design-masters

# Design Masters

Standing on the shoulders of giants. These designers didn't just create beautiful work—they articulated principles that remain relevant decades later.

## When to Use This Skill

- Seeking design inspiration with depth
- Understanding the reasoning behind classic design
- Applying proven approaches to modern problems
- Teaching through historical example
- Finding appropriate references for a design direction

## The Pantheon

### Saul Bass (1920-1996)
**Domain**: Film titles, corporate identity, posters
**Philosophy**: "Design is thinking made visual"

#### Signature Techniques
1. **Geometric Reduction**: Complex ideas → simple shapes
2. **Symbolic Metaphor**: Literal → abstract representation
3. **Motion in Stillness**: Static images implying movement
4. **Negative Space**: What's left out tells the story
5. **Limited Palette**: Powerful constraint

#### Essential Works
- **Man with the Golden Arm** (1955): First film title as design
- **Vertigo** (1958): Spiral as psychological symbol
- **AT&T Logo** (1984): Globe lines suggesting connection
- **Minolta Logo** (1981): Stylized 'm' as horizon

#### Apply His Lesson
*Before adding detail, ask: "What's the one essential shape that captures this idea?"*

```
Approach:
1. Identify the core concept
2. Find a visual metaphor
3. Reduce to essential geometry
4. Test if meaning survives reduction
5. Add nothing more
```

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### Massimo Vignelli (1931-2014)
**Domain**: Information design, corporate identity, packaging
**Philosophy**: "If you can design one thing, you can design everything"

#### The Vignelli Canon
1. **Semantics**: What does it mean?
2. **Syntactics**: How is it structured?
3. **Pragmatics**: How does it function in context?
4. **Discipline**: Constraint breeds creativity
5. **Appropriateness**: Fit context, not ego
6. **Ambiguity**: Eliminate it
7. **Design is One**: Universal principles apply everywhere
8. **Visual Power**: Strength through simplicity
9. **Intellectual Elegance**: Clev