Designer: Dan Friedman

Dan Friedman was a graphic and furniture designer, artist, writer, and educator known for challenging mainstream design through radical, experimental work. After studying at Carnegie Mellon, he trained under Armin Hofmann and Wolfgang Weingart in Europe, mastering Swiss-style typography. In the 1970s, he applied this to corporate work for clients like Citibank but soon began subverting these norms with bold colour, layout, and type, producing work with aesthetics of New Wave and punk design.

Explore related designers including Wolfgang Weingart and April Greiman. See also New Wave and 1970s graphic design history.

Articles Featuring the Work of Dan Friedman

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A 1,500 essay on the transformative era of graphic design from the 1970s to the 1990s. Moving beyond the constraints of modernism, designers like Wolfgang Weingart and April Greiman redefined visual communication through bold experimentation with type, colour, and early computer graphics. This essay highlights how postmodernism and New Wave design introduced complexity, individuality, and digital innovation in to graphic design.

Artefacts Featuring the Work of Dan Friedman

Typographische Monatsblätter, Vol 90, No. 01, January 1971

From the graphic design archive:

Typographische Monatsblätter, Vol 90, No. 01, January 1971

  • Format: Magazine
  • Designer/s: Dan Friedman
  • Year: 1971
Dan Friedman – Radical Modernism, Yale University Press, 1994

From the graphic design archive:

Dan Friedman – Radical Modernism, Yale University Press, 1994

  • Format: Book
  • Designer/s: Dan Friedman
  • Year: 1994
Typographische Monatsblätter, Vol 100, No. 01, Jan/Feb 1981

From the graphic design archive:

Typographische Monatsblätter, Vol 100, No. 01, Jan/Feb 1981

  • Format: Magazine
  • Designer/s: Ken Komai and Dan Friedman
  • Year: 1981

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Walter Frank Bomar, scanned from The Inland Printer, Vol 104, No. 03, 1939

Members Only Content, Designer Profiles

Walter Frank Bomar, scanned from The Inland Printer, Vol 104, No. 03, 1939

A 1939 article on American designer, Walter Frank Bomar, published in The Inland Printer, Vol 104, No. 03, 1939.

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Stamps, Dick Bruna and the Making of Miffy

Design Archive Feature, Designer Profiles, Ephemera, Illustration, Members Only Content

Stamps, Dick Bruna and the Making of Miffy

Beyond his books, Dick Bruna's vivid colour and simplified forms found their way onto posters, packaging, murals and stamps, many of which feature in my growing collection.

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Valentin Zietara, by H K Frenzel translated by E. T. Scheffauer

Members Only Content, Design Archive Feature, Designer Profiles

Valentin Zietara, by H K Frenzel translated by E. T. Scheffauer

An article on Valentin Zietara , originally in German, published in Gebrauchsgraphik, 10, 1930, written by H K Frenzel translated by E. T. Scheffauer

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