Paula Scher

According to Creative Review, Pentagram New York began developing a visual identity for the Public Theater in 1994.⁶ Pentagram describes her Public Theater identity as combining visual elements associated with high and popular culture.⁷ Pentagram states that her Public Theater identity won the Beacon Award in 1996 and has been widely imitated.⁷

Pentagram says her Citibank and Tiffany & Co. identities became case studies in regenerating American brands.⁷ Scher has also designed for the Metropolitan Opera, Microsoft, Bloomberg, the New York City Ballet, and the High Line.^3,4

Scher was named to the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1998 and received the Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design in 2000.⁷ In 2001 she received the AIGA Medal, and in 2006 became the first woman to receive the Type Directors Club Medal.⁷ She has been a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale since 1993 and served as its president from 2009 to 2012.⁷

Scher's interest in cartography developed from childhood exposure to U.S. Geological Survey aerial photography maps shown by her father, a photogrammetric engineer.^3,5 She creates large-scale acrylic paintings that function as infographics exploring United States topics, including works such as The World (1998), Manhattan at Night (2007), and World Trade (2010).^3,5 According to Slate Magazine, some of her maps are political; a Florida map includes voter details from the 2000 presidential election.⁵

According to Pinakothek der Moderne, Die Neue Sammlung presented Scher's first solo exhibition in Germany, titled Type Is Image.^1,2,7 According to Creative Review, a Manchester School of Art exhibition of her Public Theater posters ran until December 7, twenty-five years after the collaboration began.⁶