazine/07rawsthorn.html
- http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/2004/?id=5
- http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1994/cooper-0601.html
- http://walkawayrene.com/blog/?tag=visual-language-workshop
- http://infosthetics.com/archives/2010/02/information_landscapes_1994_muriel_cooper_mit_visible_language_workshop.html
- http://www.dextersinister.org/MEDIA/PDF/Thisstandsasasketchforthefuture.pdf
- http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/2004/?id=5
- http://designkultur.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/muriel-cooper-polymath-extraordinaire/
- http://140.234.0.9:8080/EPSessionID=e37b7c2ef46bebde16ff6ebc905d68/EPHost=www.jstor.org/EPPath/stable/4091189