Flying in the face of adversity, I thought it would be fun to engage in some unapologetic hero-worship. I had been thinking about the Greek Gods, and musing about various designers and wondering where they might fit in the pantheon of design gods. Who, today, is our Zeus? Who is Hades?
I couldn’t do it alone, so I teamed up with Armin. We started with a list of 50 which we had to whittle down to 12. It was very, very difficult and even between the two of us, well … I won’t say we fought, but in the final round we had to do a little horse trading (I’ll give you x if you give me y). I have no doubt that we will be lambasted and skewered for some of our choices, but that’s half the fun.
I’ve started with a basic outline of the Greek Gods, but for the purposes of this exercise I’m ignoring the confusing incestuous relationships and some of the more sordid details of their biographies and skills. I am however listing some basic relationships just to give you an idea of where and how they rank—also, if you think of them as potential designers, it’s pretty funny.
On Mt. Olympus there lived the twelve Olympians, the Dodekatheon. Descended from the Titans, they were ruled by, of course, Zeus.
Zeus, the king of the gods: supremely powerful, jealous, the god of the sky, weather and thunder; he ruled the other gods, and the world, with his lightning bolt.
Hera, the queen of the gods, wife of Zeus, protector of marriage but once responsible for a revolt against her husband. She is the most powerful of the goddesses.
Poseidon, god of the sea, Zeus’ brother and the second most powerful god. He was of a quarrelsome nature, covetous of earthly kingdoms and boasted to have created the horse, which was sacred to him.
Apollo is the son of Zeus, and is his most likely successor. He was the god of music, light and truth among other things, and despite being noble and skilled, also evoked fear and awe. The phrases “know thyself!” and “nothing in excess!” were always on his lips.
Athena was the daughter of Zeus, having hatched, full-grown—and fully armed—from his forehead. She was fierce and brave, but a protector, not an aggressor. She was the goddess of the city, handicrafts and agriculture, and was known for wisdom, reason and purity.
Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera, was disliked by both parents as well as most of the other immortals. The god of war, he loved battle for its own sake, delighting in the ransacking of villages and the slaughter of men.
Hestia, Zeus’ sister, was the protector of the family, social stability and ideals. She never took part in wars or disputes. She was also, oddly, offered the first victim of every public sacrifice.
Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, was miraculously conceived and arose from the sea foam, riding to shore on a giant scallop (right, her!).
Hermes, the son and messenger of Zeus. He was the fastest of the gods with winged sandals and helmet. He was also the god of thieves and of commerce.
Artemis, Apollo’s twin sister, was the goddess of wild nature, a huntress—precocious, confident and self-sufficient.
Hephaestus, the son of Zeus and Hera, was the god of fire and the forge, and was the smith and armorer of the gods. He was ugly and lame, but kind and peace-loving.
Those are the official 12 Olympians. And then there is Hades.
Hades, the brother of Zeus and Poseidon, chose not to live on Mt. Olympus, and took instead, the underworld, ruling over the dead. A very important god, but an outsider, he seldom ventured above ground. He was also the god of wealth.
* * * * * *
OK, cut to the chase. Immediately we realized that matching personalities of the top 12 designers with the Greeks would be impossible. But we did really need to have at least a Zeus figure, a Poseidon, an Apollo and a Hades. The rest, make your own comparisons. Our gods are all living, and we eliminated those more closely associated with type design or illustration (sorry Matthew and Seymour). The six Olympian goddesses also became a problem, but we felt we couldn’t sacrifice greatness for equal opportunity, so our Mt. Olympus is dominated by men (although …).
What makes a design god? Fame + Power + Influence + Design Icons Created + Historical Significance + Longevity + “Would you be thrilled to death to sit next to each of these at a dinner table?” + “Would you put an epithet between their first and last names?” (a couple of worthy designers failed these last two tests).
So, without further ado, and with our apologies to everyone …
ZEUS
Paula Scher: god of all gods. Rules from her domain in Pentagram, ancient house of gods and demi-gods. The powerful word is her weapon. She has been resurrected at least thrice, and her work has touched us, formed us and awed us in nearly every arena for decades. She has laid waste with Constructivism then rebuilt with a breath of life. Her hand has written on every country in the world, she is all around us.
POSEIDON
Milton Glaser: the god of wit and colour, he is much beloved by the people and all the other immortals. He is actually one of the last of the Titans, at the height of his power and influence in the 60s and 70s. His love for his domain resulted in a worldly, lovely icon—imitated by many, surpassed by none. He holds honorary status at the head of the table. His weapons are the pen and the brush.
APOLLO
Stefan Sagmeister: The subversive god, god of surprises. His weapons, the pen and the pin. Despite his youth and relatively small body of miraculous works, his influence is enormous. The immortals both love and fear him. Immune to humanly tools, his body serves as a self-healing canvas. Temples to him currently outnumber any other god—for this he is also widely envied.
THE REST
Bruce Mau: A massive force, briefly of the house of Pentagram, now supreme ruler of his own god-dom. The region of Zone is one of his domains. He has the magical ability to win contests he doesn’t enter. His sermon from the mount is an incomplete manifesto, his colour is black, his weapon, Life Style, a very hefty book.
Massimo Vignelli: god of the grid, master of the letterform. He is the direct ancestor to many gods and demi-gods and holds a respected place in Olympus although his temples have grown scarce among mortals. To his expertise, the City that Never Sleeps is endowed, as he deciphered and depicted its transportation maze. Legend holds it that his artillery consisted of only five single, deadly typographic cliques.
David Carson: god of chaos. Widely credited with the invention of the illegible page layout, he is worshipped as a rebel. Disliked by many of the immortals but has a huge following of fervent acolytes. His weapon is the Ray Gun (deactivated), his weakness, reliability.
April Greiman: god of juxtaposition, she wields technology as her weapon, baring her body to its power without concern for mortals’ opinion. Her hair is known to disappear at the slightest of provocations. Long revered, now Made in Space, her future is uncertain.
Peter Saville & Vaughan Oliver: Twin gods of music.
Saville, charismatic and attitudinal, teased the house of Pentagram briefly with his talent but it was not meant to be. Acerbic simplicity and urban elegance emanate from his fingertips. Music, Fashion and now a City are at his visualistic mercy.
Oliver wields the random visual fragment and has done so for the most rocking of numeral and alphabetical pairings: 4AD and v23. With a preference for the organically handmade over digitally rendered creations his following exceeds that of his British domain. Together, Saville and Oliver (along with compatriot Brody), ruled a music empire like no mortal can ever dream of.
Neville Brody: god of typographic expression. Widely acclaimed and venerated for his Face. He ignited a typographic wave with the Fuse of his deepest desires. Lord of the British during the two decades of the last millenium — and trying to regain control in the current one, despite his talk not being as mighty as his walk. Still remembered for his illustrious work for the most Macro of Medias.
Chip Kidd: god of books, his domain is the house of Knopf. Widely credited with awakening the book cover from the dead, he is a patron of photography and a bit of a visual trickster. His weapon is the visual pun, his weakness, the comic book. Cheese Monkeys shall forever haunt him as he wields his mighty pen.
Gert Dumbar: god of the avante garde. His domain is Studio Dumbar and his acolytes mostly European, with his largest temples being in Holland. A god of the cognoscenti, his work often influences through indirect routes. His magic skill is to balance sophistication with innovation. A god worthy of more sacrifice.
HADES
Rick Poynor: god of critique and wordsmithing. Not being a designer, he does not live on Mt. Olympus with the other gods, but rules instead over a kingdom of writers and critics. He gave life to the ever-watchful Eye, nurtured it to maturity then ceded its control. Presently, blogdom is his domain and observing his amusement. Mortal designers aspiring for their own deity eminence fear his decrees.
And that, my friends, ends this mythological exercise. Start crucifying.
3 out of 12 isn't bad. i don't know if i'd have anyone after 1990 (too early to tell yet-or is it that there's too many after 1990 that are better than anything that's gone before? hmmm . . .).
what about a dirty dozen?
On May.27.2004 at 09:15 AM