Lester Beall

Beall studied Art History at the University of Chicago from 1922 to 1926, having previously studied at Chicago’s Art Institute. By incorporating elements of European modernism into his work he became a great influence on the graphic design industry, as he was one of the first American designers to do this. He particularly studied European avant-garde design, incorporating elements into his own bold designs for business and industry. Although he extensively studied the topic, Beall found he learnt much of his design-related knowledge simply through reading books and periodicals.

Beall set styles and standards in many fields from creative and comprehensive packaging to corporate identities. He demonstrated creative design solutions for problems but could also deal with the marketing side of the project. He did many kinds of graphic work, from posters to packaging to corporate identities, beginning his career in design as a freelance designer and illustrator, when he set up his own studio in 1927. In 1935 he moved to New York and opened a studio/office in his apartment in Manhattan. There he did much work which was influential to the field of

editorial design (refer plate 6). The year after he moved to Connecticut, also transferring his office there. He then began to focus on the design of corporate identities. This was a new application of graphic design and the time, and he saw it as “an extension of packaging design, and in his systematic approach to the task he continued to refine the visual language of modernism that emerged in the 1920s.” (Aynsley, J. 2001:113)

Lester Beall was a very influential figure in the design industry during and after the span of his career. From the 1930s to the 60s he created designs which were strong benchmarks in the fields of editorial and publication cover design, posters, packaging and corporate identities. “The qualities and values that led to Beall’s effectiveness are timeless and provide contemporary practitioners with an historical reference base upon which to evaluate present standards.” Reminton, R. 2003.

His books and periodicals were another great source of inspiration for Beall. He collected books and periodicals seriously from the beginning of his design career in Chicago. By the Sixties, Beall had accumulated a major personal collection of publications on creative forms such as art, design, photography and architecture. He also collected seminal magazines such as Cahiers d’Art and rare volumes such as the famous Bauhausbucher. Music was another important ingredient of Beall’s creative environment. He was very familiar with jazz, having grown up with it in Chicago. While working in

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