Alvin Lustig


A student of Frank Lloyd Wright, among others, Alvin Lustig had a very successful career in graphic design and art direction. Revolutionizing the approach to book cover design in the 1940s, Lustig would attempt to get a sense of the writers direction from reading the book and then translate it into his own graphic style (The previous trend was to summarize the book with one image). The combination of technology and creativity in his designs was reminiscent of the Bauhaus, as did his intellectual approach to problem-solving.




He designed books in LA for New Directions before moving to New York to become the Director of Visual Research for Look Magazine. He rose to success early in his career garnering work for all types of clients and working on a vast array of types of projects. He died much too early at the age of 40, in 1955. His simplified shapes and use of flat colors, all while creating elaborate and intensely interesting compositions, are still imitated today by many graphic designers.