Michael Patrick Cronan
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Michael Patrick Cronan (June 9, 1951 – January 1, 2013) was an American graphic designer, brand strategist, adjunct professor, and fine art painter. He was one of the founders of the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
postmodern movement in
graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...
, that later became known as the "Pacific Wave". He was a 2014
American Institute of Graphic Arts The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity ...
(AIGA) Medalist and received the AIGA lifetime achievement award in 2009.


Early life and education

Cronan was born in San Francisco, California on June 9, 1951 and grew up near
Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
. As a teenager, he learned
letterpress printing Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing. Using a printing press, the process allows many copies to be produced by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets or a continuous roll of paper. A worker com ...
and had become an artist in a local print shop, creating posters. He studied fine art at California College of Arts and Crafts (now known as California College of the Arts) and later graduated from
California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...
(BA degree 1974). He met his future wife and business partner, Karin Hibma at California State University, Sacramento. Together they had two sons, sculptor and artist, Shawn HibmaCronan; and industrial designer, Nick Cronan. In 1971, he went abroad to study archeology, and work as an archaeological dig manager for
Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
in the Negev Desert and then at the
Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...
.


Career


Pacific Wave movement

In the early 1980s a few San Francisco–based designers were nicknamed “The Michaels” because they all had the same name (Cronan, alongside Mabry, Manwaring, Vanderbyl, Schwab), and later they were known as the "Pacific Wave" according to historian Steven Heller.


Cronan Design

Cronan and Karin Hibma established Michael Patrick Cronan Design (also known as Cronan Design, but later known simply as Cronan) in 1980. Cronan Design clients including
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, Kindle, Good Belly,
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, Levi Strauss & Co., Estee Lauder, among others. Cronan Design often worked on brand-strategy consulting, they would extensively interview clients and Cronan found naming inspiration by playing with
Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...
tiles for unique letter combinations. In June 2009, he and Karin Hibma were named as two of Fast Company's list of 100 Most Creative People in Business.


Walking Man

Together Cronan and Hibma formed a sub-brand of clothing design, Walking Man, in 1989. In 1992 and 1993, Walking Man clothing won the I.D. Magazine Consumer Product of the Year/Gold Award presented at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York.


Other design experiences

He was an adjunct professor of graphic design at California College of the Arts from 1981–2001. Cronan designed the stamp commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of NATO and later the Prostate Awareness stamp for the
United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...
. In 1998, SFMOMA commissioned Cronan to create the SFMOMA symbol which graphically captures the distinctive oculus at the center of the museum building designed by
Mario Botta Mario Botta (born 1 April 1943) is a Swiss architect. Career Botta designed his first building, a two-family house at Morbio Superiore in Ticino, at age 16. He graduated from the Università Iuav di Venezia (1969). While the arrangements of spa ...
. Alongside his design work, Cronan had worked as a fine art painter for most of his life. His graphic design work is included in many public museum collections including at the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...
(LACMA), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
, among others.


Membership

Cronan was a founding member of the American Institute of Graphic Art (AIGA) chapter in San Francisco and the AIGASF chapter president after serving on the AIGA national board for three years. Cronan was Chairman of the Board of the Pickle Family Circus, attended the Aspen Leadership Summit in 2005 and served on the Board of the Aspen Design Summit from 2005 – 2006.


Exhibitions

* 1985 –
Pacific Wave
', curated by Giorgio Camuffo, at
Museo Fortuny The Museo Fortuny or Fortuny Museum is an art museum in San Marco, in central Venice, Italy. The museum is housed in the Palazzo Pesaro Orfei, now often known as Palazzo Fortuny, where Mariano Fortuny (1871–1949) had a studio in the late ni ...
, Venice, Italy *1993 – ''In the Public Eye: The Work of Four Graphic Designers'',
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and wa ...
(SFMOMA), San Francisco, California. This exhibition was including Michael Manwaring, Gerald Reis, and
Michael Vanderbyl Michael Vanderbyl (born February 9, 1947) is a multidisciplinary designer and design educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the principal of Vanderbyl Design. Biography Michael Vanderbyl was born February 9, 1947, in Oakland, Califor ...
. It was the first graphic design exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and its popularity ushered in an expanded presence of graphics in the museum's floor space and permanent collection. * 2002 – ''US Design: 1975-2000'', curated by R. Craig Miller,
Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums between ...
, Denver, Colorado


Publications

Cronan has been subject of profile articles in Communication Arts Magazine, I.D. Magazine, Linea Graphica (Italy), Graphis Inc., HOW, and many others. * * * *


Death

On January 1, 2013, Cronan died at his
Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...
home after a long time with colon cancer. He had been diagnosed for the same for five years previously.


References


External links


Cronan DesignWalking Man ClothingPaintings by Michael Patrick Cronan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cronan, Michael Patrick American graphic designers Logo designers 1951 births Artists from Sacramento, California 2013 deaths Artists from Berkeley, California California College of the Arts faculty California State University, Sacramento alumni Deaths from colorectal cancer Deaths from cancer in California AIGA medalists Product designers