Designer: Paula Scher

Paula Scher

Paula Scher is an American graphic designer and educator. She served as the first female principal at Pentagram, which she joined in 1991. Scher began her career as an art director in the 1970s and works across identity design, environmental design, packaging and publication design. Her clients have included Bloomberg, Microsoft, Adobe, Bausch + Lomb, Coca-Cola, Shake Shack, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Ballet.

Explore related designers including Herb Lubalin and Tibor Kalman. See also American Modernism, American graphic design history, 1980s graphic design history.

Articles Featuring the Work of Paula Scher

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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 Paula Scher

Make It Bigger (Paula Scher), Princeton Architectural Press, 2002

From the graphic design archive:

Make It Bigger (Paula Scher), Princeton Architectural Press, 2002

  • Format: Book
  • Designer/s: Paula Scher
  • Year: 2002
Paula Scher: Works, Unit Editions, 2018

From the graphic design archive:

Paula Scher: Works, Unit Editions, 2018

  • Format: Book
  • Designer/s: Paula Scher
  • Year: 2018
Graphis 218, 1981/82

From the graphic design archive:

Graphis 218, 1981/82

  • Format: Magazine
  • Designer/s: Paula Scher (Photo John Paul Endress)
  • Year: 1981
Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk, The Joseph Papp Public Theatre, 1996

From the graphic design archive:

Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk, The Joseph Papp Public Theatre, 1996

  • Format: Programme
  • Designer/s: Paula Scher
  • Year: 1996

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