William Drenttel
Encyclopedia
William Drenttel is a graphic design
er, editor
, a partner in Winterhouse Studios, and President Emeritus of the American Institute of Graphic Arts
(AIGA
). Drenttel received a BA in European Cultural Studies from Princeton University
.
From 1985 to 1997 Drenttel was a partner in the New York
design firm Drenttel Doyle Partners. Other partners included Stephen Doyle and Thomas Kluepfel. Drenttel Doyle Partners worked on many design projects including: the editorial
design of Spy
and The New Republic
; identity design and exhibition design for Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum; exhibition design for the World Financial Center
; and identity design and publication design for Princeton University.
Drenttel is the partner of Jessica Helfand
of Winterhouse Studios, Winterhouse Editions and Winterhouse Institute located in Falls Village, Connecticut
.
In 2002, Drenttel co-founded Design Observer
, a blog of design and cultural criticism: today, the site is the largest design publication in the world with over a million site visits a month. He is co-editor of Below the Fold:, a new journal of visual culture published by Winterhouse, and the founder of the Polling Place Photo Project, an online election documentation project. In 2006, Drenttel co-founded the Winterhouse Writing Awards: this $5000 prize for innovation in design writing seeks to develop new writers interested in design and cultural criticism. In 2008, Drenttel will be a Senior Faculty Fellow at the Yale School of Management.
Drenttel is also the co-editor of three Looking Closer graphic design anthologies. He is also a founding writer of the Design Observer blog with Rick Poynor
, Michael Bierut
and Jessica Helfand
.
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
er, editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
, a partner in Winterhouse Studios, and President Emeritus of the American Institute of Graphic Arts
American Institute of Graphic Arts
AIGA is an American professional organization for design. Organized in 1914, AIGA currently has more than 22,000 members throughout 66 chapters and more than 200 student groups nationwide...
(AIGA
Aiga
‘Aiga is a word in the Samoan language which means 'family.' The aiga is the family unit of Samoan society and differs from the Western sense in that it consists more than just a mother, father and children. The Samoan family, also referred to as an 'extended family' is based on the culture's...
). Drenttel received a BA in European Cultural Studies from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
.
From 1985 to 1997 Drenttel was a partner in the New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
design firm Drenttel Doyle Partners. Other partners included Stephen Doyle and Thomas Kluepfel. Drenttel Doyle Partners worked on many design projects including: the editorial
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
design of Spy
Spy (magazine)
Spy was a satirical monthly magazine founded in 1986 by Kurt Andersen and E. Graydon Carter, who served as its first editors, and Thomas L. Phillips, Jr., its first publisher. After one folding and a rebirth, it ceased publication in 1998...
and The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
; identity design and exhibition design for Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum; exhibition design for the World Financial Center
World Financial Center
The World Financial Center is a complex of buildings across West Street from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan in New York City, overlooking the Hudson River. This complex is home to offices of companies including Merrill Lynch, RBC Capital Markets, Nomura Group, the Wall Street...
; and identity design and publication design for Princeton University.
Drenttel is the partner of Jessica Helfand
Jessica Helfand
Jessica Helfand is an author, columnist and lecturer on graphic design. She is the partner of William Drenttel of Winterhouse Studios, Winterhouse Editions and Winterhouse Institute located in Falls Village, Connecticut. She is a critic in graphic design at Yale University, where she earned her...
of Winterhouse Studios, Winterhouse Editions and Winterhouse Institute located in Falls Village, Connecticut
Falls Village, Connecticut
Falls Village is a village and census-designated place in the town of Canaan, Connecticut. Because Falls Village is the town center and principal constituent village in Canaan, the entire town is often referred to as "Falls Village." That usage also avoids confusion of the town with Canaan Village...
.
In 2002, Drenttel co-founded Design Observer
Design Observer
Design Observer is a website devoted to a broad range of design topics centered on graphic design, communications arts, print, typography and criticism. The content of the site is composed of short essays and articles...
, a blog of design and cultural criticism: today, the site is the largest design publication in the world with over a million site visits a month. He is co-editor of Below the Fold:, a new journal of visual culture published by Winterhouse, and the founder of the Polling Place Photo Project, an online election documentation project. In 2006, Drenttel co-founded the Winterhouse Writing Awards: this $5000 prize for innovation in design writing seeks to develop new writers interested in design and cultural criticism. In 2008, Drenttel will be a Senior Faculty Fellow at the Yale School of Management.
Drenttel is also the co-editor of three Looking Closer graphic design anthologies. He is also a founding writer of the Design Observer blog with Rick Poynor
Rick Poynor
Rick Poynor is a British writer on design, graphic design, typography and visual culture. He began as a general visual arts journalist, working on Blueprint magazine in London. After founding Eye magazine , which he edited from 1990 to 1997, he focused increasingly on visual communication...
, Michael Bierut
Michael Bierut
Michael Bierut is a graphic designer, design critic and educator.Bierut was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning....
and Jessica Helfand
Jessica Helfand
Jessica Helfand is an author, columnist and lecturer on graphic design. She is the partner of William Drenttel of Winterhouse Studios, Winterhouse Editions and Winterhouse Institute located in Falls Village, Connecticut. She is a critic in graphic design at Yale University, where she earned her...
.
Books
- Paul AusterPaul AusterPaul Benjamin Auster is an American author known for works blending absurdism, existentialism, crime fiction and the search for identity and personal meaning in works such as The New York Trilogy , Moon Palace , The Music of Chance , The Book of Illusions and The Brooklyn Follies...
: A Comprehensive Bibliographic Checklist of Published Work 1968-1994, Winterhouse Editions, 1994. (ISBN 978-1884381010) - Graphic Design: New York 2: The Work of Thirty-Six Firms from the City That Put Graphic Design on the Map, with Michael Bierut and D. K. Holland.
- Looking Closer: Critical Writings on Graphic Design, with Michael Bierut, Steven HellerSteven Heller (graphic design)Steven Heller is an American art director, journalist, critic, author, and editor who specializes on topics related to graphic design....
, D. K. HollandAllworth Press. (ISBN 978-1880559154) - "Forty Posters for the Yale School of Architecture" by Michael Bierut, Winterhouse Editions, 2007 (ISBN 1884381189)
External links
- Winterhouse Studios (formerly Jessica Helfand | William Drenttel)
- Design Observer (includes short biography of Drenttel).
- Design Observer blog
See also
- First Things First 2000 manifestoFirst things first 2000 ManifestoThe First Things First 2000 manifesto, launched by Adbusters magazine in 1999, was an updated version of the earlier First Things First manifesto written and published in 1964 by Ken Garland, a British designer....
- EmigreEmigre magazineEmigre was a graphic design magazine published by Emigre Graphics between 1984 and 2005; it was first published in 1984 in San Francisco, California, USA...
51: First Things First, 1999. http://www.emigre.com/EMag.php?issue=51