Making the complex seem simple

I have been coming across a couple articles on flipboard about the style guide of the NYC Transit system being released http://thestandardsmanual.com/page.html - 1.  I had no idea that this was established in the 70’s!  Its so timeless and modern feeling even today.  This article goes into more of the design challenge and decision making that had to take place to create the new system.  Its incredible that after 40 years the decisions made in this manual are more or less followed to this day. 

As a designer that gives me goosebumps, so friggin cool.

[Video] - <iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/105983783" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>

Shortly after seeing this I was cruising though my Netflix account I see something that catches my interest, Design is One, a documentary about the Lella and Massimo Vignelli and the impact they have made on design.   And guess what, Massimo was one of the designers of the signage system for the NYC transit.  What was fascinating about the documentary is that the range of work was so diverse.  Its greatly inspiring to see people accomplishing so much in so many different veins of design.  Package, identity, furniture; just about everything they designed for and excelled at.  That is something that not everyone can do and I want to strive for.

"If you can design one thing, you can design everything." - Massimo Vignelli