Architecture schools around the country have bulletin boards covered entirely in posters, mostly design-y leaflets advertising lecture series or upcoming architecture events.

My own school’s lecture series poster featured a simple rundown of each speaker in a large a large font with no imagery (simple and effective): what stood out was the color scheme: pink, blue and yellow (a departure from classic architecture black). Procrastinating students would stand in the hallway, on late nights or between classes, looking at when the next lecture would be.

This coming fall, there will no doubt be a new batch of architecture posters, especially in academic environments. Will they be well-designed? Some of the posters I encountered were a bit overdesigned or hard to read. Others were clever, simple or clear. In the case of architecture posters, graphics communicate a message directly, though many times using abstractions or playful imagery.

Almost as fun as scanning though databases of architecture is looking through the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Artists) database. Searchable by term — in this case, ah, “architecture posters” — we hit on a few favorites:  iconic posters for the Yale School of Architecture, designed by Pentagram, and others featuring abstracted T-squares and a drafting desk made of apples (for progressive architecture). A few even featured buildings, though again, mostly abstracted.

Here are a few examples we’re especially keen on:

Yale School of Architecture Lectures, Symposia and Exhibitions Spring 2007. Pentagram Design,  (2007) via AIGA

University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning (2008) via Archinect.

Columbia University GSAPP Fall 2010 calendar, designed by Stefan Sagmeister. Courtesy of Sagmeister and GSAPP.

Columbia University, Intro to Architecture. Willi Kunz (1992)

AIGA Packaging 1972. Cook and Shanosky Associates, Inc. (1972). Via AIGA.

Harvard Graduate School of Design (2008). Via Archinect

Scale Poster. Pentagram Design (1998). Via AIGA.

Progressive Architecture: Aalto, Mies. R.J. Huff (1986) via AIGA

Frank Lloyd Wright: Preserving an Architecture Heritage. Chris Noel (1990). via AIGA

Cranbrook Architecture 79/80. McCoy & McCoy (1979) via AIGA

We also spotted a few posters that would make us run screaming out of the lecture hall, but that’s another post. What architecture posters float your theoretical boat?

by Jim Wegener

posted in top ten

tagged AIGA, architecture school, columbia, Cranbrook, graphic design, gsd, Taubman, University of Minnesota, Yale

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