Dan Friedman (1945– July 6, 1995) was an American educator, graphic and furniture designer. He was a major contributor to the postmodern and new wave

typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), ...

movements.

Early life and education

In 1945, Dan Friedman was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from the

Carnegie Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

. After that, he studied at the

Ulm School of Design The Ulm School of Design (german: Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm) was a college of design based in Ulm, Germany. It was founded in 1953 by Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl Aicher and Max Bill, the latter being first rector of the school and a former stu ...

. There, he studied graphic design. He also studied at

Schule für Gestaltung Basel The Schule für Gestaltung Basel (Basel School of Design), located at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule in Basel Switzerland, and its students have influenced the international graphic design community since it opened in 1968. Its tradition is shaped ...

. There, he studied under Wolfgang Weingart and

Armin Hofmann Armin Hofmann ( HonRDI) (29 June 1920 – 18 December 2020) was a Swiss graphic designer. He began his career in 1947 as a teacher at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel School of Art and Crafts at the age of twenty-six. Hofmann followed Emil Ru ...

. In 1969 he moved back to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Career

Upon returning to America, Friedman was senior designer at Anspach Grossman Portugal, from 1975 to 1977. For three years, from 1970–73, he taught at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. From 1972-1975, he was the chairman of the board for the design department at State University of New York at Purchase. Friedman designed posters, letterheads, logos, and more, while working for

Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle arou ...

, from 1979 until 1984. Clients included Citibank and Williwear. He used found objects to create

Day-Glo The Day-Glo Color Corp. (also styled as DayGlo) is a privately held American paint and pigments manufacturer based in Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded in 1946 by brothers Joseph and Robert Switzer and is currently owned by RPM International. It ...

furniture. In 1982 he designed a book for his friend,

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...

. He did work for the

Neotu Gallery Néotù was a contemporary furniture gallery founded in 1984 in Paris. Gérard Dalmon (b. 1945), a computer consultant at Cap Gemini, and Pierre Staudenmeyer (1952—2007), a marketing consultant, established the Galerie Néotù in 1984 in Paris, ...

. Starting in 1994 he was the Frank Stanton Professor of Graphic Design at the Cooper Union.

Death and legacy

He died of AIDS in 1995 at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York City. His work is held in the collection of the

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 museums that fall under the wing of the Smithsonian Ins ...

and the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

.MoMA , The Collection , Dan Friedman. Die Normannen Kommen. 1968
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Bibliography

*with Jeffrey Dietch, Steven Holt and Alessandro Mendini. ''Dan Friedman: Radical Modernism.'' New Haven: Yale University Press (1994). . *with Jeffrey Dietch. ''Post Human.'' Pully/Lausanne: FAE Musée d'Art Contemporain (1992).

References

External links

Interview with Dan Friedman
1994, ''Eye'' 14 {{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Dan 1945 births 1995 deaths American art writers 20th-century American educators American furniture designers American graphic designers American typographers and type designers Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni Cooper Union faculty Artists from Cleveland People from Manhattan State University of New York faculty Yale University faculty AIDS-related deaths in New York (state) 20th-century American writers AIGA medalists